On today’s edition of K-Chuck Radio, we have some recordings that, for one reason or another, sound WAY different than how you would remember them. These are called “out of phase stereo” recordings, and they were once created by flipping a couple of wires on the stylus pickup. Essentially, whatever was heard in the left and right speakers were enhanced, while the middle disappeared. It was originally advertised as a down-and-dirty way to wipe vocals from a song and create an instrumental “karaoke” version. And it worked – most of the time.
I say “most of the time,” because if you had a mono record and used the out of phase stereo technique, all you heard were the scratches and surface noise on the record, since the left and right channels of a monaural recording are exactly the same. But there were some instances where out of phase stereo created some way surreal recordings.
Check these out.
Here’s the Electric Light Orchestra’s Evil Woman – which wipes out not only the vocals, but also the drums, giving you an interpretation with just piano and violin.
There’s a ton of buried instruments in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” that finally get their due when shared in out of phase stereo.
The classic 70’s disco song “Boogie Nights” by Heatwave sounds incredible, almost ethereal, when experienced in out of phase stereo.
Try imagining Sly and the Family Stone’s multi-layered tracks in out of phase stereo. Wow.
Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” is reduced to horns and guitar, with Stevie’s voice sounding like he’s thirty feet away from the studio microphone.
What can you do with a Simon and Garfunkel “out of phase stereo” track? How about removing Simon AND Garfunkel from the track, leaving just the guitar, the harpsichord and some glissando?
Madonna is not immune to the out of phase stereo trick. I mean, this OOPS version wipes out the drums, but keeps all the synths and bongos – and somehow, Madonna’s vocals seep through. Because she’s Madonna, nobody holds her back from anything.
And finally … do you remember that urban legend about that mysterious scream in the middle of the Ohio Players’ “Love Rollercoaster”? Guess what – the out of phase stereo mix wipes out most of the vocals … but the scream stays intact. Cosmic.
Just another way to hear all the classics. On K-Chuck Radio.
Chuck The Writer 
My favorite example is the mamas and the Papas’ I Saw Her Again, from their Fatewell To The First Golden Era greatest hits album. Denny’s lead vocal is seemingly mixed way down, which makes the background vocals way more prominent. It’s great , actually.
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For those interested in the technical aspect, this is not so much “out of phase” as it is “phase-cancelling”; wherein the same instrument on two tracks has its frequency inverted on one track causing it to produce a ‘negative image’ of itself resulting in nulled sound. This same principal is used in noise-cancelling headphones where a mike picks up the ‘outside’ sound and an oscillator produces and inverted version of that sound which overlays it and reduces it to near nil.
Sorry; engineer.
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I said ‘oscillator’. It’s actually an inverted output amplifier in the headphones. Early morning, late man.
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