They call me lefty - unbalanced mix

[pure.fusion]

Hi all.

I always knew something was not right. The hearing test confirmed it - my left ear is certainly lacking in most of the frequencies they measured. My right ear is ok (for it's age).

Does it bother me? Never. Actually I'm not even aware ... except for when I'm mixing down my music. Here it becomes a minor annoyance.

I've had a few people sit at the mixing position in my studio, close their eyes, and play with the balance until they think the test sound is coming from dead center. Everybody was pretty much spot on. Dead center for me showed the balance to be about 15% to 20% left.

So, what would you guys do? Permanently calibrate your monitors so that the left speaker put's out more dB making center sound like center, but only for me? Or would you just manage the imbalance with the above mentioned info in mind and mix slightly to the right to compensate?

Really, for my home recordings it doesn't matter one iota, but I'm interested in what you have to say...

Cheers,
FM

 

[bouldersoundguy]

I wouldn't try to compensate for your hearing imbalance by altering the balance of the monitors, but if you set up a monitoring control that let you swap left and right channels you could mitigate the effect of your hearing. Many older (60s and 70s) home stereo receivers, preamps and integrated amps had that feature. It ought to be easy to build a switch that goes in line with your monitor path. Swapping the channels every now and then will help you keep your panning from getting too out of balance. Also, start your mixes in mono and only pan things later in the process, after the basic mix is done.

 

[miroslav]

You could lean over a little to the one side.
Sorry...couldn't resist that.



A bit confused...
You say your left ear is lacking according to the tests...yet you say when others center the balance of a test sound, it appears too much to the left for you...???
I would think if your left ear is lacking and others center the balance it would appear too much to the right for you...no?

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Two words: cochlear implant.

Or, far more realistically...

I'd suggest that you mix with everything panned center, then when you have the mix all tight, just pan the instruments to where you want them visually or numerically. It's not perfect, but then again I can't think of a perfect answer.

The thing to watch if your working ITB, is to select panning laws for your DAW (look in it's preferences/configuration menu settings) to whatever setting it has that creates a minimum of difference in track volume between center panning and side panning.

G.

 

[punkin]

Two words: cochlear implant.

Or, far more realistically...

I'd suggest that you mix with everything panned center, then when you have the mix all tight, just pan the instruments to where you want them visually or numerically. It's not perfect, but then again I can't think of a perfect answer.

The thing to watch if your working ITB, is to select panning laws for your DAW (look in it's preferences/configuration menu settings) to whatever setting it has that creates a minimum of difference in track volume between center panning and side panning.

G.

This is sort of what I do. I'm entirely deaf in the left side. I mix everything mono at first then I start to pan things visually. I tend to sit sideways and turn from side to side to "feel" the imaging. I have two sets of monitors connected to my Mackie Big Knob. I have one set plugged in backwards (Left speaker into right channel out and right speaker into left channel out) and I switch back and forth between the two sets of monitors. It's a little clunky but it works for me. The final test is to have someone else listen. It's the best one can do given that situation...I think.

 

[miroslav]

Or...keep the mix mono....change your name to Phil...and get a gun.

 

[pure.fusion]

You could lean over a little to the one side.
Sorry...couldn't resist that.



A bit confused...
You say your left ear is lacking according to the tests...yet you say when others center the balance of a test sound, it appears too much to the left for you...???
I would think if your left ear is lacking and others center the balance it would appear too much to the right for you...no?

Did I screw up? I'll try again. Left ear doesn't receive as meny dB as right ear so, the sound appears to come more from the right. So in my "close eyes and centre the sound" test, I panned the balance to the left so that it sounded like centre for me.

"Dead center for me showed the balance to be about 15% to 20% left"

cochlear implant? Yeah, I'm missing a few frequencies in the left, but I don't think it's anywhere near that bad!

Thanks guys. Thanks Boulder Sound Guy, good info.

Cheers,
FM

 

[miroslav]

Did I screw up? I'll try again. Left ear doesn't receive as meny dB as right ear so, the sound appears to come more from the right. So in my "close eyes and centre the sound" test, I panned the balance to the left so that it sounded like centre for me.

"Dead center for me showed the balance to be about 15% to 20% left"

No, you didn't screw up, I misread it and thought you meant that when THEY set the balance in the center, it sounded 15/20% to the left for you...
...I see now how you were saying it.