Why is left channel louder?

Per Søvik

Per Søvik

Graduate Student
Jan 31, 2012
1,881
0
36
64
Norway
Insane question, but I seem to allways have more program material in the left channel from prerecorded backing, music fom MP3, CDs, you name it.
I have allways assumed it had to do with my hearing and small irregularities in the equipment I'm using, but here is the funny thing: Playing throug a few CDs and some MP3s, the Voxengo Span frequency analyzer tells me the same thing. Am I going crazy, or has everybody got slightly more hearingdamage on the left ear? :confused:
 
Re: Why is left channel louder?

I'll assume that you (like the majority of the worlds population) are right handed. "Handed-ness" likely extends to the senses of sight and hearing. You probably talk on the telephone while holding it in your right hand. Over time you tend to develop a higher level of discernment or preference in the ear on that side. I know if I need to really make a critical assessment of sound/sight I use my right ear/eye. When I mix in stereo I have to be careful not to overload the left side. It's not as much of a difference musically as the meters simply sense levels while the ear reacts in accordance with apparent energy. I think Fletcher-Munson may apply in that respect.

But I agree with you regarding the meters. It does seem the left channel meters out higher. The above is just my guess on one factor which may apply.
 
Re: Why is left channel louder?

Two other answers... the first (assuming you are talking about your own system) is that the meter comes before the actual output of the console. I had a crest on tour once that had an issue with the Right channel even though the meters showed them as being equal. Once I switched the L/R to a stereo matrix the problem went away.

Secondly... your car. As studio mix engineers they have to keep in mind all of the sources that the material will be heard on. It's no accident that some instruments are stacked to the drivers side of the mix. For instance, I work for a singer songwriter and we mix his records with his acoustic and any soloing instruments slightly panned to the left (no more than 10 o'clock). The over all mix is generally balanced in terms of level, but the energy is sometimes slightly shifted in the psycho acoustic fashion.
 
Re: Why is left channel louder?

Kip Conner said:
Two other answers... the first (assuming you are talking about your own system) is that the meter comes before the actual output of the console. I had a crest on tour once that had an issue with the Right channel even though the meters showed them as being equal. Once I switched the L/R to a stereo matrix the problem went away.

Secondly... your car. As studio mix engineers they have to keep in mind all of the sources that the material will be heard on. It's no accident that some instruments are stacked to the drivers side of the mix. For instance, I work for a singer songwriter and we mix his records with his acoustic and any soloing instruments slightly panned to the left (no more than 10 o'clock). The over all mix is generally balanced in terms of level, but the energy is sometimes slightly shifted in the psycho acoustic fashion.
Click to expand...

Speaking of cars, it's very common to have hearing loss in the left ear from having the window down.
 
Re: Why is left channel louder?

Thomas Harkin said:
Where else in Europe, besides England, do they drive on the left?

Just sayin----------------- 8-)
Click to expand...

Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta :D~:-D~:grin: Sweden came to their senses more than four decades ago, so all of mainland Europe drives on the correct, sorry, right side.

So if you live in those countries and want to enjoy an american mix, you need to rewire your car stereo. The same goes for those in the rest of the world that listens to music from these countries :twisted:

When I posted the thread starter, I was quite convinced that I would get replies more along the lines that "it is only you, your equipment and all in your head". I have actually never heard this imbalance mentioned before, but the answers definitely makes sense to me.
Funny thing though, I have severe hearing loss in my right ear, in terms of what is being measured in a standard test, but still have the impression that my hearing is more detailed on that side, so i never really feel I have to compensate by turning up the right hand side even if I can sense and see that the left is louder.
I have one theory that sort of fits in. Most people have their right eye as the master, and might possibly turn their head slightly to the left when facing straight ahead, thus minutely improving the sound on the right in a stereo speaker situation. Since my left eye is the master, maybe I'm turning my head slightly in the other direction and therefore somwhat sense this unbalance.
 
Re: Why is left channel louder?

Dick Rees said:
I'll assume that you (like the majority of the worlds population) are right handed. "Handed-ness" likely extends to the senses of sight and hearing. You probably talk on the telephone while holding it in your right hand. Over time you tend to develop a higher level of discernment or preference in the ear on that side. I know if I need to really make a critical assessment of sound/sight I use my right ear/eye. When I mix in stereo I have to be careful not to overload the left side. It's not as much of a difference musically as the meters simply sense levels while the ear reacts in accordance with apparent energy. I think Fletcher-Munson may apply in that respect.

