Stereo audio
Also known as: stereo, two-channel audio, stereo sound
Audio recorded or mixed on two channels, left and right, so sounds have a position and width instead of coming from a single point.
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What it means
Stereo audio uses two channels, left and right, played through two speakers or the two sides of headphones. Because each channel carries slightly different sound, the listener hears direction and space: a car passing from left to right, waves spread across the horizon, a crowd surrounding the camera.
Mono audio, by contrast, has one channel, identical on both sides. Most music is mixed in stereo, and most action cameras record stereo using two or more built-in microphones. Stereo gives ambient sound its width, while voices are usually kept centered for clarity.
How it works in practice
Action cameras from GoPro, DJI and Insta360 record stereo audio by default, often with processing that blends several mics. Some offer a raw audio option that saves unprocessed tracks for later cleanup.
Lavalier and shotgun mics usually record mono; that is fine for voices. Place them in the center of the stereo field in the edit, and lay stereo music and ambience around them.
Check your mix in mono, too. Many phones play through a single speaker, and some stereo effects cancel each other when summed to mono, making sounds disappear. Most editors let you monitor in mono with one click, and checking the levels in both modes catches problems early.
What to watch out for
A mono mic recorded onto one channel only plays from one side. Convert it to dual mono or pan it center, or viewers with headphones hear the voice in one ear.
Wind hitting one camera mic harder than the other creates lopsided stereo, with rumble on one side. Use a windscreen or reduce the stereo width of that clip.
Do not overuse panning effects. Sounds that jump between left and right on every cut are tiring to listen to. 360 audio is something else again: spatial formats need a matching player, and a regular MP4 export folds them down to stereo, as with 360 cameras.
How RawClip handles it
RawClip highlights come with music included, with every cut synced to the beat, and are delivered as standard 4K and 1080p MP4 files that play correctly on phones, laptops and TVs.