Old Scores Mixed so absurdly

[GoodMusician 56]

Ok, I keep running into this with old scores and I'm just at a loss. I don't know what to think.

Like, Towering Inferno was like this, I'm listening to Mary Popins and it's like this, and there have been other old scores where they've mixed the score so oddly.

They have the brass, percussion, harp, zylaphone etc. all stereo... comming from both speakers as they should.

But then the STRINGS are mono in the left channel.

Whats with that? Is there something I don't know about? Did they record it this way(which I doubt: it defeats the whole purpose and reason they made stereo).

Anyone can help me with understanding this?

[futuremartymcfly 0]

I don't have the Towering Inferno, but the re-recording of the Day the Earth Stood Still has some insteresting mixes. Most notably the cueMagnetic Pull, where there's a crescendo in one ear that leads up to a cymbal crash in the other. I'm pretty sure thats intentional, since its a pretty neat sound effect.

[GoodMusician 56]

that may be intentional... but it's absurd that I should hear the lower strings in the left channel...

[Dole 17]

I don't have the Towering Inferno, but the re-recording of the Day the Earth Stood Still has some insteresting mixes. Most notably the cueMagnetic Pull, where there's a crescendo in one ear that leads up to a cymbal crash in the other. I'm pretty sure thats intentional, since its a pretty neat sound effect.

I remember listening to that CD for the first time last year. I was wearing headphones and working on the computer and I actually threw my headphones off when it happened in that cue because I was totally unprepared for it. The people around me must have thought I was crazy.

[pi 0]

I don't have the Towering Inferno, but the re-recording of the Day the Earth Stood Still has some insteresting mixes. Most notably the cueMagnetic Pull, where there's a crescendo in one ear that leads up to a cymbal crash in the other. I'm pretty sure thats intentional, since its a pretty neat sound effect.

I remember listening to that CD for the first time last year. I was wearing headphones and working on the computer and I actually threw my headphones off when it happened in that cue because I was totally unprepared for it. The people around me must have thought I was crazy.

the beatles were mono and their albums were amazing.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Mono is evil!

[Quintus 5,399]

You get it a lot with the Star Wars Anthology release. For instance one can hear the cellos clearly on the left (or right). Am I the only listener who actually appreciates this sense of acoustic positioning? I love it actually.

[deleted account 108]

In the old days, from the advent of stereo up until maybe mid to late 70s perhaps, everything in Hollywood was done to 3 track tape. All the Hollywood stages had 3-track machines for the film mixes - 1 mono track of dia, one mono track of music and 1 mono track of sound effects. Well, they also used the 3 track machines for recording the score - often the strings were sent to one mono track, the percussion to a second and the brass and winds to a third. Listen to the CD of THE COWBOYS for a good example of how this was recorded.

The thinking was that the finished film would likely be in mono (or at least mostly seen/heard in mono) and the 3-track recording layout allowed maximum flexibility between the recording of the score and the final mix of the film - they didn't have to commit to a final mix of the music when they originally recorded it.

Interestingly, a lot of pop records made in LA in the 60s used these 3 track machines as well. The Beatles recorded their concerts at the Hollywood Bowl on that format (1 track for vocals, 1 track for guitars and bass, 1 track for drums). Brian Wilson recorded most of his Beach Boys instrumental tracks up through Smile (1967) using 3 track systems, even though his final albums were usually in mono.

Of course, using those 3 track orchestra recordings for stereo mixes results in some weird placement in the image, but unfortunately most of those scores were probably not considered a priority for separate album release. If they were making a record of the music, they often just rerecorded it in straight stereo (similiar to JAWS).