looking on opinions for PANNING---left, right middle

Manor Music

Manor Music

New member
I would like your opinions on panning tracks...

what are the do's?
and the dont's ...
what goes left, right
how far to the left?

kickdrums
bass guitars
two guitar scenarios
vocals
 
There are no real "dos and don'ts"....it all depends on your production goals and what the mix is doing for you.

Generally....people will pan Kick, Snare, Bass, Lead Vocals and Lead Instruments....up the middle.....but that's just "generally".

I tend to split the Kick and Snare just a few degress L/R from center....and sometimes I also do that with the Bass, to the opposite side of the Kick.
It's really all about the mix....does it sound right to you....after that, you can pan things wherever you like. I don't much like to jam everything up the middle, and prefer to "fan" things out L/R, with some elements going full L/R....but one last time, it's all up to the mix and if you like it.
 
I tend to go for a classic, extreme approach to stereo panning. I tend to center bass drum, and single vocals. Snare I'll pan to where it sits in the stereo fields of the overheads. Most other instruments I'll tend to pan pretty hard, over 90%. Lead instruments can vary from 45% to 90+%. Bass guitar I'll very slightly pan off center whichever side is weakest. Double tracked, delayed, or multiple vocals will be panned hard left and right.

Again, this is just me.
 
I pretty much always stick to LCR mixing. Every since I changed about four years ago my mixes have improved dramatically and mono compatibility has improved. Hard left, center and hard right. Everything goes there. OCCASIONALLY I'll pull the toms in if they feel too wide but for the most part it's LCR.

That's just me though.

YMMV.

Cheers :)
 
miroslav said:
There are no real "dos and don'ts"....it all depends on your production goals and what the mix is doing for you.

Generally....people will pan Kick, Snare, Bass, Lead Vocals and Lead Instruments....up the middle.....but that's just "generally".

I tend to split the Kick and Snare just a few degress L/R from center....and sometimes I also do that with the Bass, to the opposite side of the Kick.
It's really all about the mix....does it sound right to you....after that, you can pan things wherever you like. I don't much like to jam everything up the middle, and prefer to "fan" things out L/R, with some elements going full L/R....but one last time, it's all up to the mix and if you like it.
Click to expand...

What he said......

My reason for setting pans this way, is that is how the band is generally situated. Drums, and lead vocals are center, the bass (when working with a right handed drummer) likes to work where they can see the high hat foot pedal, which means stage left, or a slight right pan around 30%. Guitars fight over who gets to play on the opposite side of the bass, so 1 panned L, the other panned R.
 
Mo Facta said:
I pretty much always stick to LCR mixing. Every since I changed about four years ago my mixes have improved dramatically and mono compatibility has improved. Hard left, center and hard right. Everything goes there. OCCASIONALLY I'll pull the toms in if they feel too wide but for the most part it's LCR.

That's just me though.

YMMV.

Cheers :)
Click to expand...

Did you get that from the CLA method, or just trial and error?

My usual setup is to have kick and snare dead center. Then my OH's hard panned L and R. I have the toms panned pretty hard (like 75L, 30L or R, and 75R for 3 toms) to get more separation. Then I double track guitars, so rhythm guitar 1 will have a 100L and a 100R, then usually another rhythm guitar 2 at like 90L and 90R. Then any other guitar parts that are filler will sit anywhere between 20 and 50 on either side. Then main vocals I have stereo'd at like 20L and 20R (they still sound centered, just fatter). Then backup vox will be 80L and 80R. Then depending on placement of the kick mics (inner / outer) and the snare mics (upper / lower) I'll take care of phase inverting.
 
DogmaticVox said:
Did you get that from the CLA method, or just trial and error?

My usual setup is to have kick and snare dead center. Then my OH's hard panned L and R. I have the toms panned pretty hard (like 75L, 30L or R, and 75R for 3 toms) to get more separation. Then I double track guitars, so rhythm guitar 1 will have a 100L and a 100R, then usually another rhythm guitar 2 at like 90L and 90R. Then any other guitar parts that are filler will sit anywhere between 20 and 50 on either side. Then main vocals I have stereo'd at like 20L and 20R (they still sound centered, just fatter). Then backup vox will be 80L and 80R. Then depending on placement of the kick mics (inner / outer) and the snare mics (upper / lower) I'll take care of phase inverting.
Click to expand...

I actually got turned onto it by William Wittman (Cyndi Lauper, Joan Osborne, the Outfield), otherwise known as weedywet on the interwebs. He's a big proponent of the style and is always full of amazing, straightforward, no nonsense advice over at the Womb and other forums he frequents.

Of course, it's just one way to approach panning, it's not set in stone. But it helped me and I never looked back.

The whole LCR thing came from the days of old when they didn't have pan pots on consoles. There were just three-position switches: left, center, and right. In fact, William has said he doesn't even use the panner but rather sends tracks to busses set up LCR to bypass the panner altogether. From what I can recall, he claims it has a cleaner sound because it negates the extra gain stage in the pan circuit.

He's been known to be a bit of a purist, though, so YMMV.

As always, do what works for you.

Cheers :)
 
Industry standard, 2 guitar tracks, panned hard left and hard right(100 percent left and right), drums panned in a stereo image as if you were looking at it, how would they be, kick and snare center, toms slightly panned, overheads hard left and hard right, get it, bass always centered, vocals centered, unless you want them to sound like they are coming from the left or right whatever, that should be it. This is pretty much the standard, to keep your stereo imaging right, by all means not guidelines but this is probably what you will find to work the best.
 
Manor Music said:
I would like your opinions on panning tracks...

what are the do's?
and the dont's ...
what goes left, right
how far to the left?

kickdrums
bass guitars
two guitar scenarios
vocals
Click to expand...

I mean its all up to you, use wisely though you dont want to expand entirely too much.. But try to usually split the snares from the hats. Vocals of course, unless a stereo mix.. should remain mono. Theres a VST called Moneo that will let u push the 1 mono track left and right without having to make it two tracks. But yea theres really no do's n dont's when it comes to panning, only thing is like with anything, watch how much you use!
 
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