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Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...

left/right?

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Created by youngbull > 9 months ago, 11 Oct 2013
youngbull
QLD, 826 posts
11 Oct 2013 11:54PM
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Here is an odd one.

Why is it when you buy headphones for music they always have Left and Right on them, when both sides are identical in
shape?

It makes no sense. Is it a brain thing for certain tones. All I know is I have no flaming idea, just odd.
33 years young and it just dawned on me

And no I'm not drunk or flying.

Haircut
QLD, 6491 posts
11 Oct 2013 11:58PM
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stuffs recorded/mixed in stereo, so some sounds are designed to be heard from the left speaker, and others from the right, so if u plugem into your correct holes, you hear the recording as the author intended

Unhook3d
WA, 467 posts
11 Oct 2013 9:59PM
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Yep. Listen to some hip hop. Lots of that happening.

Haircut
QLD, 6491 posts
12 Oct 2013 12:00AM
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incredible isn't it, and a brand new discovery

Sailhack
VIC, 5000 posts
12 Oct 2013 1:01AM
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^^^wot he said!

Recordings and stereo are left/right specific.

Haircut
QLD, 6491 posts
12 Oct 2013 12:05AM
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and if you buy 2 more pairs of headphones, you can plug them into the rest of your holes for 5.1 surround pleasure

or 7.1 if you're extreme

Razzonater
2224 posts
11 Oct 2013 10:07PM
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I like to listen to the with the left speaker on my right ear.and vice versa its a bit of a spin to hear it cause the sound the same you just absorb it different

Harrow
NSW, 4521 posts
12 Oct 2013 10:12AM
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Sure, recordings are set up with spatial separation to create a sound stage, but apart from knowing that an orchestra always has clarinets on the right, etc., or if you are playing a computer game, why does it matter which is left and which is right? It's not like our ears work differently.

Gizmo
SA, 2865 posts
12 Oct 2013 9:51AM
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As someone that makes a living from mixing sound for TV, I /we go to huge effort to get the left / right orientation correct.
To get the crowd FX, field SFX going left to right.
Have a watch of Bathurst this weekend with headphones and watch the cars go around there is nothing worse than seeing the car on the screen go opposite direction to the sound.
Most 'drama' TV series has quite good stereo in it, movies will have good L/R content.

Harrow
NSW, 4521 posts
12 Oct 2013 10:29AM
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Select to expand quote
Gizmo said..
To get the crowd FX, field SFX going left to right.

When you are matching to video content, of course it matters. But Haircut's reply was inferring that even pure audio, was intended to be a particular way around. That was what I was wondering about?

Gizmo
SA, 2865 posts
12 Oct 2013 10:12AM
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Agreed for 'modern' music created electronically there seems to be no defined L/R but often it will try and give the layout of a live stage act, Classical music is quite structured.

E T
QLD, 2286 posts
12 Oct 2013 10:21AM
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The headphones for my I phone and I pad are not identical.

They are the same in appearance but are on the opposite hand.

ET.

NewScotty
2350 posts
12 Oct 2013 12:23PM
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Select to expand quote
Haircut said..

so if u plugem into your correct holes


Story of my life.

Wineman
NSW, 1412 posts
12 Oct 2013 6:31PM
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Select to expand quote
Gizmo said..

As someone that makes a living from mixing sound for TV, I /we go to huge effort to get the left / right orientation correct.
To get the crowd FX, field SFX going left to right.
Have a watch of Bathurst this weekend with headphones and watch the cars go around there is nothing worse than seeing the car on the screen go opposite direction to the sound.
Most 'drama' TV series has quite good stereo in it, movies will have good L/R content.


Yes it is just not right if the car/bike goes left to right but the sound goes r to l partic if using headphones in wrong ear

Most 60's music (in stereophonic!) had A very distinct L/R balance

lotofwind
NSW, 6451 posts
12 Oct 2013 10:26PM
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If ya put them in your ears the wrong way around the music comes out backwards and sounds satanic.

jamdfingr
QLD, 663 posts
12 Oct 2013 10:07PM
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Hygiene.

You shouldn't put something from your left ear to your right as if you have an infection in one, you will transfer it to the other.

But also the sound balance.

youngbull
QLD, 826 posts
12 Oct 2013 10:50PM
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Some funny reply's yet still not the right one. I'm sure a few misunderstood the music part of the question...and the headphone, however music on the radio does have left and right but is swapping the L/R wires going to change the sound, apart from the obvious its on the other side and will still have the same stereo effect regardless.

My best guess would be there is no reason for it. Funny how many people including my wife do not actually read the main question properly.
Harrow seems to understand the gist of it.

Gizmo
SA, 2865 posts
13 Oct 2013 12:03AM
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Yes you can swap the L+ wire with the R+ wire going to the speakers / headphones no problem...... all that will happen is the signals are swapped.

Yes you can swap L+ with L- and on the other side R+ with R- all this will do is the speakers operate in a 'reverse phase mode' which is a little less efficent but most people wont pick it.

