The problems with stereo recordings

[kirkmc]

I've been thinking a lot about stereo recordings lately. It seems obvious that stereo recording techniques have their good and bad points. Good stereo recordings, such as of a live orchestra, use multiple microphones to capture the music directly and indirectly (room resonance), but studio recordings often play around with instrument placement, making music sound artificial. Even some live electric recordings do this. I've been listening to the Grateful Dead June '76 box set recently, and, while the mixes are beautiful, Jerry's guitar is very far to the left and Keith's keyboards all the way to the right. I saw enough Grateful Dead shows to know that no one ever heard it like that. (Yes, Jerry stood on the left and Keith's piano was on the right, but the sound didn't just come from where they were on stage.)

 

This exaggerated stereo separation is prominent when I listen while working with two speakers on my desk, and is even more prominent on headphones. In a more classic setup, further from the speakers, there is less directionality, but it's still quite obvious. 

 

So I've been wondering why this has become common. Notwithstanding recordings like Sgt Pepper or Dark Side of the Moon, where the stereo effect is used as an effect, why are so many recordings mastered with this separation? Sometimes I listen to jazz piano trios where the piano is very far to the left and the bass and drums to the right, and it sounds artificial. With all this talk about wanting recordings to sound like music as it is performed (yes, I know, the catchphrase is usually "as the artist intended," but I would argue that the goal is more to make it sound like it was performed), and griping about mastering and other alterations to music, does no one care about this exaggerated use of the stereo effect?

[kirkmc]

What does compression have to do with stereo imaging? Imaging is essential a factor of the volume applied to each element of a recording. 

[kirkmc]

I’m afraid you’re missing the point. I’m talking about exaggerated stereo separation, which is done in mixing and mastering. I’m not talking about “flat“ imaging.

[kirkmc]

I’m not interested in discussing arcane technical matters that may or may not affect how I perceive the width of the imaging. I’m simply discussing the way certain recordings of certain instruments way off to one side. I honestly don’t care about how this is done technically, or whether it is different now than before CDs. I’m really only talking about what I hear.

[kirkmc]

I guess I'm not surprised that my attempt at initiating a discussion about stereo imaging and mixing has morphed into "I can hear the difference in hi-res files." 

[kirkmc]

9 hours ago, Killahertz said:

I think you are comparing a large venue where the goal is simply to make sure everyone hears everything and stereo image is secondary whereas in the studio it can be a much more intimate setting and having hard left or right panning could be what they heard in the studio.  Or it could be a ham fisted engineer.  Honestly I’ve never been impressed with Greatful Dead recordings but I’m not a fan either so I might not have paid as close attention as I should have.

 

I'm comparing any venue of pretty much any size (other than very small), where no one really hears individual instruments on one side or the other, with the approach of mixing discrete channels to a sided dominance. Grateful Dead recordings are very well mastered, but there is this odd tendency to isolate some of the instruments. But they're far from the only ones: some Brad Mehldau live recordings are like that, with the piano way off to the left, and there are plenty of others like that. Again, this is not about a conscious choice in the studio, such as by Pink Floyd, but rather a choice when mixing live recordings. 

[kirkmc]

5 minutes ago, danadam said:

I guess that's similar to piano recordings, where piano spans from left to right. I also don't know why they do it like that.

I was going to mention that, but I couldn’t remember any specific recordings where that is done. That is the height of ludicrous.