The rode is mono but does indeed record the same mono signal to both tracks. Most mono mics in my expirience record to one track.

To record decent stereo with any sort of depth or natural soundstage in a live gig is a complex black art that only the undead and experts with goodkit can pull off convincingly (imho), hence mics are nearly always mono.

I dont often do live gigs so I am no expert there, but I do often use 2 mono mics to give me similar choices mentioned above.

And you can never make a stereo recording from a mono one, the best you can do is mono with a bit of reverb to liven it up and create fake stereo.

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