Am I completely ruined now that I have been mixing for a while

[gatorhaus]

I was listening to an old Van Halen recording and heard the most awful noise. Eddie Van Halen's guitar panned HARD LEFT! It was excruciating, it actually was not pleasing to my ears. What were they thinking. I never heard that before (It has been years since I listened to any older Van Halen, but their newer stuff is not mixed liked that. It truly was a eye-opening experience.

larry

[esactun]

Yep, yer done for. Next things to hurt yer ears will be the first few Beatles records and the Ramones stuff from the 70s.

It gets really bad when you hear overcompression all over the radio, and your previously enjoyable CD collection. And then you find that any stereo system under $2000 sounds like dog poo.

Ignorance was bliss. But no good for mixes!

[HogansHiro]

When I was growing up I had a stereo with a dead side..... I was at least a freshman in college before I realized the beatles was actually more than just bled through drums and vocals.
Hell I thought Yesterdsay was an instrumental.

[mgraffeo]

I'll never forget the first time I listened to the Beatles song "Revolution" with the balance on my stereo panned hard right (I think). I'm waiting for the into, and waiting, and thinking that I'm hearing the guitar part, but it's super quiet. So, I turn it up, thinking that something is wrong, and put my ear REALLY close to the speaker, when all of a sudden, John is screaming "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" in my ear. F-ing balance...

To the point of the thread, I've been totally spoiled since I first set foot in a studio. Had to buy nice speakers for the home, and I can barely listen to the radio anymore. The worst part is that I've now spoiled friends of mine inadvertently, too, by showing them what they were missing. If you've got nice speakers, some time listen to the radio through them. When a song comes on that you have a CD to, listen to it while you cue up the CD. Then, switch over to the CD version. Your friends will be appalled.

so to answer your question, Yes, you're now ruined. Welcome to the ranks!

-mg

[Light]

I have not been able to listen to music as an emotional experience for at least 15 years. It is depressing. Every now and then, I will hear something so simple or so complex that I don't Hear it and I can just hear it, and experience. It is a wonderful thing when it happens. I have, in the last 3-4 years, learned to ignore the technical stuff when I want to, but only for a little while.

Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[ambi]

yea i'm the same way now! The stock stereo system in my parents honda no longer has good bass. it has really exadurated, inaccurate bass, with a muddled low-midrange. My klipsch computer speakers went from kick ass to bass exadurated and hyped highs, with a poor crossover between the midrange driver and the subwoofer.

I'm gonna have to spend a lot of money to be happy, damn you all!

[mixsit]

Doomed! Doomed I tell you!

[M.Brane]

Eventually you will get used to hearing nuances in things that most people will never notice.

Or you will slowly go insane.

[ambi]

Originally posted by M.Brane
Eventually you will get used to hearing nuances in things that most people will never notice.

Or you will slowly go insane.

So if you're quickly going insane what happens next? Maybe it's not all music related...

[volltreffer]

I don't know why, but I have the impression, that I'm still lucky. I have the luck to get the feeling of sound I listen to... Well almost. I had to put some cds back in the shell after listening to them cause they were too compressed and excited...

aXel

[Blue Bear Sound]

Well -- I can't listen to a song anymore without critquing and listening to the "production"... on the other hand, it's fun simply analyzing what was done to the track - it helps keep your "production ears" in shape!

[Son of Mixerman]

Mixing and production are like fashion. Things change. When people used to go to alot of concerts, it was fashionalbe to make sure the album represented a live show as far as panning the instruments. Back then it was the band raw pretty much where as today they add alot of filler to make sure the listener is always hearing something. Its very similar to the loudness wars and hypercompression. I hear errors in stuff all the time, but it makes me feel good to know it was real people and not autoscrew and stuff. Some of the new mixes suck that I hear out there. Im not a tree stumper, I like dynamics, and I do like artistic mixes like the ones you find in concept albums.

Mix-on,

SoMm

[ecs113]

I've been listening to a lot of "Oldies" lately (more oldies stations than classic rock / modern rock in my town), especially soul, and have been amazed by the mixes. Drums hard right, guitar hard left.... don't hear that much anymore.
I am more annoyed at the radio now, but at the same time, the radio has been a source for material to analyze.

