I tend to prefer mono to stereo in regards to just about all music before around 1969-1970. It just.. feels better. Anyone else?
Mono and Stereo in old music
Ayden Wood
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Angel Young
I've found that quite a lot of old music that was recorded in stereo has each instrument panned pretty hard to one side or the other, which sounds fine with speakers but in headphones is terrible. so i agree that mono works better for headphones
Cooper Hernandez
there's no solid answer; stereo can be done well for multiple listening formats
today, stereo is generally mixed for headphone users with very little pan between instruments. For remasters of classics, stereo is mixed for loudspeakers, as in a home stereo system. The sound mixes together between the left and right speakers in a home stereo in a way that doesn't happen in headphones- so many remasters sound terrible with headphones.
Carter Watson
I listen using speakers and I still prefer mono. Now, that being said I like to get both versions if I can (or just a stereo if I can't find the mono, and use the Windows sound settings to switch to mono), because it's nice to experience the same album two different ways.
But yeah it depends on the quality of the stereo mix. Some old ones are actually pretty good. The Byrds for example sound great in stereo because all that jangly guitar has room to breathe.
Wyatt Lopez
It's not old music, but on their earlier tracks No Hot Ashes hard pan the two guitars left and right and it works really well. As long as it's balanced pan is fine.
Joseph Murphy
>As long as it's balanced pan is fine.
This is a good point. My personal preference, I like the drums, bass and vocals all centered or near centered. The guitar and piano can move around, as long it's balanced like you say. Like, guitar on the left, and piano on the right.
It's when the drums are left and guitar right that it becomes a problem. A lot of Beatle stereo mixes I find unlistenable. Taxman is an example of a horrible stereo mix, versus Tomorrow Never Knows from the same album sounds spectacular in stereo.
I find a lot of jazz records have pretty balanced stereo mixes.
Owen Price
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Benjamin Perez
I prefer room-mic'd drums center panned. When the drums are all individually mic'd and panned as though you are sitting at the drumkit, so a high-to-low tom roll pans left to right, I find it annoying and a little disruptive. When you watch a band live, even if you're standing right in front of the drums, you're not going to hear stereo separation between the left and right sides of the drum kit. It's fucking stupid.
Ayden Perry
Use a Meier crossfeed DSP.
David Perry
Agreed