audio problem with my ipod :( need help badly

[ali seleit]

hey wts up yall soo i woke up a day and i found out that the left headphone of my ipod was playing wt is supposed 2 be played on the right headphone and vice versa does anybody know how to get the headphones to function normally

p.s. i have tried changing the headphones but the problem remains i guess there is some sort of option i have to choose from help yall tnx again

[trevor]

i found out that the left headphone of my ipod was playing wt is supposed 2 be played on the right headphone and vice versa does anybody know how to get the headphones to function normally

Well, of course the easiest solution is to take the headphones and flip them around.

If you don't want to do that for some aesthetic reason, can you please tell us exactly how you discovered that you had L&R reversed? Is it possible that the reversal is in the recording, and not in the electronics?

Trevor

[CAlvarez]

Yeah, how did you "discover" this? And could you try giving us the answer in English this time?

[hayne]

And could you try giving us the answer in English this time?
Jst in cs u dnt no wt CAlvarez s rfring 2, he mns tht thrs no need fr abbrs whn psting 2 ths 4ums.
:)

[yellow]

LOL! Someone's been in the vino. :D :cool:

[CAlvarez]

Hayne, you are far too good at that. Hang out on IRC too much?

[ali seleit]

well do u think i am stupid.....i already tried switching the l&R dude :@... but the quality of the sound differs besides it doesnt fit well..... and about how i discovered well when u listen 2 metallica for the next 10 years of ur life ull understand.... and about ma english dude ma engilsh rocks :P ......... thnx for nuffin yall ................

[hayne]

Hayne, you are far too good at that. Hang out on IRC too much?

% googlegrep 'comprehensibility.*abbrev.*thesis'
"Word order and information structure in English and Urdu: A comparative study of comprehensibility in abbreviated discourse" (http://ontology.versus.phylogeny/the.universal.question), C. Hayne, D.Hp thesis, U. of Novosibirsk, 1989

[trevor]

well do u think i am stupid.....i already tried switching the l&R dude :@... but the quality of the sound differs

Let me assure you, as a longtime recording engineer, that there is absolutely no difference in sound quality between a switched left and right wiring job, and changing the left and right side of the headphones around. They are exactly identical.

And no, I don't think you're stupid.

besides it doesnt fit well.....

That I can believe with some headphones. What headphones are you using?

and about how i discovered well when u listen 2 metallica for the next 10 years of ur life ull understand....

Unless you would like to wait 10 years for an answer, it would help you to get your question answered if you told us how you discovered the problem.

Trevor

[CAlvarez]

I used to believe that people were wrong when they said that music was bad for you and would rot your brain.

[ali seleit]

they r the ipods original apple headphones... so do u know anyother brand that may fit well in both ears so as 2 end this problem once and for all...... and about how i "discovered" well in metallica songs the lead plays in one ear and the rythm plays in the other and one day they were switched so............... thnx dude

[bored28]

Let me assure you, as a longtime recording engineer, that there is absolutely no difference in sound quality between a switched left and right wiring job, and changing the left and right side of the headphones around. They are exactly identical.


This is untrue. Alot of professional engineers mix certain tracks in different ways. One of the most prominent is panning your drumset tracks to make it sound as though you're looking right at the drummer (virtual visualization). You pan the snare a bit to the left and the toms are panned so that you can actually hear the different ones going from left to right. The highhat, ride, crash..etc... are usually panned much the same: one slightly left and one slightly right. Same with guitars, the lead is usually panned forward and the rythm and other accompanied are panned left/right or etc.

As such, you're perception of the sound changes quite dramatically when the left becomes right and right becomes left because your brain is used to a certain sound coming from the right side/left side. I am very surprised to hear a long time recording engineer state such a claim when it is widely known that the use of panning for visualization is one of the most important techniques employed in the mixing/mastering process.

[CAlvarez]

I don't think the Apple headphones are different from left to right. I know I accidentally put them in the wrong ear all the time, and they feel fine. Lots of others are definitely the same and switchable.

