How Soon Do you touch the pan knob?

[kRza.]

...while mixing?

right out of the gate?
Do you wait til everything sounds good stacked mono, then pan?

[drumsound]

The drums and anything else recorded in stereo get panned from the get go. I will sometimes use the mono button, i used to a lot, but less lately.

[cgarges]

Pretty much right out of the gate. I mess around with stuff during tracking, but I start with stuff hard panned because it's easier to find faults that way. If I find some totally righteous pan position for certain things, I'll write it on the track sheet and maybe start the mix that way. It might work, or it might change again at some point during the mix.

I'm a stereo nut and I LOVE using pan positions and phase manipulation to get front-to-back depth in a mix, so I get pretty detail-oriented with the pan knobs at mix time. I love records that just rely on L-C-R mixing, but it's just not what I generally do. I usually start setting pan knobs as one of, if not THE first thing I do in a mix, but I'm usually messing with them in small amounts over the course of a mix. The "inner positions" can GREATLY affect the audibility (or inaudibility) of a track, so it takes some messing around to get things sitting just right. At least for me...

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[jnTracks]

i usually set them before i even push record.

i often move them later but.... you know...

[Wlouch]

I work the same way pretty much every time I work, not musically, but organisationally.

All on one monitor initially;

-set general levels

-pan around to align phase and set basic directionality of instruments

-adjust levels whilst notch EQing pockets for things to shine through

Go to two monitors;

-Nudge EQ, pan and levels to sit better (this is usually very small amounts)

-Walk around the room with it up loud

-Make adjustments

-Lower it down to barely audible, and make adjustments

-Walk around room with it barely audible

-Adjust final pan positions

It seems I touch the knobs a lot.

[Snarl 12/8]

Whenever I'm not hearing what I want to hear coming out of the speakers. Placement/LR balance wise. Always starts with tracking 'cause I usually start with drums.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

if there's two guitars, they are hard left and right at tracking and they generally stay there. i mostly mix LCR, it just sounds right to me.

[cjogo]

Don't forget the pans of the effects .....

[Brett Siler]

Usually the first thing, during the mixing stage. Carefully panning is pretty crucial, and can give a mix a lot of clarity, or something interestng.

[gavintheaudioengineer]

Can anyone speak further about 'LCR' mix technique?

I haven't heard the term before is all...

[lyman]

Can anyone speak further about 'LCR' mix technique?

I haven't heard the term before is all...

Left Center Right: it's when you pan stuff either hard left, up the middle, or hard right. No shades of in-between (i.e. 10% left and 65% right).

[Harry]

I'm always messing with everything at the same time:)

I will say that after faders the panning is obviously the most important part of the mix. just a hair can really clear up a mix and save from over EQing.

And when effects come in the panning will change with the panning of the effects.

say a vocal might get a little tilt to the left while the effect might get a little boost on the right side.

[chuckfurok]

I'm a stereo nut and I LOVE using pan positions and phase manipulation to get front-to-back depth in a mix, so I get pretty detail-oriented with the pan knobs at mix time.
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Can you expound in phase manipulation? How do you alter the phase? Other than the obvious 180 flip?

[Wlouch]

I'm a stereo nut and I LOVE using pan positions and phase manipulation to get front-to-back depth in a mix, so I get pretty detail-oriented with the pan knobs at mix time.
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Can you expound in phase manipulation? How do you alter the phase? Other than the obvious 180 flip?

I think he is referring to intentionally "misplacing" microphones to achieve a sound he requires. Otherwise it would be manually pushing or pulling the soundfile a few milliseconds. I sometimes do this for room mics.

[cgarges]

Can you expound in phase manipulation? How do you alter the phase? Other than the obvious 180 flip?

There is SO much stuff that can affect the phase relationships in the stereo filed, I can't even begin to get into it here. But understanding stuff like Haas Effect and Dopler and all that can have a huge effect on the width and depth of your mixes. Different effects time-based (reverb, delay, etc.), equalization, and the obvious polarity positions can all greatly influence the perception of spacial relationships. Even monitor positioning is an important part of that equasion. I've talked about it on here A LOT over the years. There are probably some good older threads on it.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC