In the field of sound, I often have to choose colors for left and right. For example, when tinkering with electronics, sketching diagrams, choosing the colors of the XLRs for my stereo microphone pair, etc.
As someone who loves conventions, I quickly search online for "color left right" (or "couleur droite gauche") and invariably find these results, as different and contradictory as they are:
- In politics, the left is red and the right is blue.
- In aviation, the left (port) is red and the right (starboard) is green.
- In audio and Hi-Fi, the left (or Left) is white or black and the right (or Right) is red.
- In sound reinforcement, an insert cable is black, white, or gray for send and red for return.
In sound, I’ve never liked using black because cables are often black, making it impossible to tell if it's a left cable or just a regular one.
So white remains for the left. A color that isn't considered one in physics or is unused, as in printing, where it's often the absence of ink that brings out the white of the paper...
But then? Which color to choose, why, and what mnemonic device to use to remember it?
My reasoning
Already well established in the field of sound, the left/right flow is rather conventional. A signal enters the left of a device or a chain of devices and exits on the right, once processed.
Moreover, time is always illustrated as flowing from left (past) to right (future). The left side comes toward us at the center (present), then moves to the right to go away. This made me think.
My idea
While researching the Doppler-Fizeau effect (quickly observed when a fire truck siren passes by), I learned that it also applies to light, mainly in astronomy where speeds are often extreme. Speaking of light, let’s talk about colors. In this case:
- When the source approaches the observer, the light appears more blue because the wavelengths shorten and the frequency increases.
- When the source moves away from the observer, the light appears more red because the wavelengths lengthen and the frequency decreases.
By the way, thinking about it: the "slow" frequency of the red wave and the "fast" frequency of the blue wave suggest that low sounds might be associated with red, and high sounds with blue. But that's another debate...
My colors
- Left in Blue
- Right in Red
A reasoning based on universal physical principles, two true primary colors, the opposite of politics: the perfect choice, particularly appealing to those sensitive to scientific coherence, and I dare to believe sound professionals are among them.
And should we call them "Joseph Colors" or "Sardin Colors"? What do you think? ;)