Such a costly endeavor...

[mixsit]

Originally posted by ecs113
I've been listening to a lot of "Oldies" lately (more oldies stations than classic rock / modern rock in my town), especially soul, and have been amazed by the mixes. Drums hard right, guitar hard left.... don't hear that much anymore.
I am more annoyed at the radio now, but at the same time, the radio has been a source for material to analyze.

Such a costly endeavor...

What's really cool on the 'Oldies' stations is how the modern multi band compression and high-end 'voicing' is remixing these old songs! The subtle background tanborine or string squeak, reverb tails, now up next to the primary instrument. What a hoot. But also an interesting insight if you want to look at it as the glass being 'Half full". (And the ONLY good case I can see for mashing the shit out of your songs in the first place -no one can subsequently fuck with them latter...a piss poor reason IMHO
Wayne

[littledog]

20 years from now people will listen to today's surround mixes and go:

"What were they thinking??!!!"

(Yeah, I know, some of you are already saying that...)

It's always like that when a new technology first appears - takes a while before certain conventions become standardized.

[pipelineaudio]

its hard to watch the AMC channel with all the compression. Funny once your ears learn to fear compression, you hear it EVERYwhere!

[Light]

Originally posted by littledog
20 years from now people will listen to today's surround mixes and go:

"What were they thinking??!!!"

(Yeah, I know, some of you are already saying that...)

It's always like that when a new technology first appears - takes a while before certain conventions become standardized.

Then again, the lack of conventions also means some of the most creative stuff can happen.

Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[littledog]

Maybe so, but 99% of those early stereo recordings with drums panned hard left and vocals hard right (or something equivalent) fall into the "what were they thinking???" category.... at least to my ears.

[M.Brane]

Originally posted by ambi
So if you're quickly going insane what happens next? Maybe it's not all music related...

True, some of us were not completely sane to begin with.

Originally posted by littledog
99% of those early stereo recordings with drums panned hard left and vocals hard right (or something equivalent) fall into the "what were they thinking???" category...

LOL! I guess it takes a while for the novelty to wear off of anything new.

[scottboyher]

yeeess. with those hard pan's of the Beatles and Van Halen it is almost impossible to listen to them through headphones....

[Chibi Nappa]

Ha! I guess I'm as ruined as anybody. My sister thinks I'm insane for not being able to enjoy FM radio or those all in one bookshelf sterio systems you see in so many college dorms.

Then again, I think other people are insane for not being bothered by it all. I had a girlfriend who lived in a split level appartment. She had her speakers back to back with one pointing towards the downstairs room and one pointing towards the upstairs room. I just shook my head at that one.

[verticalplunge]

The early Beatles recordings were mixed to mono and then, as an afterthought, converted to stereo. Mid-period recordings still saw more emphasis on mono mixes, until they were finally abandoned altogether for the final records. In short, the Beatles helped invent stereo mixes--and no one here, or anywhere else--will touch the mixes on late Beatles recordings: tall, wide, deep, and true. Still a measuring stick. Amazing.

I have not been able to listen to music as an emotional experience for at least 15 years.

If you can't hear the music, what are you mixing? And if you lose sight of the music--the emotion--what's the point?

[Almiro]

I love those early soul records with drums left and guitars and voice right! Of course listening with headphones is a challenge. On regular monitors, however, it sounds good to me....although I wouldn't do it. I always thought that they did that to get some clarity in the recording. if the drums were in the middle (especially those early motown drums), they would added to the confusion...

[geekgurl]

Originally posted by HogansHiro
I was at least a freshman in college before I realized the beatles was actually more than just bled through drums and vocals.
Hell I thought Yesterdsay was an instrumental.

LMAO!

[bleyrad]

i've recently realized that the inside of a well-designed IMAX theater sounds very unique.
just the sound of a few people talking before the movie in one of those super-diffused monsters sounds incredibly strange.

does anyone know if anyone's ever tried recording in one?