My hearing is better in the 1-3k region in my left ear. I had hearing test done and they said it isn't significant but its significant enough for me. This means my dead center is to the left of center. Snares, kicks, LV all skewed to the left. I just trust my pans visually and deal with it. But I'm wondering if there is a better way.

Does anyone have a similar issue with better hearing in one ear and if so, how do you deal with this when mixing?

I’ve had this for many years and record/mix for a living.
Dont worry about it— just learn it. Your brain will compensate and with enough hours mixing, you’ll be fine. I have moved my monitors a bit closer together and I do spend a lot of time on ns-10 or mono auratones. Mains are Adam s3a which are kind of like big ns-10- very mid-critical. Speakers like this may be helpful to you rather than soft, scooped models.
It is really up to spending a huge number of hours recording and mixing so you just know what things sound like. The brain is so powerful- it’ll surprise you
Best of luck,
Octavio

sum to mono helps

At my former studio, I had a switch which reversed the left and right speakers. I don't have a hearing issue, but still I would check every mix by flipping the left and right. I think this is a good habit to get into even if you ears are symmetrical. Your room probably isn't and when you put a guitar on the right and a piano on the left, your 'band' is no longer really symmetrical anyway.

as thisdavid said, the perception of where the "center" is, is something you can just get used to. What I would worry about is making sure the instruments that are panned to the sides are balanced - subjectively.


The perception of loudness is affected by many things and actual level is only one of them. Switching the sides can be informative. As can mono - as nice keetee said.

I no longer have this switch, but I do have some headphones that can turn around and still feel comfortable on my head.

Tilt your head.

Same problem. For reference my uneven hearing loss is higher (above 1.5KHz gradually getting worse).
AirWindows have a simple free program to put on your monitoring bus that flips channels every so often - you can set the timing, I like 30 seconds. The first time it flips it's really noticeable if you've mixed up to that point without it, which you might want to do for "reasons", but as you refine your mix you notice less until I personally I barely notice it's doing it. I assume (hope!) that's a sign of the mix being more balanced because that first flip when for example you might have oppositely panned keyboard and guitar that you thought were nicely balanced can be a surprise, noticeable even if the pan is moderate.

My 2p

I don't compensate. I've learned to live it and turn the other ear to listen if necessary.

That's really interesting. I had a (physical) switch but it never occurred to me to have the switch "out of my control". I guess I could have had an intern flip it for me at random.

30 seconds seems so fast... It's amazing that you can get used to it, I will have to give this a try.

I had an ear infection in my left ear a few years ago which really damaged my hearing. If I block off my right ear it sounds like I'm under water. However after a while my brain just seems to have compensated and I rarely notice it unless I listen out for it.

Maybe try not to "expect" it and you might get used to it?

one of the legendary mastering knob turners had a damaged ear drum.
due to flying in an un-pressurised DC-4 over the Rockies.
did not affect his career.
he would turn his head and favor the good ear when listening critically.

Tchad Blake is on record saying he doesn’t have much above 10k in one ear, and hasn’t since his late teens…

Apologies, it was lazy of me not to double check - the flip time is set in minutes and I use 1 minute. Still pretty fast?

Generally I agree wholeheartedly with the "turn your head/you get used to it" sentiments expressed on the thread but that doesn't work for headphones and isn't great for near field monitoring?

To end on a positive random thought, sometimes I find while something is panned to the worse HF loss side I think - oh that sounds better and adjust accordingly. Same for depth position of a particular instrument - sounds further away on the HF loss side obviously. like being presented with a more distant alternative for perspective. Knowing not to believe the bad side for such decisions hopefully makes it less of a problem.

I have a very mild difference between my ears, I do a lot of mixing quietly in mono.

encouraged by these tales of coping with it.. I have meniere's disease which makes for VARIABLE hearing loss (and often mainly Low/mid loss), which is well annoying...

I was in jail for a while and it's LOUDER THAN HELL in there due to the physics and acoustics and maniacs bangin' on the doors and walls (as if that'd help any).

I definately got some hearing loss.
But I thank my lucky stars that i'm not totally deaf.

That might sound lame, but be thankful for what you got left over. And compose with low pass filters if necessary.

why were you there?

a minor charge related to being homeless. the charges were reduced and i got let out though

He was arrested for making mixes that were louder on one side than on the other.

Use NUGEN Sigmod on the master?

hehehe you got me there. nice.

actually, i'm kinda sad about my hearing loss because i used to be so fussy about imaging and panning and so enthralled by other people's excellent imaging and deep mixes.

i get kinda hypnotized with pleasure by a strong audio image, so with hearing loss i don't have that as much anymore and it makes me feel like i'm missing out a bit.

however, sometimes that can be compensated for a little bit with speaker placement and more sleep and less ear fatigue.

i'm really lucky that i can hear much of anything, because i had hearing damage before that from a snare drum hit next to my head and from riding a train to class, etc.

my acoustics teacher in college said that some of us had "recruitment" instead of just hearing loss. So the loss is still there, but some hair cells compensate for the damages a little bit. but lost is lost, and it's not coming back.

thankfully, a lot of synth music sounds awesomely good with moving lowpass ( or bandpass ) filters, and people complain if the mix is too trebley.

but then again, i can't take hip-hop anymore if the kick drum is too goddamned loud. some hip-hoppers don't even realise they are annoying the heck out of would-be fans with the superhuman KABOOOOOOOMTHUMP at a respectable 96 bpm, or whatnot. lol

it's worse than a gunshot, it's like an IED mini explosion. I actually cringe and duck and cover when some driveby kickdrums happen to me sometimes. lol