how far left or right?

sandy · Post by **sandy** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:21 pm

no, not a political discussion, ha ha.

i am just curious as to when and where and how far apart you pan stereo tracks when mixing? are there different sounds and feelings brought about with more space between the L and R?

i have my drums and vocals in the middle, no bass added yet, and our GUITARS on the left and right tracks. i began with them barely shifted L and R and am now playing with them at different degrees of panning L / R.

my questions are:

where do you usually default position your L / R to?

any pros / cons about panning entirely to the L and R extreme ends?

and why?

thanks!!

dsw · Post by **dsw** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:31 pm

I was reading how the Beatles only had one song with a true stereo drum mix.

Panning is a personal thing and there's no right or wrong to it.

Paint your picture the way you want to, then stand by it proudly.

Cons: if I pan something all the way left it won't play on my car because the speaker is blown and I'm too lazy to fix it.

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:46 pm

I don't have any defaults.

ott0bot · Post by **ott0bot** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:51 pm

It's such a preferential thing, but I love creating big stereo images. I usually like a stereo imaged drum set so it sounds like you sitting in the throne, but it's fun to do a mono mix too. I'm always adding a vocal or a 2nd gtr part out of far left or right though....it just adds something fun to the mix. The last song I did I recorded a hammond part that I panned hard left and it sounded fantastic.

sandy · Post by **sandy** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:13 pm

i should add that the guitars that i am panning are the ONLY guitars in the mix...

do you feel that extreme L / R panning leaves too much space, ever? could it feel too disconnected with extreme L/R? should i back them in a bit since they are the only guitars?

(even with extreme panning, they still seep into the other channel minimally right? seems like it. is this true or am i hearing things?)

again, any thoughts are definitely appreciated!

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:16 pm

It depends.

sandy · Post by **sandy** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:20 pm

dwlb wrote:It depends.

on? a little help please...

dsw · Post by **dsw** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:36 pm

(even with extreme panning, they still seep into the other channel minimally right? seems like it. is this true or am i hearing things?)

You are hearing things.

If you pan something all the way to one side, it will only come out of one speaker.

Panning is really up to what you like the sound of.

What do you think? Dp you like it wide? Cool. Do it that way.

sandy · Post by **sandy** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:46 pm

i like it wide but am afraid that it will be detrimental to something that i am not thinking of (or knowledgable of). so i've been bringing them in a bit so that they are not so completely wide and so that they bleed a little and seem a bit more part of the center mix.

are there different "givens" that are assumed with different pan positions? i mean, is there a fundamental difference between 45 vs 33 other than amount panned that direction? does the human ear prefer one or other.

also curious if any of you stay away from extreme pans altogether, and if so, why?

digitaldrummer · Post by **digitaldrummer** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 6:07 pm

there are no rules. pan it like you like it

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 6:26 pm

if there's two guitars i have them hard left and right almost always. sometimes, depending on the song, the style of music, the sonics, the phase of the moon, it sounds too separated like that so i pull them in. but if there's anything i have as a default, guitars hard panned is it. because why not? goddamn distorted guitars cover up everything else in the mix, you might as well push them all the way out to the sides, make more room for everything else and get as much separation between the parts as you can.

but as everyone said, there's no rules and you should do whatever you think sounds good. if you want some general guidelines, just listen to ten random records in a row and see where other people pan stuff.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:11 pm

sandy wrote:
dwlb wrote:It depends.
on? a little help please...

On everything: stylistic standards, personal preference, blood sugar level, arrangement, instrumentation...as has been said before on this thread, there are no rules and as I know your original question was "what do YOU do?" rather than "what is the right thing to do?" my answer is "it depends."

David Piper · Post by **David Piper** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:37 pm

Float your mouse over your pan control, close your eyes, and listen while moving it around. Stop wherever it sounds good. Sometimes I'm surprised - I feel like panning is funny because it depends what else is in the mix and where it is. Sometimes things that sound really far L/R to me are only at 60% when I actually look at Pro Tools. Sometimes something is panned hard L/R and I'm still trying to figure out how to get more separation on it.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:57 pm

i'm a fan of hard panning, but i don't do it all the time.

i'm also a fan of mono drums, but i still do stereo drums when the tune calls for it.

it's really down to what works for that tune at that time.

or, as dwlb put it so concisely, "it depends".

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:00 pm

If I was you, I wouldn't even worry about how the guitars will be panned in the mix until after you at least have the bass recorded. You're getting ahead of yourself. Maybe the guitars won't sound so weird hard panned when you've got the bass holding down the middle?

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how far left or right?

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