Topic: Strange channel balance issue

[nulldogmas]

I was in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, and recorded an Alabama Shakes show while I was there, with my iRiver and external Core-Sound binaural mics clipped to my hat. This was at an outdoor venue, and I was pretty close to the stage, just left of center.

When I got home and listened to the recording, it came out fairly well, but the left channel was notably louder than the right. Figuring maybe the right mic was just pointed more away from the speakers (though I now think there may be a problem with the mic as well), I cranked up the right channel, and came up with this:

http://demause.net/brandon/hold-on.wav

This sounds pretty good to me, but what on earth is going on here? If you look at the waveform, you see that the right channel is way, way louder - yet the music is if anything still skewed slightly left. And it's not just crowd noise making up the difference - this is true even during the (rare) moments where the crowd actually shut up.

Any thoughts most welcome...

[page]

without looking or listening, my first guess would be phase cancellation due to your location and mic orientation.

if you listen over headphones and then speakers, do you hear the balance shift (and does it sound like it's sort of muted/vacant in the other channel)?

[nulldogmas]

Nope, it's just quieter, with maybe slightly less bass response. (I've gotten this since on tests at home as well - Len at Core-Sound thinks some dust may have gotten into the capsule.) But the thing I'm asking about isn't why it's quieter - I'm wondering how it can be quieter even when the volume is cranked up to where it's visually way louder in the WAV file.

[burris]

Your brain prefers time-of-arrival over intensity.  Since the sound from the left stack arrives before the right, the right stack has to be much louder to compensate.  However, when you crank up the right microphone you're also cranking up sound coming from the left stack, so it doesn't work as well as you want.  Furthermore, speakers do not radiate evenly in all directions.  So as you move off axis from a speaker the intensity of the sound can drop precipitously depending on its design, making the unbalanced problem worse than it might seem based on the extra distance from one speaker.

This is why it is critically important to get in the dead center relative to the output of the PA.

[runonce]

I might clone the good channel - so you have 2 identical L/R tracks - and mix the lower channel in to taste.

I wont help stereo-wise, but might help make a balanced, listenable recording.

[page]

Your brain prefers time-of-arrival over intensity.

yeah, that's where I was headed (no pun intended). I don't know why I wrote phase cancellation, thats what I get for surfing TS at work...

[nulldogmas]

Thanks, all - both the direct vs. ambient and time-of-arrival vs. intensity explanations make sense. And I think I will mix in some of the left channel to the right to make it more balanced, though last time I did this, several people on Dimeadozen had an OMG WON'T ANYONE THINK OF THE STEREO SEPARATION conniption.

And perhaps it's time for me to stop by the What Kind of Mic Should I Buy thread as well...