How do they make specific instruments play from one speaker?

Miking and mixing

I always thought it was the are recording/playing into only one channel but I really have no idea. Intro to Dude Looks Like a Lady goes back and forth. You can really hear it with headphones. But not sure if what I think about the channels would make sense in a live performance. Sometimes if I have only one earbud in, I won’t hear one of the instruments.

panning

To expand a bit on what's been mentioned. In modern recordings they are "multi track" with multiple channels (could be 16, 24) then mixed down to 2 channels for stereo, to be released in consumer formats. You'll typically have a separate recording, or track, for each instrument in a band plus other sounds. The mixer takes all those and assigns them to the Left & Right channels of the stereo mix. You can move things all left, all right, or a blend of the two - that's what's referred to as "panning" or moving sounds from one side to the other. If it's 50/50 L/R it will end up sounding like it's in the middle, and so on.

As already mentioned it's called panning.

HOWEVER

What is more impressive is listening to recordings that are basically untouched. Chesky Records is probably the best example. They record with just one or two mics and there is basically no mixing or processing. On a high quality sound system the imaging is incredible. The mics work just like our ears and place the sounds where they should be in the room.

quote:

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Panning

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(for dummies)

You have to be able to completely master that instrument before it begins following orders on where it should be.