As far as quality, the sound is exactly the same if reversed, so the point is that if you switch the headphones, there is no loss in quality. Your perception of quality would go along with that.

[trevor]

This is untrue. Alot of professional engineers mix certain tracks in different ways. One of the most prominent is panning your drumset tracks to make it sound as though you're looking right at the drummer (virtual visualization). You pan the snare a bit to the left and the toms are panned so that you can actually hear the different ones going from left to right. The highhat, ride, crash..etc... are usually panned much the same: one slightly left and one slightly right. Same with guitars, the lead is usually panned forward and the rythm and other accompanied are panned left/right or etc.

As such, you're perception of the sound changes quite dramatically when the left becomes right and right becomes left because your brain is used to a certain sound coming from the right side/left side. I am very surprised to hear a long time recording engineer state such a claim when it is widely known that the use of panning for visualization is one of the most important techniques employed in the mixing/mastering process.

Sigh. Of course panning is an important technique in the mixing and mastering process. Let's look at what I said again before jumping to conclusions that have nothing at all to do with anything.

there is absolutely no difference in sound quality between a switched left and right wiring job, and changing the left and right side of the headphones around.

Take two speakers. Send the wire that went to the left channel into the right speaker and the wire that went to the right channel into the left speaker.

Your entire soundstage is now reversed.

Now, put those wires back into the 'correct' speakers. But instead, move the left speaker to the right and the right speaker to the left.

Guess what, the entire soundstage is now reversed again.

And let me assure you, both cases that have a reversed soundstage are identical. There is NO difference in sound quality between the first case and the second case. They both have a reversed soundstage, and both reversed soundstages are identical to each other.

Now, do the same thing with headphones. Wire the left headphone to the right and the right headphone to the left. Listen--the soundstage is reversed.

Now, switch the headphones around so you are listening to the right 'phone with the left ear and the left 'phone with the right ear.

The soundstage is again reversed in exactly the same way as if you wired them backwards. There is no difference in the two cases.

This has nothing at all to do with the importance of panning, which is obvious. I suspect you misunderstood me to mean that left vs. right was of no importance, but that is not what I said.

And by the way, a good percentage of engineers prefer to pan the drums so you are listening to the drums like the drummer does, not like the audience does. Mostly engineers who are also drummers do this, because it disturbs them to hear drums 'backwards' to them.

Trevor

[CAlvarez]

This is why proper use of language is important. We have no idea if the OP meant what he said literally, "The quality of the sound differs," or if he meant that it was perceptually wrong.

I seriously doubt that the iPods literally are cross-wired as far as L/R channels. Most likely he's got the headphones wrong or the music was encoded wrong. Of course we know his Metallica songs are not pirated, because Lars Ulrick would have personally come to his house and killed him.

[bored28]

I perceived the original poster's comments as the following: One channel plays differently than the other due to the left/right signals changing.

Taking things literally and being able to ascertain the true meaning of the post is two different things. Sigh.

If you look closely, he stated that the rhythm and lead guitar used to come out of two different channels, as such; one can use intuition to figure out what he was actually talking about. The comments put forth by yourself were the ones that have nothing at all to do with anything..

He "meant" to say that the channel compositions had changed. Whether he said it or not is irrelevant since logic and rationale should lead to the said conclusion. Cheers!

[ali seleit]

i agree with bored28 he understood what i originally meant but still dudes ur disccussin the problem and not offfering any soultions .................helpppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

[yellow]

Have you tried borrowing a friend's earphones (they need not be earbuds) briefly to determine if the problem is your iPod or your earphones?

If it's your earphones, I suggest replacing them. Try getting something with some bass. The Apple-included earbuds have piss-poor bass. There's a bajillion in-ear earphones out there that will work with iPods.

If it's the iPod, then you likely need to take it in to be fixed, or replace it.

[CAlvarez]

Solutions were given: Check to see if it's the file that was encoded wrong, or just switch the headphones to the opposite ear.