How do you pan drums- listener or player perspective

[hrn]

Hi,
How do you pan drums- listener or player perspective? A friend told me he had spent some time listening to this from some records from the 70's and found out that it could differ between songs on a certain record. The newer the records became the more the listening perspective was used.

To me the listener panning is obvious to use.... What about you?

Hans,
www.hagen.nu

[scottboyher]

Ultimately it is up to you and what ever you like. I usually go from the listener’s perspective. I figure that 99% of the people listening to my music will not be drummers.

[mbuster]

What's a "drummer"?

[scottboyher]

Originally posted by mbuster
What's a "drummer"?

Usually really drunk guys with sticks..

[hrn]

Yeah, 99% of the listeners are not drummers

It's still a fact that some records are made with different pannings for each song. I was wondering if this was a production choice, maybe to make it more interesting.... My friend is mentioning Eagles and Alice Cooper as examples.....haven't heard it my self, still I rely on this guy.

Personally, I go for the listener perspective every time. But, when I heard this, I got curious.

Hans

[theletterq]

Listeners perspective. Also, I don't pan hard right and left like some people. I try and gauge the "width" of the kit and how far apart the different parts are. For instance, two rack toms are what, like 2 inches apart? Those will be panned pretty close together.

[hrn]

theletterq,
Agree! And the depth of the kit too. I don't like the kick to be in my face and the toms for example 5 meters away....
Hans

[F_cksia]

who cares.. the listeners perpective with a left-handed drummer is the same as the player perspective of a right-handed and vice versa... ; actually nobody will care.

unless there's some shaker on the left side, having the hihat right would be nice. but you can also move the shaker of course

and so on.

[mixsit]

Either way, but one big factor is the size and distance you're going for. When I'm recording, the only perspective that makes sense to me if the kit is going to wrap around the listener a bit is the drummer's. But then when I switch hats, the other side seems better.
Go figure.
Wayne