If the gain on each channel was not equalized in post, it's probably that littlebox isn't as easily set to identical gain. In my tests, setting the two gain knobs by eye I can generally get within 0.3dB. I figure most microphones are within that tolerance or worse, but if you combine those tolerances it would be audible as a stereo slant.
Certainly it would not be a result of cables, unless they were seriously defective.
Sorry, I tried to get this comp out before our upcoming move took over events. In the way of more detail:
- the show was recorded in the front of the soundboard cage (inside, slightly left) at the Fillmore in Denver. I didn't think to measure or really estimate, but I'd say we were about 60' back
- all four mics were on a darktrain t-bar, with the two sets interleaved. left of one pair, left of the other pair, right of the 1st pair, right of the 2nd pair. As such the outer left and outer right mics (which were of two different pairs) were pretty open, whereas the inner left and inner right mics probably had a bit of shadowing going on. I don't know if this would have effected the stereo image.
- I did post processing to match the relative gain. No other post processing was done. Both channels of a particular mic pair were matched on an average rms basis. On this basis, I find it somewhat odd that people are finding the image to lean to the right since the channels were matched in post, but I'm not sure what effect this post balancing would have (there was at most about 2db of boosting done for the matching, though I forget the exact amount).
-each of the two sources was matched to within 0.1db of each other, again on an average RMS basis. Then both sources were boosted to near 0dbFS on an absolute basis. Since I tried to match the level of each source on an RMS basis, one source has absolute peaks at about -0.1db, where the other has absolute peaks near -0.3 or -0.5db, depending on the channel. Again, since they were matched on an average RMS level, I would think that they would appear to have the same average loudness (though I also find one source to sound a bit louder subjectively, not sure why).
Also, as I think I mentioned, since STS9 only played one set, the individual mic pairs used for each preamp might also account for some of the sound differences. I'm hoping that mics at the price point of these gefells are all fairly well matched, at least in terms of tonality. Still, I'd like to get the chance to switch around the mics at set break so we could try to understand how those differences in mics effect the comp
Thanks for everyone's input so far. I would love to hear more, so I'll keep the sources a mystery for a bit longer. If those folks who already responded would like to know which is which (and agree to keep quiet for a little bit longer), drop me a line and I'll try to let you know. But I'm in the process of moving, my internet is down at my house, and I already had to take a half day off work today for closing, so it might be until tomorrow until I can get replies out, so please bear with me.