Vocal panning approaches

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Phobos
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Vocal panning approaches

Post by Phobos » Thu Jul 01, 2021 11:55 am

Curious how different people approach panning vocals in a stereo mix. I usually center the lead and pan the harmonies left and right, but not too far out. Maybe halfway. If they feel too "separate," I'll pain them closer to center. What do you do?

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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by vernier » Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:19 pm

I record everything mono and take a mono send to a mono reverb. Then at mixdown, pan the mono reverb return to the right in order to create a bit of stereo-ness.

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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by vvv » Thu Jul 01, 2021 2:27 pm

Record in mono, if 2 BV's then 9-10:00 and 2-3:00, lead at 12:00, stereo reverbs, sometimes with mono delays first.
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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by digitaldrummer » Thu Jul 01, 2021 2:31 pm

for a typical rock/pop mix I would probably do something similar. in that case I might put all harmonies/bg vox to a bus and use the same eq/comp. sometimes I'll use a delay/doubler or some other effects (little alterboy or something like that), but I would also send them to a reverb or delay or both. or sometimes not. Sometimes dry is good. and if it's just a double of the main vocal then I just usually keep it straight with the main and sneak it under. or maybe do that with a subtle harmony too.

But sometimes, depending on what else is in the mix, I might move BG vox left or right as long as I have something else on the opposite side to balance it a bit (or not depending on what we are going for).
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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by Magnetic Services » Thu Jul 01, 2021 3:50 pm

digitaldrummer wrote:
Thu Jul 01, 2021 2:31 pm
if it's just a double of the main vocal then I just usually keep it straight with the main and sneak it under. or maybe do that with a subtle harmony too.
Sometimes this is the most effective, especially if you want a thick and lush sound. Panning has a tendency to make them sound too separated.

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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by joninc » Fri Jul 02, 2021 12:01 pm

i like to mix it up and see what can get away with and try to get out of always centering them (although i still do a lot)... lately i've been spreading doubled lead vocals halfway into the L and R

or in a song with orchestrations panning the bgs opposite the strings in a more 60's kinda way.

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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by Nick Sevilla » Fri Jul 02, 2021 5:20 pm

It is very difficult to play with the panning of a lead vocal, as the human brain always will focus on the human voice. That said, if your song arrangement allows for crazy stuff, if the song requires you do crazy stuff, then do whatever you need to to make it more interesting and to move the story forward.

Like making a vocal sound underwater, if the song is about being underwater... etc.

For backing vocals, well, is this a wild arrangement? A smooth Jazz arrangement? A live recording, where you want to keep the positions of the singers exactly as they are, especially if there is video along with the music?

Always try to fit the panning and other processing to the song and the style.
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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by vvv » Fri Jul 02, 2021 7:05 pm

FWIW, the song I'm in the middle of today (drums and bass "done", vocals ruff mixed - guitars next) has:

1. lead vocal centered, small plate 50% (parallel)
2. choruses 1-6, 9 and 3:00, large plate 50% (parallel)
3. falsetto choruses 2-6, 10 and 2:00, cathedral reverb 50% (parallel)
4. choruses 3-6, 8 and 4:00, large plate 50% (parallel)
5. choruses 4-6, 7 and 5:00, medium plate 50% (parallel)

Sounding good right now, but may or may not be adjusted as recording and mix progresses.
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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by The Scum » Fri Jul 02, 2021 10:36 pm

Liturgical music?

Men to the center and women to the sides.
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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Sat Jul 03, 2021 6:23 am

I'm in agreement with Nick. It's hard to move the lead out of centre and not have it feel weird. I do it every now and then but not often.
Sometimes on sparse arrangements I'll use Rudy Van Gelder/Blue Note style panning. So many of his records had the lead instruments and drums panned and used bleed and ambience to fill in and unite the sound stage. I sometimes apply that to singer songwriter mixes or trios. That means the drums may end up at 9 o'clock, bass up the middle, guitar at 3 o'clock and the vocal at 1 or 2 o'clock. Al little panning goes a long way with the vocal but it can often open up tons of space in the music. The trick is to balance in mono and then pan.

More often than not though my vocal is up the middle. On pop stuff I'll do lots of mono to stereo ambient treatments on a vocal. Mono delay and reverb in the verse, stereo delay and reverb in the chorus.

For backing vocals it depends on how many voices and what they're doing. If it's one BV I'll usually pan it with the lead. Two get panned out slightly - maybe at 11 and 1 or 10 and 2. For big groups and doubled harmonies I'll mix one set of harmonies tight as previously described and the other will get hard panned.
On lead vocal doubles I usually leave a single up the middle with the lead. If there are two I'll sometimes pan them wide. I also often aggressively high pass doubles and delete all the S's and hard consonants. I want the tone of the vocal and the widening effect but I don't want flamming consonants or anything that actually draws your ear to the double.

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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by Recycled_Brains » Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:18 am

Seems lately I'm keeping doubled or harmonized vocals much tighter in the center than I used to. Sometimes I'll wide-pan a double. If it's a harmony I like all of the vocals to be a more unified thing, so typically I'll keep lead center, pan the harmonies to somewhere between 10 and 30 percent L/R so that it widens things without the panning being too obvious.
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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by Magnetic Services » Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:10 am

The Scum wrote:
Fri Jul 02, 2021 10:36 pm
Liturgical music?

Men to the center and women to the sides.
:roll:

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Re: Vocal panning approaches

Post by drumsound » Wed Jul 07, 2021 11:48 am

Lead vocal and doubles center. Depending on the amount of BVs they get moved around. I don't usually pan them too wide, because I feel like they support the lead if they are tighter. If it's just one BV, I pan it away from something with a similar tonal reference. So, if there's a keyboard or guitar part in a similar range, it gets panned say right to some extent, then the vocal goes to the left.

Generally stereo effects returns are panned hard L-R, but not always.

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