why do recording engineers do this ?

[wilberforce]

This is a bit of a stretch. I know you are generalizing, but this is too much. Change the 'always' to 'often' and it's closer.

And really this goes back to the original post - what does 'sounds better' mean? Some might think mono sounds better. Are they wrong?

A fantastic binaural recording is "From the Caves of the Iron Mountain" by Tony Levin. It is really, really cool, and it really explores the concept of soundstage. It also loses everything that makes it special when you convert it to mp3. It is the most glaring example I have found of the problems with lossy codecs.

Scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page to read about it

Read again the part in parentheses. :yes: I was talking about multi-track recording only. Binural recordings are fun, I've made a few, but they only reproduce properly wearing headphones.

The world of multi-track recording is about using the studio as an instrument, not necessarily reproducing an acoustic performance. It allows sonic experiments that couldn't possibly be done live. When the Beatles decided to quit touring, they realized that since they no longer had to play the songs live, they had carte blanche to use their full creativity.

It also allowed an artist like Stevie Wonder play all the instruments on some brilliant records.

There are many, many, many ways to make a record. In my opinion, everything is allowed, from direct to 2 track using a stereo pair, to Tom Waits screaming into a bullhorn while pounding a chest of drawers with a 2 X 4.

When it comes to generalizing, have you tried making MP3s using the LAME decoder at 320 kbps?

 

[BorisBadenuf]

I noticed something today while listening to some jazz. From the song So What, on the album Kind of Blue, by Miles Davis, the sound engineer(s) were able to recreate a stage presence of the musicians. Some to the left, some farther or nearer the left, same on the right, and the main musician in center, with the drums slightly to the right. It sounded very realistic, and pleasing. Then when listening to the song Moanin' by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, the music was coming specifically from either the left or the right speakers, or both. There was nothing in the engineering to give any kind of stage presence. The entire center stage was void. It sounded very manipulated and very unpleasant to listen to.
I wonder if it was the limitations of the original recording, with microphones being placed in only two places, or whatever. Perhaps the sound engineer(s) were limited to what they could do with what they had.

 

[crouse]

I know I've posted this sometime in the past but don't remember where: I'm not a fan of pianos that are mic'd from the player's perspective. In other words, it sounds like I am sitting at the piano and the high notes are coming from the right and the low notes from the left. When I listen to live performances, I am usually far enough away that the piano notes appear to be coming from the same spot, not panned left and right. If I am sitting close enough, the low notes come at me from the right and the high notes from the left, the opposite of the player's perspective. Now, if I was piano player, I might love the sound of sitting at the piano when listening to my stereo.