But I agree with you regarding the meters. It does seem the left channel meters out higher. The above is just my guess on one factor which may apply.
Click to expand...

Now I won't sleep tonight. Thanks.. :-)
I'm right handed but left eyed. (Truth) I look through a single lens microscope with my left eye but work / write with my right hand. ( I have a major problem with bolt action rifles but thats another story)
Now I don't know if all my mixes on both channels too loud or not loud enough? Are my mixes off balanced if I'm looking one minute and adjusting a fader the next? Did I leave the iron on?
All in good fun!

To the OP. Are you DEAD CENTER when you mix? Is this just music playback or live bands? Someone on the left side of the stage always louder? Speaker damage? Even a damaged horn with just a slightly reduced output will give the effect your hearing. How much louder are we talking about.

Douglas R. Allen
 
Re: Why is left channel louder?

Douglas R. Allen said:
Now I won't sleep tonight. Thanks.. :-)
I'm right handed but left eyed. (Truth) I look through a single lens microscope with my left eye but work / write with my right hand. ( I have a major problem with bolt action rifles but thats another story)
Now I don't know if all my mixes on both channels too loud or not loud enough? Are my mixes off balanced if I'm looking one minute and adjusting a fader the next? Did I leave the iron on?
All in good fun!

To the OP. Are you DEAD CENTER when you mix? Is this just music playback or live bands? Someone on the left side of the stage always louder? Speaker damage? Even a damaged horn with just a slightly reduced output will give the effect your hearing. How much louder are we talking about.

Douglas R. Allen
Click to expand...

I can hear when I'm a foot off center even 50 feet from the mains. I sometimes have to turn around (180 degrees) to confirm that I'm not hearing things--I normally think the right side is louder.
 
Re: Why is left channel louder?

Douglas R. Allen said:
Now I won't sleep tonight. Thanks.. :-)
I'm right handed but left eyed. (Truth) I look through a single lens microscope with my left eye but work / write with my right hand. ( I have a major problem with bolt action rifles but thats another story)
Now I don't know if all my mixes on both channels too loud or not loud enough? Are my mixes off balanced if I'm looking one minute and adjusting a fader the next? Did I leave the iron on?
All in good fun!

To the OP. Are you DEAD CENTER when you mix? Is this just music playback or live bands? Someone on the left side of the stage always louder? Speaker damage? Even a damaged horn with just a slightly reduced output will give the effect your hearing. How much louder are we talking about.

Douglas R. Allen
Click to expand...
Not only bolt action rifles, I'm afraid, when serving in the air force, I used to get lots of bruising on my right hand thumb because my reverse grip would put my thumb in the path of the shells being ejected from the automatic :cry:


However, I tend to line up dead center, five different mixers, three different sets of speakers and random what speaker goes left and right in each set, three different sources for playback, sometimes with dbx PA+, sometimes without. Never had an indication from the auto-eq that there is difference between the two speakers of any of the sets.
I notice the same thing both with playback and occasionally with live music, with live music I'll seldom use much spread in the mix and will try to compensate somewhat for what I see in the meters and on the spectrum analyzer, but will accept imbalance that reflects stage placement. In those cases there is a good explanation for what I see, but what really puzzeles me is the same tendency with playback material.
 
Re: Why is left channel louder?

Silas Pradetto said:
I can hear when I'm a foot off center even 50 feet from the mains. I sometimes have to turn around (180 degrees) to confirm that I'm not hearing things--I normally think the right side is louder.
Click to expand...
I often use to turn my headpnones around in the "studio" (basically my PC with prerecorded material) when I do mixdown to check and eliminate effects of differential ear fatigue, but often in live situations I find myself close to a back wall and turning around makes no sense to me, but I'll try it next time and maybe walk into the middle of the room while doing it.
 
Re: Why is left channel louder?

Kip Conner said:
...
Secondly... your car. As studio mix engineers they have to keep in mind all of the sources that the material will be heard on. It's no accident that some instruments are stacked to the drivers side of the mix. For instance, I work for a singer songwriter and we mix his records with his acoustic and any soloing instruments slightly panned to the left (no more than 10 o'clock). The over all mix is generally balanced in terms of level, but the energy is sometimes slightly shifted in the psycho acoustic fashion.
Click to expand...

So are there different versions for right and left side driving countries? I find the thought amusing "Let's pan around for the Commonwealth version now"
 
Re: Why is left channel louder?

Damn. This changes everything. We're going to have to do a stereo reversed image for the Australian releases. Thanks for this guys.
 
Top Bottom