Topic: Mixing down onstage jazz (recorded in M/S)

[danlynch]

I've used panning on that backyard acoustic stuff we've done over the last few years, exactly because listening on headphones (while still feeling like you're "there") is jarring.   

[acidjack]

I've used panning on that backyard acoustic stuff we've done over the last few years, exactly because listening on headphones (while still feeling like you're "there") is jarring.

Exactly. The weirdest thing I find about recordings that are ultra-panned is when official releases are like that.  A few jazz records from the 60s I have do that, and IIRC Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison" also has some really strange L/R differences.

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I've used panning on that backyard acoustic stuff we've done over the last few years, exactly because listening on headphones (while still feeling like you're "there") is jarring.

Exactly. The weirdest thing I find about recordings that are ultra-panned is when official releases are like that.  A few jazz records from the 60s I have do that, and IIRC Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison" also has some really strange L/R differences.

cause mixing for stereo was both an afterthought during that time and music headphones were far and few between (early Beatles albums are similar).

I gave the first one a whirl and found I wanted to came them in around 50% off of each channel. Started at 85, and dropped it to 50 for general listening. I'm not sure I'd recommend going that far, just personal taste at the time.

There is a trick that I picked up from someone on GS that when doing midside (or mixing in general if you can place stuff in a flat mix) is to mix it so it's comfortable on loud speakers and then slowly condense it on headphones until it's not unbearable. The rough guide is you can take two hard pans and drop them to about 80% of their original and still keep enough stereo so that you don't get a monoey soundstage on loudspeakers, yet the headphones have enough sound in both that it's not jarring. It's more of a guideline than a rule, but food for thought.

I ‘ll sometimes move off-center and angle the center axis of the mic array across the stage so it is physically closer to the bass, or sometimes piano, to pick up the more subtle details and direct sound from those instruments, and farther away but still sort of on-axis to a guitar amp over on the other side which carries more and is loud down on the floor where my mics often are, yet the stereo image is still balanced and the depth of things is appropriate.

+1

I've done this a lot before. Being centered is one of those rules I was alluding to earlier that can be bent (or even outright broken) when doing stuff on stage or stage lip. Just compensate by adjusting where you are pointing. Yeah, it makes the audience seem sort of squirrelly when they clap, but the music sounds better. (and some other stuff he wrote too, but that's the big one that stuck out to me).

edit: added info.