Left handed vs Right handed mixes

[TheMiltonian]

Hey - if an artist, producer or mixer decides to place any audio components off centre, that should be a choice. There is no fixed protocol that makes it necessary to make everything precise in that way.


I think it should always be about what you want the listener to experience!

I am pretty sure that you’ll notice that it was a question, not a complaint.

 

[TheMiltonian]

Also with those classical releases it might make a difference if the listener wanted to imagine being in the orchestra or in the audience!

along with the classical music issue, in a jazz combo, if the musicians are spread across the soundstage, then we get back to my belief about bass management. If all the bass is in a speaker that is in a corner, switching the soundfield might clean up the modes.

 

[TheMiltonian]

Has anyone noticed the left Twix bar has more caramel than the right Twix bar?

im pretty sure you’ve got that wrong, all the ones I’ve ever had, it was the right Twix bar that had more.

 

[TheMiltonian]

I don't understand why you would want to do this.

if you want to hear the mix a different way … I’ve had friends turn 180 degrees while listening to some quad mixes because it sounded “right”.

 

[TheMiltonian]

Or just flip the phones around the other way!

you do realize that most headphones have a physical difference between left & right? They are usually NOT identical.

 

[Soundfield]

you do realize that most headphones have a physical difference between left & right?

No I didn't. What is the difference?

 

[par4ken]

you do realize that most headphones have a physical difference between left & right? They are usually NOT identical.

All the vintage phones that I own are identical!

 

[Soundfield]

All the vintage phones that I own are identical!

I would imagine all modern ones are too!

 

[TheMiltonian]

No I didn't. What is the difference?

they generally are designed to fit comfortably in one specific direction, because our ears & head are shaped differently in the relevant planes. At a low level, earbuds/IEM will only fit left to right; at the big can level, they are towed in or have cushioning that directs the drivers directly. It’s true that there are vintage & modern headphones (my old radio shacks come to mind) that are perfectly symmetrical, but they are no longer the norm from what I’ve seen in photographs (I have Shure IEM’s, so there’s no “switching”).

 

[MidiMagic]

Part of the problem is that they didn't have the equipment to make good stereo mixes.

The first stereo recordings were made with a pair of mics placed a distance from the musicians and from each other.

My first stereo mixer had 4 mic inputs. There were 8 knobs. the top 4 knobs sere level controls for the left channel and the bottom 4 knobs were level controls for the right channel. No pan pots.

Most musicians were lucky to use two 2-track recorders and bounce.

To make really good mixes from individual recorded parts, at least 8 tracks are needed on a multitrack, and a mixer with 8 channel strips with pan pots was needed. But we had to wait until the late 1960s for those.

 

[jimfisheye]

Another thing is you couldn't just record the raw microphone input no matter how many tracks you did or didn't have. You had to record above the tape hiss and that meant you had to have full levels going to tape. You had to produce going in. Tape may have also had a kind of built in compressor/limiter behavior but you had to compress things and make eq decisions and all kinds of things right at the recording. You might err on the side of caution. Better too crispy than too muddy, etc. And not everything done on the fly comes out perfect. Now you can record the raw mics with no hiss worries and fuss over any detail you please after the fact.

 

[par4ken]

they generally are designed to fit comfortably in one specific direction, because our ears & head are shaped differently in the relevant planes. At a low level, earbuds/IEM will only fit left to right; at the big can level, they are towed in or have cushioning that directs the drivers directly. It’s true that there are vintage & modern headphones (my old radio shacks come to mind) that are perfectly symmetrical, but they are no longer the norm from what I’ve seen in photographs (I have Shure IEM’s, so there’s no “switching”).

The only set of phones that I have that can't be switched around are the Koss Phase 2+2. If you swap them the cords come out awkwardly in front. On the other hand wearing them that way would cause the front mounted rear drivers to be placed in the rear (IMHO as they should be anyway).

I have more quad phones than stereo phones, all are symmetrical, except the Koss Phase/2 Stereophone which is shaped straight in front and rounded in the back (sort of ear shaped). I don't always use phones the right way around, it depends where I'm sitting in relation to my equipment, if I want the cord on the left or right.

 

[CHPA]

Guys, this place is just some kind of treasure, I suffered with this for so long, I thought that the roof would go. Thanks a lot!!!