Is anyone out there playing stereo and mono tracks in the same playlist? I personally would find it a bit jarring from song-to-song but have considered alternating on an hourly basis. Suggestions?
Actually, the "pan pot" has been around since the late 30's/early 40's; it was developed by RCA for Walt Disney's "Fantasound" system used in FANTASIA, the first "surround sound" process with speakers all over the theatre. But it probably wasn't used much for early stereo recordings due to the industry (and public) preference for gimmicky ping-pong stereo.
Or because their studios didn't have consoles with them. Just because something was available didn't mean every studio had them. Martin was famous for jerry-rigging things to make them work the way he wanted. But the photos I've seen of Abbey Road studios in the 60s shows a console without pan pots.
I get unnerved when I hear stereo recordings of songs I heard in mono for years.
In my own personal collection, I have many songs from the 60's which sound amazing in mono, mainly Motown. Many songs, into the 70's, had dedicated mono mixes.
Is anyone out there playing stereo and mono tracks in the same playlist? I personally would find it a bit jarring from song-to-song but have considered alternating on an hourly basis. Suggestions?
Much of the 50s/60s music was recorded with vocal on one channel and instruments on the other channel. These were the two-channel masters which were never intended to be released as 'stereo' recordings.
They were recorded in this fashion so that the studio could have better control of the mix of the final monaural product.
The thing I find funniest about people complaining about music being in stereo, is that these same people will watch TV with an older 4:3 picture stretched (distorted) to fill a 16:9 screen.