Proper Drum mixing queries..

[vintageblue]

I'm just curious if there is a real "right way" and "wrong way" to pan the drums/cymbals.

The drummer for a band I'm recording wants the cymbals & drums panned from his point of view, and I'm more familiar w/panning them from the audiences pov.

Does it really matter whether the ride is on the left and hi-hat on the right? or is it just personal preference?

[bobbydj]

Just pretend he's left handed, then you're both right.

[Kilroy]

I dont think it really matters, if it makes the client happy do it his way. For me, if im doing stereo drums i usually have it from the drummers perspective. but sometimes i do it from the audiences. I guess it really varies.

-Chris

[dokushoka]

Well...in the end, if it really bugs the drummer, you can always just flip the left and right of your entire mix. Having said that, I almost ALWAYS mix from drummers perspective as that is where the overhead mics are looking and it makes it easier for me to postion stuff in the stereo field.

What's more important is the relationship of other stuff to the drums, so flipping the panning on the drums late in the mix is a bad news. An example would be a tune with live drums and an acoutic guitar: Typically, placing an acoustic guitar opposite the hi hat works well as they usually play the same divisions and *roughly* share the same frequency range in the listener's ear. If you just flip the drums, the hat would then be sitting ontop of the guitar.

[The Scum]

There isn't a solid rule to follow. It's one more decision that you make that may add some little magic to the end result. I like to think of it as one more way you influence the listener's experience: do they get to hear what the drummer hears, and share some of the experience of actually being the drummer, or do they get to hear something thats like being in the audience? The values of the overall production may dictate one versus the other.

The drummer is the guy who will be the most polarized about it...if his is the only really passionate opinion about it, then do it his way. As a drummer, it really screws me up to hear my kit panned any way other than my own perspective. But recording other drummers, I don't follow any particular rule...

Live At Leeds and old Motorhead is panned audience perspective.

[mrclean]

I'm a right handed drummer and prefer mixes to be from audience perspective...but it really is up to you and your drummer to decide.

If you're used to doing it your way - try it his way and maybe you'll learn something new.

[Slider]

Just pretend he's left handed, then you're both right.

LOL!
awesome idea.

[Rigsby]

It seems right in principle to mix from audience perspective, but it always sounds wrong to my ears, so i pretty much always mix from drummer's perspective.

[KilledByAlbany]

As somebody who can't even hold a drumstick properly, let alone play, I've always found it kind of cool when records are mixed from the drummers perspective.

[thethingwiththestuff]

It seems right in principle to mix from audience perspective, but it always sounds wrong to my ears, so i pretty much always mix from drummer's perspective.

this is exactly my dilemma. i say to myself, "well, i'm the drummer.....why would i mix from my perspective? surely it should be the other way..."

then i just sit there going, "why the hell is the ride over there? what am i doing"

[Johnny B]

When I recorded my former group, I always mixed the drums from the audience perspective. Drummers always liked the recordings, though, because he's left handed, so it was to their perspective as right-handed drummers. It was something I hadn't even really considered before then.

More recently, my own drum mixing has become more mono than it used to be, but I've still been mixing to audience perspective mostly. Like anything, it depends on what's going on with the rest of the mix.

[evilaudio]

I've done it both ways as a drummer, and I always ask the client what he wants in terms of perspective. I don't feel it matters that much either way...

[rhythm ranch]

I imagine that for 99.9% of listeners they wouldn't even notice, much less care, from which perspective the drums are mixed. And, like Johnny B, my drum mixes have become much more mono, relying on room mics to provide a sense of space.

My thinking is: unless you are the drummer you're not going to hear drums in a stereo spread anyway. When you're listening to a drum kit from a reasonable distance, you're hearing more of a single instrument with multiple timbres than multiple instruments.

Ultimately, of course, it's up to your client.

[MichaelAlan]

As the resident expert on all subjects around here, let me just say there is ALWAYS a right and wrong way to record, mix and make sweet love to a woman.

[RodC]

I like audience perspective. Of course I have recorded a few left handed drummers, that makes the decision even more fun!