@DG said:
One of the mistakes that gets made sometimes is panning the first violins hard left. The snag is that the only person who hears from this perspective is the conductor, so for an audience this is not the correct angle.
DG
Thanks for making that point, DG. I'd even go further to say that the sound heard by an audience member sitting front row center doesn't always translate well when emulating a real world mixing scenario. Not all real world examples work well when doing a stereo mix.
That's why I've spent a bit more time studying orchestral recordings that appeal to my ears more than trying to emulate the concert hall experience *so* literally. Ultimately, what we hope to emulate with our mixes are good mixes as they are represented on well mixed CDs. You just don't hear the disjointed sound of extreme panning on good mixes at the expense of the instrumental blend-- and that also applies to contrabasses being panned so hard to the right.