[jdelman]

Kurt's vocals on the verses are panned left as if he's standing there. They're double-tracked on the album mix, which was a technique John Lennon used that Kurt admired. The reverb really sounds like a room. Guitars are definitely overdubbed on the final mix with the distortion cranked up, rather than sounding like one gentler guitar. I would say the bass seems not quiet but like it's "hiding" behind the guitars - it's not cutting through the mix the way it does on the album version. Seems to be a different guitar take for the solo - there's a pretty noticeable wah-wah effect on the guitar solo in Albini's mix.

Overall Albini's mix sounds much more live, which is exactly what he had in mind before he recorded with the band. The final mix is compressed, balanced, radio-friendly: it sounds more like it could fit on Nevermind than some of the other songs on In Utero.

[dylan604]

Other than Tool where Maynard removes himself from center of attention, I've never seen a live rock band where the singer was off to the left. Typically, lead guitarist on the left, singer in the middle, bass is on the right, and drummer in the middle back stage of the singer. If the idea was to make it as close to live as possible, why the decision to put Kurt over there?

[xanaxagoras]

I'm not sure about the decision to put Kurt over there but I assume it's no coincidence that Albini's own band Shellac (who are amazing) literally puts the drummer front and center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i79f87C0M1c

[heavenlyblue]

Don’t singers sing through the microphone so their voice is coming from where the speakers are directed towards?

[boomboomsubban]

Cobain was both lead vocals and lead guitar.

[blenderdt]

I've seen a lot (Tool included).

Deerhoof for example has the drummer right front.

[ch4s3]

Left Kurt is the most noticeably odd thing with headphones, it just feels too much like he’s right off to my side. It’s just not the sound of the band in my head. The bass is noticeably different too, but doesn’t feel as wrong against my head cannon of their sound.

[pmarreck]

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=headcanon

[ch4s3]

In my head Kurt has a sound and presence that doesn’t necessarily match the whole body of their work, but makes sense to me when I think about their songs.