# Music Mixing: What is this called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 3, 2023, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531 "2023-11-03T14:06:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/1 "2023-11-03T14:06:42Z")
[Leaving On a Jet Plane - Cover by Jewel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPQx6GB3Thc) If you put headphones on the opening of this song reverberates in your skull in a way other songs do not no matter how catchy the hook. I have little background in music but I am guessing it’s a post production mixing technique. I don’t think it’s categorized as ASMR, it’s not the soothing sound I am after it’s the feeling the song is INSIDE your brain. If this is a thing, what is it called? And what are other areas of music I am likely to find more of this? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/2 "2023-11-03T14:18:37Z")
Folks with a better use of the terminology will be along shortly, but the song is using a piano “trick” first produced by a Fender Rhodes electric piano: the sound is bounced back and forth rapidly between left and right ears and with headphones it’s really pronounced. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/3 "2023-11-03T15:03:35Z")
So, kind of like a Leslie cabinet between your ears? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/4 "2023-11-03T15:30:19Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > using a piano “trick” first produced by a Fender Rhodes electric piano And ironically, the Fender Rhodes incorrectly calls it “vibrato” (it’s not vibrato - vibrato changes the pitch rapidly). There are stereo effects boxes that also incorrectly call it vibrato. A more accurate term is rapid stereo panning. There are also stereo effects boxes that call it tremolo, though that word often refers to pitch changing as well. And some instruments (like the Rhodes) can have it built-in and don’t need an external effects box or any mixing board shenanigans to make it work. An audio mixing board typically has a pan knob right above the volume control slider. You can create the effect manually by spinning that knob back and forth, though that is usually used for much slower panning between channels. Modern digital mixing usually has a plug-in called Auto-Pan (or something along those lines) that allows you to control the pan oscillation rate and other parameters, so you can do anything from a slow pan between channels to a rapid pan that sounds more like a tremolo effect. > [@Shoeless](#): > > So, kind of like a Leslie cabinet between your ears? That’s a good way to describe it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/5 "2023-11-03T15:36:32Z")
You sound like a man in the know – how did Fender do that sound in their electric piano? Logic says it has to be electronic as a Leslie wouldn’t fit in the piano (or the speaker cabinet it usually sat on). ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/6 "2023-11-03T15:44:31Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Logic says it has to be electronic Yep, it’s electronic. They used a fairly simple oscillator circuit to control the volume on the left and right channels, with the oscillator output 180 degrees out of phase so that as the left channel increased in volume the right channel decreased, and vice-versa. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/7 "2023-11-03T15:44:52Z")
Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s “Lucky Man” has such effects at the end. To me it sounded like the sound spiraling around and _descending_ at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/8 "2023-11-03T15:47:09Z")
Is this the Corey Hart “Sunglasses at Night” effect? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/9 "2023-11-03T15:48:07Z")
Nifty; thanks for the info. Didn’t the Fender Rhodes speaker cabinet – 9 times out of 10 – get aimed at the pianist’s feet, instead of at the audience/other band members? ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/10 "2023-11-03T15:50:09Z")
A song that uses this effect is Stranglehold by Ted Nugent. The drum rolls during the guitar solo move back and forth between the ears. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/11 "2023-11-03T15:51:04Z")
Ping-pong delay? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/12 "2023-11-03T15:53:50Z")
Pink Floyd does something like this at the end of “Interstellar Overdrive.” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/13 "2023-11-03T15:59:40Z")
“Ping pong” (no delay) is a term associated with multi-track recording. In the early days – the Beatles used this extensively – you would record trax 1, 2 and 3 of a 4-track recorder and “pp” them to track 4 with any additional live noise, then re-record trax 1 and 2 and “pp” then unto track 3, and so on. It’s a lot of fun, but risky – any screw up and you have to start over, at least to a previous “pp” track. But yeah, I’ve heard “pp” applied to the panning effect. ---
**Author:** ![martyg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@martyg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martyg)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-mixing-what-is-this-called/992531/14 "2023-11-03T18:47:05Z")
I’ve always called it “Bee Gees Disease.” I got that term from Mike Nesmith’s video _Elephant Parts_ because there’s a scene where he plays a chord on a Rhodes, it rapidly pans back an forth, and he says “This piano has Bee Gees Disease!” I thought that was hilarious, so I adopted the term as my own. I also want to point out we’re not talking about the Pink Floyd example. That’s just ping-pong stereo. We’re talking about a specific instrument panning rapidly as a musical effect. “Tremolo” is the correct term though. The oscillation could be any musical curve/parameter you can think of, and it is not limited to only pitch.