The L- and R- are normally connected together at a common point, (in the amplifier or headphone plug)

Now if you want to try something tricky get another speaker from somewhere and connect from that extra speaker the + connection to L+ of the amplifier and the - of the extra speaker to the R+ of the amplifier...... What the extra speaker has in it is the 'difference' between L and R, so a mono signal like voice will not be in that extra speaker but in wide stereo there will be quite a lot of info there...

It's a 'cheap mans surround sound' set up..... Dolby surround it's not but its great to watch movies and listen to music with.

Mark _australia
WA, 23701 posts
12 Oct 2013 10:02PM
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Select to expand quote
Gizmo said..

Yes you can swap L+ with L- and on the other side R+ with R- all this will do is the speakers operate in a 'reverse phase mode' which is a little less efficent but most people wont pick it.

.


And then one side is reversed and the other normal and you stick a bit of plywood up the middle of your brain you'd have a bandpass sub box sik mate sik subwooffaaaaaa



slammin
QLD, 998 posts
13 Oct 2013 1:28AM
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Thankyou Youngbull, nice post.

This is a pretty misunderstood aspect of our brains L/R cognition.

So far nobody has taken into account the L and R handedness of the brain. What the composer intended for each hemisphere of the brain will indeed be "heard" by our brain (irregardless of our conscious deciphering) differently according to which hemisphere receives which intended stereoscopic band. Your R handed "logical" hemisphere will hear/interpret a L handed "creative" track differently and vice versa.

Obviously as the posts so far imply it is extremely subtle so the only way I can foresee out of the turgid miasma is to conduct further studies with partially deaf people AND Pink Floyd.....

My guess is that bass is obviously logical so ergo R and solo's are creative and L?????

Don't believe me? For instance the brains hemispheres are so subtle, they even affect smell.

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/267236

dogfish
NT, 255 posts
13 Oct 2013 4:49AM
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Harrow said..
It's not like our ears work differently.



They do, actually.


www.ted.com/talks/iain_mcgilchrist_the_divided_brain

Mark _australia
WA, 23701 posts
13 Oct 2013 9:36AM
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Select to expand quote
slammin said..
Obviously as the posts so far imply it is extremely subtle so the only way I can foresee out of the turgid miasma is to conduct further studies with partially deaf people AND Pink Floyd.....



I think most of their fans are, so not hard to find the target group

Harrow
NSW, 4521 posts
13 Oct 2013 1:49PM
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Total coincidence, but I bought a digital piano yesterday so that I can play late at night after the kids are asleep. As I plugged the head phones I had to laugh when I found myself making sure the L and R earbuds were the right way round.

Harrow
NSW, 4521 posts
13 Oct 2013 1:55PM
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dogfish said..
Harrow said..
It's not like our ears work differently.


They do, actually.

www.ted.com/talks/iain_mcgilchrist_the_divided_brain


Okay, here is a REALLY weird one for you. If my father-in-law blocks his left ear, even though he hears everything clearly in his right ear, he cannot understand speech. He says he can hear the speech just fine, but has no idea what you are saying. It's not a physical hearing defect, as both his ears test equally well across the frequency spectrum, it's some weird information processing thing in his brain.

kiteboy dave
QLD, 6525 posts
15 Oct 2013 9:20AM
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^^Neural pathway damage for some reason (injury/stroke/etc)? Nerves not connecting one ear to speech processing centre.

Here's an interesting left right one. Is it going left or right - you can change it's direction by thinking 'LEFT' or 'RIGHT'!


myusernam
QLD, 6160 posts
15 Oct 2013 10:05AM
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left handed people were deprived of oxygen at birth and suffered subtle brain damage.

FlySurfer
NSW, 4460 posts
15 Oct 2013 2:06PM
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Select to expand quote
youngbull said..

Here is an odd one.

Why is it when you buy headphones for music they always have Left and Right on them, when both sides are identical in
shape?

It makes no sense. Is it a brain thing for certain tones. All I know is I have no flaming idea, just odd.
33 years young and it just dawned on me

And no I'm not drunk or flying.


Try playing Battlefield with ur LR mixed up.

Sailhack
VIC, 5000 posts
15 Oct 2013 5:44PM
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myusernam said..

left handed people were deprived of oxygen at birth and suffered subtle brain damage.


Hey - I resemble that!

GreenPat
QLD, 4107 posts
18 Oct 2013 7:58AM
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kiteboy dave said..

^^Neural pathway damage for some reason (injury/stroke/etc)? Nerves not connecting one ear to speech processing centre.

Here's an interesting left right one. Is it going left or right - you can change it's direction by thinking 'LEFT' or 'RIGHT'!





Don't know about which way it's going, but it's a bloody long train!

Saw this on the telly a little while ago, which way is the bus going to go if it drives off forwards?


evlPanda
NSW, 9207 posts
18 Oct 2013 11:57AM
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kiteboy dave said..
Saw this on the telly a little while ago, which way is the bus going to go if it drives off forwards?


In opposite directions obviously.

seanhogan
QLD, 3424 posts
18 Oct 2013 11:05AM
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bus doesn't even have a door to let the driver in....



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Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...


"left/right?" started by youngbull