Recording engineers don't always put the singer centre-stage. More often than not, but not always. Sometimes they will alter the singer's volume on one channel so that they're slightly off. You can hear this on side two of Shriekback's Big Night Music: On the first song the singer is centred; on the second he is off to the right; on the final song he starts off to the left and drifts slightly towards the centre as the song progresses. I also have an album by Luke Hurley where both him and his guitar are off to the right throughout the entire album. God knows why they made that decision, but there you go.
Number 4 is, incidentally, impossible with a single close-mic which is how the vast majority of music is recorded. The only time this would happen is during an intimate live performance recorded with two extremely well placed microphones. This almost never happens.
Number 4 is, incidentally, impossible with a single close-mic which is how the vast majority of music is recorded. The only time this would happen is during an intimate live performance recorded with two extremely well placed microphones. This almost never happens.