How To Convert Stereo To Mono In Logic Pro

Apple’s Logic Pro is one of the world’s most popular Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) for Mac users that comes with a vast array of tools for editing and manipulation of audio. One of the tasks you might frequently encounter while producing and mixing is turning stereo tracks to mono or vice versa.

A stereo track sends two different signals to the left and right, whereas a mono track has one track that is evenly sent to both sides.

Changing stereo to mono is a pretty straightforward task in Logic Pro. Moreover, you can use Logic’s plugins if you want to temporarily listen to a stereo track in mono. But first, let’s see how you can convert stereo tracks to mono.

Converting Stereo To Mono In Logic Pro

You can open the Inspector channel strip to change stereo to mono.

•  Click on the stereo track you want to change mono.
•  Click the little “i” in a circle from the top-left corner of Logic’s workstation to open the Inspector menu.
•  Click the circles next to your track’s input.

Two circles indicate a stereo channel. Clicking once will change it to a mono track, shown by one circle.

Another indicator that shows whether a track is in mono or stereo is the level meter. If you look at the level meter from the track header area or the inspector menu and see two bars instead of one, it means that you have a stereo track.

Note: panning stereo tracks in Logic can be tricky. If you use the Balance mode when panning a stereo track to the left, Logic will only reduce the level of the signal coming to the right channel. This results in losing some of your track’s sonic information your left and right inputs are capturing different sounds. To avoid that, you can use Logic’s Stereo Pan feature. Click here to learn more about panning audio in Logic Pro.

Listening To A Stereo Track In Mono

You might want to listen to a stereo track in mono for various reasons during production and mixing. To do that, you can use Logic’s gain plugin.

•  Click the little “i” in a circle from the top-left corner of Logic’s workstation to open the Inspector menu.
•  Click on the Audio FX slot to open the list of plugins.
•  Hover your pointer on “Utility” and select “Gain.”

Within the plugin’s interface, you can toggle mono on and off.

Splitting A Stereo Track Into Two Mono Tracks

Splitting stereo tracks is a bit more complicated than it should be in Logic. Other DAWs like Pro Tools allow you to do it with a few clicks, but the story is different with Logic.

In the screenshot below, I have a stereo guitar loop that I want to split into two mono tracks, one for the left signal and another for the right.

First, I duplicate my track by pressing “COMMAND + D” on my keyboard. Then, I copy (COMMAND + C) and paste (COMMAND + V) my stereo region into my duplicated track. Then, click and hold the stereo circles in the inspector menu and assign one of the tracks to the left and one to the right.

Then, hard pan each track to the assigned side and bounce them in place by pressing “CONTROL + B” on your keyboard. Preferably, choose “Selected Track” as your destination when bouncing.

For more lessons regarding music production, mixing, mastering, and songwriting, check out my Free 6 Pillars To Learn Logic Pro Faster guidebook.