Quick question about panning stereo drum submix...

Dark Imagery

Dark Imagery

New member
Hey guys I'm a bit confused. I've got 7 drum tracks panned to my taste but have a "boundary" at R 60 and L 60 in which the overheads are panned to. Everything else on the kit is panned no wider than that. I sent all the drum tracks on a bus to a stereo aux track to make a drum submix. Here's my question. By default, when you create a stereo track in Pro Tools each side is panned 100% respectively. If my drum "boundary" is at 60% L-R is it spreading out when it hits the drum submix? Do I need to narrow down my drum aux track to 60-60, or would that smash my overheads to appear to be at 20-20? Thanks!
 
I've never heard of pan boundary' (is that you saying you kept them all 60% or less?
If you send a mix to a pair of paths -a stereo sub for example, keeping it at full pan width maintains fully discrete left and right paths to pass both sides unaffected.
Adding more pan in' works whatever passes through further towards mono.
 
Yes, by boundary I meant I didn't pan any of the drums past 60%.
mixsit said:
keeping it at full pan width maintains fully discrete left and right paths to pass both sides unaffected.
Adding more pan in' works whatever passes through further towards mono.
Click to expand...
Ok, I just wanna make sure I understand what you're saying here. If my overheads panned 60 L - 60 R hit a stereo aux track panned 100 L - 100 R the two overheads will still be at 60-60? If I panned in the stereo aux track to 80-80 would the drum overheads appear to be at 40-40? I think I understand but I'm a bit foggy this morning... The panning of the aux track to 100 - 100 opens the whole speaker for the information sent to it but doesn't alter the pan setting of the individual tracks unless it's panned in?
 
The 60 left and 60 right doesn't mean 60%. It's just the number they chose to use for 100%. So, if you're panned all the way to 60L and 60R, you're not at any "boundary". You're actually panned 100% left and right.
 
Dark Imagery said:
Do I need to narrow down my drum aux track to 60-60, or would that smash my overheads to appear to be at 20-20? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes, the effects of the channel and submix pans are cumulative. If you have your channels spread between -60 and +60 and then set your group bus pans to -60 and +60 it will further narrow the image. Most likely you will want to leave your bus pans set to -100 and +100. Alternatively, you could pan the channels across a +/-100 range and then experiment with narrowing the image with the bus pans.
 
My TASCAM 2488 only goes to 64L and 64R...but that IS 100%L and 100%R. It's just a number, not a percentage.
 
RAMI said:
My TASCAM 2488 only goes to 64L and 64R...but that IS 100%L and 100%R. It's just a number, not a percentage.
Click to expand...

I think Pro Tools is marked in +/-100%. I'll try to remember to look tonight when I'll be running a PT session. I bet the +/-64 on your Tascam is because it's represented by an 8 bit number. Either way what matters is how it sounds, the number is just a convenience.
 
Yeah, RAMI I guess I meant 100% as all the way. Pro Tools does go -/+ 100. Ok, thanks bouldersoundguy I guess you answered my question. I'll leave the bus pans at 100% L-R and just use the pans of the audio tracks to create the spacial element to the mix. Thanks!
 
Dark Imagery said:
... Ok, I just wanna make sure I understand what you're saying here.
Click to expand...
Try thinking it out from the other side.

Let's say you had just one track and you panned it hard left, nothing's supposed to be sounding on the right.

Would you expect the master bus to 'mix some of it over to the right? No. This is the result with the two discrete paths that are 'stereo.

How would you get some of that left sig to appear in the right? You would use a pan' at the track to blend it over... Or use one on the master bus.
 
Ah ha! Thanks mixsit, this was a complete oversight on my part. I failed to notice that I have a master fader (which is what Pro Tools calls it) that everything is routed through before reaching the speakers. It's panned 100 L - 100 R and doesn't effect the panning positions I've chosen for each track. Should have seen the the drum sub bus as the same thing... thanks again. What a n00b :spank:
 
I'm Shure I went through the same at some point. :) After a while the logic and stuff adds up and pulls you through.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top