ChuckC


We'll getting others to drop the $20 was my point of course!

And yes I am.   Very cool.  Ya know, I haven't even been at this a year yet (daw recording/project studio) and I am enjoying it soooo much.  I find myself reading everything I can find, watching youtube videos, and hanging out here with every spare minute I can find.... Which is tough with the wife, 2 kids, my business, and the band all taking priority to recording research.  As a 18 yr old kid I wanted to go to Full Sail for audio engineering but never did.  I guess I always kinda liked it but I am really loving the challenges and each new epiphany is like HOLY CRAP!!!    I want to find a local pro studio that might let me kinda be an upaid intern for some sessions and I could help with whatever they need in exchange for some tips, and knowledge.  My business is going into it's slow season so I may check into that.

Does the LEFT and RIGHT Sides have a different FEEL for you?

ba_midi

bapu

Does the LEFT and RIGHT Sides have a different FEEL for you?

Yes.

If I have "bassier" sounds on the left it feels natural. Not bass guitar. That is almost always center. 

What I mean is. If I were mixing a power chord guitar and a upper octave solo fiddle, I'd almost always pan the power chords to the left and the fiddle to the right.


Oh yeah. I cannot mix drums from the listener position. That feels "all wrong" to me.

So I think there's a consensus that the sides do have a feeling for most (if not all).   I wonder if the phenomena has root within the frequency range.   IOW, do - as you say - "bassier" sounds sit better on the left for most?    And, even if just for one (you in this case), why might that be? 

This does make me curious.   And, Bapu - does changing the bassier sound to the right "change everything"? 

ba_midi

FastBikerBoy


Ears are like eyes, one will work 'better' than the other. Of course you or I don't usually notice it because we naturally compensate for the weaker side.

Last time I had my hearing tested which was a few years ago, now my hearing in my right ear was far worse than my left. Probably a result of years of firing rifles from my right shoulder, and also having a loud amp on my right side when playing in bands perhaps? Must make a difference.

I'm sure that sort of thing will have a bearing on any left or right preferences one might have.

Karl, sure I agree that hearing deficiencies will play a role - but I think that's a different role.   I think we probably would naturally compensate for that, psychologically at least -- not unlike how the brain fills in gaps in frequencies, for example.

I still think there's something more to the story, so to speak, as to why I (or we if you like) have a feeling about it.

I'm doing some music stuff tonight and just moving this one synth sound to a different side changes something that is not easily explained by acoustics or frequency masking or anything like that.   I wish I could explain it better, but I can't yet.

ba_midi

Very interesting feedback indeed, Rain.   Earlier today I was, once again, playing around to explore more. 

Similar to the "if i reverse the headphones it all sounds wrong" or "drummer vs audience perspective" comments, there is something that definitely makes me "feel" a certain way about certain sound placement.

I think one of the ways to test this out for most is to use a sound OTHER than you're used to.  Example:

If you generally work with guitars,  don't.  Load up a synth and a sound and make it "mono" so that the inherent sound placement of the 'patch' plays no particular role.

Make a simple kick drum (center) and bass (center) track.  No hi hats or other elements.

Add in this synth but do so in two ways   1:  a pad sound, 2: a rhythmic part.  

Now pan this synth far left for the pad, then far right.   Do the same for the rhythm part.   

Does the way you feel change based on the panning?

It does for me.   So I think there is some correlation between the type of sound/part and what we perceive to be a natural placement (or unnatural).

It's almost as if there is a link between the sound and our mind's preconception of where it belongs in the aural dimension.

We know this happens with already-learned listening behavior (ie, the rhythm guitarist is usually on the left example).  That's why I suggest using a sound to test this out that would not generally have a pre-conceived position.

Just guessin' here, and extrapolating from my own experience.

Rain

I for one didn't think of it as one ear truly being better than the other. I'm pretty sure mine are both pretty much the same, in terms of faculty of hearing. 

guitartrek


Billy - of course you know about the left brain / right brain thing - left brain is analytical and the right brain is subjective / creative.  Left brain analyzes parts, and right brain analyzes the whole.  One side is responsible for negative emotions, etc.  I definitely feel differences when something is panned left or right.  I know it is the same signal but it evokes subtle differences - but I can't really put my finger on it.  It is definitely different though, and I believe this relates to how things are processed in the brain.