Is right always right? “Is there any reason (psychological, physical/metaphysical, or other) why the right signal out of a board should go into the right and only right ear/speaker/earpiece? I understand that consistency is a must in terms of linking stereo devices (board, effects, recorder…) but does it make any difference if we totally flip the soundstage and listen to the left channel through our right monitors? Sounds like a silly question, but I noticed not-so-subtle differences whenever listening to a song with my headsets flipped over. Naturally, I couldn’t tell what those differences really consisted of, or whether they really made the song “worse” (or better) so to speak.”
Other than trying to preserve the integrity of left to right panning and placement decisions of the engineer/producer there is no physical reason why they can’t be reversed (I shall not speak to any possible metaphysical reasons). In fact, there are commercial recordings that have been released over the years in which the channels were reversed at some point before distribution. In most cases these were “corrected” almost immediately, but others exist to this day. While the difference can be pronounced, it is usually an aesthetic or subjective judgement in the end (not unlike the issue of absolute phase). I once completely finished a mix and just before sending it off to mastering and duplication I decided I liked it better with the channels reversed, and so that is the way it is. So lets all put on our headphones backwards tonight and go to sleep with our favorite music playing. If we can still walk when we get up in the morning then I suppose it’s okay.