Location of instruments in the orchestra...


I'm streaming a recording of Beethoven's Symphony No 1 in C Major.  It seems that the violin section is on the right side of the recording and the cellos and basses are on the left side.  From my experience (I have sat front row at many symphony concerts), the violin section is always on the left side and the cellos on the right (sometimes the basses are on the left, sometimes on the right).  

Do you think this is the fault of the recording or the mixing, or should I reverse my speakers?  How do you know if you have the speakers on the correct sides?  What do you think?

128x128mikeydee

Showing 1 response by twoleftears

There is a somewhat common practice called "split violins", where they're divided left and right, but if they are all clearly on the right, then as newbee say, the channels got reversed somewhere in the chain.  It may be in your system, but if other recordings sound right, it's likely somewhere in the part of the chain that prepared the recording for streaming.