Stereo, while popularised in the late 1960s, has its roots back in the 1930s. Created by Alan Blumlein in 1931 in response to his frustration at a cinema sound systems breaking his immersion due to the sound source, its gone on to be a given that every album and recording now is in stereo. One of Blumlein’s earliest tests was the ‘walking and talking’ film, in which he displays stereo with sound coming from different speakers as the sound source moves in the movie.
While the first stereo recordings at abbey road were conducted by Blumlein in 1934, all radio broadcasts and most commercially sold gramophones were only mono compatible. It wasn’t until the mid 1950s that stereo started being introduced to some studio work, however mono took priority with a stereo mix being an addition. In the late 60s, along with the introduction of stereo tape machines, stereo became the exclusive format for most artists and labels. 60s bands such as the Beatles were accustomed to working on 4 track machines, however by the 1980s technology had advanced so quickly as to allow up to 48 tracks. This gave greater options to artists when to came to panning audio signals across the song, allowing for greater stereo widths and depth to a mix. While somewhat rudimentary, I feel a great modern example of a song fully utilising stereo is Alain Johannes’ ‘fall to grace’.
Fall To Grace starts with a stringed instrument (i’m not sure which, but Alain is known for using both mandolins and guitars, even within rock settings such as his time with QOTSA and Chris Cornell), double tracked and hard panned. This is accompanied by another stringed instrument sitting in the middle of the spectrum. A tambourine and clicky stick-like percussion are also taking advantage of the stereo field, and while it has very minimal instrumentation, the mix and production still sound full. After the first chorus a double tracked theremin enters, nearly hard panned to each side, fully displaying stereos capability.
While Stereo is a great tool, there are some negatives when it comes to production that while are easily avoidable, producers most be careful when approaching. Mixing in Stereo can easily lead to phase issues when played in mono, so mono must still be considered. Similarly just the concept of stereo may be distracting for some. Instead of creating a good mix first in mono with every element sitting nicely and then panning out, some may use stereo immediately, causing issues further down the line. If it sounds cluttered in stereo, it’ll sound worse in mono. While this isn’t a huge issue it is one that must be considered. Ultimately, stereo as a tool is a great invention, being used to enhance creative visions, such as in the song I talked about last blog double dare.