You know when you’re listening to layered music and you hear the drums on your left ear, and guitar in the right ear……seems like I don’t notice this when playing old time music, so I assume it’s something that has to be programed? in. Would this mean it takes longer to produce music today than before the widespread use of headphones?
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So others have mentioned that this is called stereo sound, and no it doesn’t have to be programmed. There is one channel for each headphone, so each ear is getting slightly different audio (surround sound works similarly, there are just more channels).
When mixing, each input (microphone or instrument input) can be panned, meaning you are sending different levels of the signal to the right and left channels. Because our brains locate sounds based in part on the difference in volume received by each ear, the stereo effect makes it seem like that instrument or voice is coming from a certain direction. It is one of the ways to create separation in a mix. The effect is more pronounced when wearing headphones because the speakers are angled wider than say the speakers in your car.
Also, there are stereo recording techniques that are used to create the stereo effect. These are used often when recording ensembles (such as a choir or orchestra) as well as grand pianos or acoustic guitars (in certain circumstances). These techniques use two microphones on the source instead of one. The left microphone is panned hard left and the right microphone is panned hard right. This attempts to recreate what it would sound like if you were actually present.
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