What tracks offer the best left right separation?


Separation is a big part of a live performance. Name your medium streaming, turntable you name it but the key. Is the track you listen to and the separation you get. 
128x128chrishood1
ET phone home.  

Was talking with Rick about this just the other day, coincidentally enough. Low bass (below 80) is all mono. There is no such thing as stereo bass. This is easily proven, which is how I know, I tend not to take anyone's word for anything. Ran the subs stereo, ran them mono. No difference. It is all mono.  

However while the bass signal itself is most assuredly all mono the way we hear it most definitely is not. Everyone who has heard my system notices the superbly seamless bass imaging. It sure seems to be stereo! But again, for sure it is not. Sounds exactly the same when run mono.  

So what is going on here then? Well for one thing every note regardless of frequency is chock full of harmonic overtones. One octave up from 80 is 160, and we for sure can localize that. So all that has to happen is our hearing centers use that to form a mental image and localize the lower frequency fundamentals.   

That's all it is. This also explains why more subs such as with a DBA produces even more articulate and dimensional bass than just one or two. No matter where you put the one - or two.  

Another one of those things people have a hard time understanding- but recognize immediately when they hear it. Which they definitely do when they hear a DBA. 
lots of spatial info in bass notes including fundamentals and harmonics. You can always tell the multitrack electric bass “ experts from those who have a bass capable of high a, or something acoustic recorded in reverberant space . There is a LOT more to excellent bass than a forest of subs…… Where is Duke anyway ?

For a master class in L R C separation few if any have duplicated Rudy Van Gelder and his work w Blue Note.
Separation is not a part of live music as, unless you're lying face up on the stage, blend is what live music is about. Even in situations with minimal or zero sound reinforcement you're not erecting a wall between instruments (except the plexiglass barriers here and there). I've mixed decades of live shows for money (yes, I'm a mix slut) and the only thing I put in stereo is  sometimes a tiny bit of stereo reverb which fools the audience into thinking they're having more fun.  Otherwise the art of panning things together in recordings is what gets the mojo happening.