Stereo vs mono vs one channel of stereo

[TallPaul]

So I bought a mono earbud (select the left earbud with ear loop) that takes the stereo input and mixes it to mono. I really like it because it leaves me with one ear still in the real world. This particular one has decent sound (I had buds that are better, but it's not bad).

But realistically one could simply use one bud of a regular earbud set. I don't think you really lose that much by listening to only one channel.

 

[TrentMiller]

Do it and see, costs you nothing!,
but the answer is yes, you loose a lot of sound that way, but it depends on the content! stereo Music for instance, your missing a ton of the track!

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul

But realistically one could simply use one bud of a regular earbud set. I don't think you really lose that much by listening to only one channel.
I strongly disagree with that. You can lose A LOT of sound when listening to only one channel.
Example: Try listening to Coffee Shop without the right channel. You lose all the vocals. If you listen to Sunshine of Your Love, you don't hear any of the drums. Just 2 of many examples.

 

[eljefino]

Sometimes even audio that's on both tracks is delayed slightly for one to make a slight echoey fuller sound.

Also engaging the real world is a compromise. Maybe there are jogging style earbuds that let traffic noise etc through if you turn it down enough?

 

[Steve S]

I would say so turn, the balance on a stereo to one side and see how it sounds.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Johnny Winter, amazing. His bro aint 1/2 bad on sax neither. I like that firebird gitfiddle he play now then. Must weigh a ton though.

 

[MGregoir]

Mono is always better than half a stereo mix for content mixed in stereo.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul


But realistically one could simply use one bud of a regular earbud set. I don't think you really lose that much by listening to only one channel.


That depends on what you're listening to and how it was mixed. Studio recordings are mixed down from 32-track, 16-track, etc. to stereo and a lot of times, one instrument or another can be heavily weighted to one channel or another. Same with vocals.

Live recordings usually aren't quite as extreme in the separation and would do better on a single earbud.

 

[TallPaul]

I was thinking that for most stuff you would still hear the other channel, just not as loud, but I suppose one channel is not the best setup, but people do it all the time. I seem them in the office with only one bud and the other hanging, so they can hear if the boss talks to them over the cubicles.

Now if I could find the frequency of our building PA system and broadcast Johnny Winter to it--hahahaha, better wait until I have my retirement papers processed before I try that trick.

I really like the Earlwine Lazer guitar he used in the 80s and I didn't know he switched back to the Gibson.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I would do a mono mixdown, many mixes have hard panned instruments L-R and you'll be missing something most of the time w/o a mono mixdown. Personally, I cant listen with 1 earbud, it gives me a headache. I use Full size Studio Monitor cans: Sony MDR v6 and AKG 240M. Time to get new 'phones, as these are ancient. Don't want earbuds - too much wax jammin going on in there ... . I was an audiophile in the 70's and 80s but almost went broke searching for the Hi-Fi Holy Grail. Now I look for the grease Holy Grail

- PS: I still have about $7000- of equipment just collecting dust in storage.

 

[TallPaul]

I have a nice Yahama component system, 65 watts per channel, collecting dust. Bought it in '79 and the amp alone was $400 back then. It sure could kick out the jams in my 12x10 bedroom through the New Advent loudspeakers. Drove my parents nuts! Johnny Winter, Ted Nugent, Deep Purple, among others.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Johnny Winter, amazing. His bro aint 1/2 bad on sax neither.
His bro is great too, just not my main style of music. A great album is Together Live where Johnny and Edgar go through some rock songs and a little blues. Best ever Johnny and Edgar together is the Woodstock Performance of Tobacco Road, with Edgar doing most of the vocals and Johnny on the guitar, later Edgar did a 17 minute version with Rick Derringer on guitar that is absolutely outrageous on his Live Roadwork album, which has a great mix of R&B with Jerry LaCroix doing vocals, Rock with Derringer doing vocals, and funky jazzy stuff with Edgar doing vocals. I would get more Edgar Winter, but don't have time to listen to all my 40 plus Johnny Winter CDs. Way too much good music and way too little time.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Many 2 guitar bands mix the records with one guitarist on one side, and the other on the other side. Using only one side of the stereo mix will only play *one side* of the stereo mix.

2 guitar bands aside, stereo mixes in pop and rock music, where the songs are literally mixes of different sound sources recorded and processed separately (as opposed to classical and jazz, where most often it is a "live" recording of people in the same room making the same music at the same time), different sounds will be assigned to different sides of the stereo spectrum. Anything panned "hard", or all the way to one side, will not play at all through the other speaker. This allows them to create a faux stereo soundscape using all monaural sources.

Using a summed mono source can and often does result in some comb filtering and phase non-linearities that might blur or smear the clarity of the audio; but probably nothing that you'd notice on an ear bud.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul
But realistically one could simply use one bud of a regular earbud set. I don't think you really lose that much by listening to only one channel.

Just depends how serious you are about the quality of the music that you listen to.

The whole idea of 2-channel music (and nowadays even 5 or 7 channels) was to get surrounded/submersed in the music, to replicate the actual conditions in which the music would normally be played - this means the sound of various instruments reaching you from different directions, thus expanding the soundstage.

These audiophile issues aside, personally I find strong signal coming from just one earphone very uncomfortable and ear/head fatiguing. I can survive it when it comes to voice only (like phone conversations), but I'll pass on the music.

 

[TallPaul]

I do notice some loss of clairty in the mono bud. I have some CD tracks that are actually mono on the CD. I should see how they compare.

Remember in the late 70s I think it was when they came out with Quadraphonic? The Who even had an album Quadraphenia, though I am not sure it was for Quatraphonic sound.

Yeah, Studo albums can be manipulated. I have a Johnny Winter track where he plays steel guitar, harmonica, mandolyn, and does voice, all overdubbed. Then I have an album where 8 tracks are recorded live with no audience.

The live studio recording, with no manipulation is cool, and is best stated on the CD Black Pearls, by Eric Sardinas:

"This CD was recorded live to analog tape without compromise."

That says it all! (and it is not a live recording in the sense of it is not a concert.)

 

[AdRock]

Wearing only one earbud is not good for you at all. Many musicians do this, only using one earbud of their in ear monitors so they can hear the stage wash and like with the other ear open. If done too much this can actually cause hearing damage.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: AdRock
Wearing only one earbud is not good for you at all. Many musicians do this, only using one earbud of their in ear monitors so they can hear the stage wash and like with the other ear open. If done too much this can actually cause hearing damage.
I'd sure like to hear the explanation of that.

 

[Papa Bear]

I suspect the earbud acts as an earplug .. with one missing, the stage noise could deafen you.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
I suspect the earbud acts as an earplug .. with one missing, the stage noise could deafen you.

Most in-ear monitors for performers do not provide much in the way of isolation from external noise; not much more than a conventional iPod style ear bud. Couple a considerable amount of volume in the in-ear monitor with minimal isolation from the *very* considerable amount of volume on stage and you have a recipe for ear damage.

Factor in the comb filtering and phase non-linearities that result from the differing times the two "signals" are hitting the ears, and the fact that you have to use more and more volume to compensate, and you have an even better recipe for ear damage.

In-ear monitors were supposed to liberate the performer from having to remain in a conventional wedge monitor's "sweet" spot on stage, and to minimize the amount of "wash" on stage. I've found, on the few occasions I have done live sound using (really cheap) in-ear monitors, that they force the performer to remove one, though; especially vocalists.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
and AKG 240M. Time to get new 'phones, as these are ancient.


Ancient or not, 240M's are really good phones. You'll have to spend some bucks to get anything better.