Headphones - Does it matter ?

pmbuzz · 17 Jan 2007 at 23:59

Not sure where to put this but......

Having just bought an MP3 player for use in the car i got to wondering......
Why do headphone manufacturerers label them left and right ?
I mean, does it really make any difference ?

If you put them in the wrong way around you wouldn't be able to tell would you ?, you wouldn't say to yourself "oh christ, that sax piece was supposed to be in my right ear and that bass line should have been in the left", now would you ?

I'm always checking to see which one goes in which ear, from now on, i 'aint bothering........lol.

Carzy · 18 Jan 2007 at 00:19

Doesn't matter hugely I don't think, but I find it very offputting if I put them in the wrong way round because I'm used to putting left in left and right in right and you can tell the difference.

Grrrrr · 18 Jan 2007 at 00:58

It's mainly because of the shape, my headphones don't fit in the opposite ears

titaniumx3 · 18 Jan 2007 at 01:38

Depends on the music being played and the use of soundstage. For example on live recordings, you may well find the placing of instruments a little odd.

Jotun · 18 Jan 2007 at 02:03

If it is a track that I am *very* familiar with, I notice. Only happens with a few tracks though that I listened to a lot in the past.

alexisonfire · 18 Jan 2007 at 02:14

Grrrrr said:
It's mainly because of the shape, my headphones don't fit in the opposite ears

I can't get any headphones to stay in my ears no matter which way round i put them in

(ear plug ones)

Rincewind · 18 Jan 2007 at 03:14

i find it noticable with less than jake, brass is usually on the left... ipod headphones are slightly offset from the stalky bits but my sony ones are those hook sort that go round your ears... makes it easier to get them the right way round

manoz · 18 Jan 2007 at 03:37

I have to cos of the shape of my earphones. I don't think it as important as if you were watching a movie or playing game.

Raymond Lin · 18 Jan 2007 at 03:56

manoz said:
I have to cos of the shape of my earphones. I don't think it as important as if you were watching a movie or playing game.

You have a point there, with games and movies the direction is much more important. With music is less so but i would still do it anyway, since the work put in to the channel mixes are there for a reason.

penski · 18 Jan 2007 at 10:24

The producer wants there to be a stereo recording...Otherwise every channel would be panned hard left and hard right.

That said, my DT-931s' headband is angled for left/right so they fit your head better.

*n

Goatboy · 18 Jan 2007 at 10:55

pmbuzz said:
If you put them in the wrong way around you wouldn't be able to tell would you ?,

Lots of artists in the 60's were so obviously overjoyed by stereo they had the lyrics coming out of one speaker and the music coming out of the other.

riddlermarc · 18 Jan 2007 at 11:19

There definitely IS a reason, listen to a majority of songs and certain tracks (backing vox, harmonised guitars etc) will be panned fairly hard left/right.. okay you will still hear them but they will be the other way around.

Handily, I am sat at work listening to Slayer and the first solo off "War Ensemble" is panned hard left.. take out your left earphone and you can't hear it.

A lot of bands with two lead guitarists will often always have one guitarist "left" and the other "right" for leads.

hardc0re_tid · 18 Jan 2007 at 11:24

it does matter if you are playing doom3 with them the wrong way round and you hear something on the left and turn left when really its on the right and you end up cacking your calvins

Tommy B · 18 Jan 2007 at 14:48

Most mp3 players offer a feature that converts stereo to mono for when you only have one headphone in.

Vonhelmet · 18 Jan 2007 at 18:49

I once tried listening to Bohemian Rhapsody with the earphones the wrong way round. Felt like my head was inside out.

TripleT · 18 Jan 2007 at 19:01

Lots of the Strokes track off their new album use a lot of left/right.

I often only have one headphone in in work and the songs sound completely different with different bits missing depending on which I put in

SexyGreyFox · 18 Jan 2007 at 19:11

From a music point of view it doesn't matter. Engineers spend a vast amount of time getting the stereo mix right but whether you decide to have your headphones the other way round makes no difference. I must admit it used to crucify me when I'd hand the headphones to a muso and he either puts them on the wrong way round or puts one headphone to his ears and I'd say 'your guitar is on the left side' but it doesn't matter.

The only time it matters is if you are playing games.

arty · 18 Jan 2007 at 20:08

I've listened to orchestral music 'the wrong way round' before and found it very off-putting. Some orchestras have the cellos on the left and that annoys me too, but otherwise I think the difference is essentially negligible

arty

SexyGreyFox · 18 Jan 2007 at 20:44

When I'm mixing bands I imagine I'm sitting on the drumkit.
The hi-hat will be to the left, bass drum in the middle, snare drum middle, cymbals left right and centre, toms from left to right.
Bass guitar will go slightly to the right.
Guitars/keyboards will be panned out to left and right.
Lead vocals in the middle and backing vocals slightly offset left to right.

One roadie with one band once said that the mix was wrong because it was all backwards because he was used to hearing them face on.

Headphones - Does it matter ?

Man of Honour