drum panning

[BRIEFCASEMANX]

how do you guys pan your drums in the mix? While I know people are going to say "whatever sounds best to you" but I'm just wondering what some typical or cliched panning schemes are. Usually I do something like this:

overheads - 40-75 L/R
snare - 5 right
floor tom - 40-75 L
head tom/s - 10 R/L
kick - usually center or maybe 1 L
hi hat - never miked a hi hat

I have heard stuff where it sounds like toms are hard panned to opposite speakers as well as overheads and a lot of weird stuff that doesn't seem realistic with the placement of the specific drums in a drumkit in the room. I was just wondering what a lot of you guys do as far as panning and the reason behind it?

 

[Idgeit]

I always pan pretty much as the kit is, if the tom is slightly to one side, i make sure its the same when panning. Nothing beats the sound of a kit coming around you when you are listening to a record.

- Idgeit

 

[Kryptik]

If you want normal, pan the left overhead left and the right overhead right. Pan the left tom a little to the left, the middle tom in the middle, or a little to the right slightly, and the right tom further to the right. Basically, try and match how they are on the kit.

If you want cool, try panning the the overheads hard right and hard left and pan the toms opposite where they are. You sort of get this criss crossing effect.

 

[LemonTree]

pan the overheads hard left and right then match the other stuff to that stereo image

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

It totally depends upon the music style and arrangement, but for most of the stuff I do - most of my clients make up a gumbo of rock, jazz and blues - the drums typically remain a pretty natural stereo spread, rarely wider than +/- 25%. I also keep the number of mics minimal, usually a stereo pair and a kick. Miking the snare comes in only if the drummer is not strong enough to play it himself, and the toms almost never need it.

Of course this can all change depending on content - hip hop is a different story altogether, as is the teen angst stuff - but for most 20th-century-style American roots music, for my style of producing, the more natural the drums, the better the sound and the tighter the mix.

Speaking out for the minority on this board...

G.

 

[wesley tanner]

i like makin' space in the middle for the vocal, so I keep the oh's hard panned, the toms out of the center, and the snare maybe a hair to the left. kik is center.

this question comes up a lot, do a search for it, you'll find a lot more, I'd wager.

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

All I know is I put kick and snare dead center... period and amen.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Placement and width can vary for me (depending on the context of the song), but 99.9% of the time, kick is center and snare a hair off-center to the right.
I also tend to go for audience perspective - it just usually sounds more natural to my ears!

 

[xfinsterx]

Since im a drummer i tend to pan from drummers perspective, sounds too wierd the other way.

Kick n snare, dead center.
Toms vary upon the mix/genre.

If im mixing a heavy rock mix with alot of layers and such, i tend to bring the toms in a bit, say <10,>15,>30.

If its a more sparse and breathy arrangement ill pan them out a bit more.

As for overheads i like to hear them paned out at <90,>90.

If there are other elements of the mix that i feel need to exist at 90 and 90 i might bring the overheads in more so the parts dont step on one another.

Also, for modern rock and heavy guitar layden stuff, you would be hard pressed to not mic the snare and toms.

Just micing the overheads/ and kick will not cut the heavy metal mustard!!

However as Southside mentioned....if doing blues, or certainly jazz, you can do less micing and be just fine.

-Finster

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Just micing the overheads/ and kick will not cut the heavy metal mustard!!

However as Southside mentioned....if doing blues, or certainly jazz, you can do less micing and be just fine.

Yeah, we're saying just about the same thing from two different sides. Non-heavy-metal rock I think can go either way, but I'll still tend to try to treat the *kit* as an instrument and not each individual drum as a seperate instrument.

But the heavy metal stuff (a.k.a. "teen angst rock" ), you're right, you often need to artifically treat the individual kit parts just so they can bust through the Wall Of Gibson Sustain, if nothing else.

Not to mention the way all that hair deadens the room acoustics...
Sorry, just a friendly joke I couldn't pass up.

G.

 

[xfinsterx]

Not to mention the way all that hair deadens the room acoustics...

G.

LOL, nice one Glen.

-Finster

 

[xstatic]

The way I pan my drums is based on many different factors. First usually being the style of music. Second being the style that I mic'ed the kit (especially concerning what type of overheads I used that day and how I placed them). Another factor would be the drummers dynamics and tuning since that greatly affects the sound of the overheads and any room mics. One other thing I factor in is the amount of layering, especially in the guitar tracks. If my overheads consist mainly of cymbals I tend to not pan them as hard. If they each have a good full sound I can get away with panning them much harder and still leave room for a lot of heavy guitar tracks. One thing I hate is when peoples overheads have too much cymbals in them and then get hard panned. I do not like to hear things like the ride cymbal coming from hard left. That just isn't natural. I also do not believe that kick and snare have to be panned dead center. To me every group has to have their own sound, and then beyond that even different songs need a little different flavor. Personally, it is not often that I like hearing a drum sound that has an obviously wider sound than layered guitars. When that happens I feellike it actually makes the mix sound narrower and the drums sound smaller. To me, a good drum mix drives a song AND leaves room for the other instruments to place as well. I too am a drummer, but I prefer the drum image to be more along the lines of the audience perspective. I tend to try and image my mixes so that you can close your eyes and envision the band as if you were watching them play. One other thing I liek to do is pan my snare top center, but then maybe my snare bottom mic about 10 or 15% off to the right.

 

[BRIEFCASEMANX]

thanks for the replies guys!

 

[chessrock]

I tend to pan mine up and down, rather than left and right.

Like to pan the floor tom on top of everything, and the kick and snare coming from the bottom.

 

[Kryptik]

How do you pan up and down? EQ?

 

[wesley tanner]

delay


(blah blah 10 characters)

 

[BRIEFCASEMANX]

I tend to pan mine up and down, rather than left and right.

Like to pan the floor tom on top of everything, and the kick and snare coming from the bottom.

I TRIED CLICKING THE PAN BOX AND DRAGGING IT UP AND DOWN FOR 15 MINUTES STRAIGHT AND IT ONLY LEAD TO FRUSTRATION! YOU JERK YOU TRICKED ME!!!!!

OFF-TOPIC: WHICH BUTTON DO YOU CLICK TO MASTER A SONG?

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I tend to pan mine up and down.

So do the rest of us guys, but there are some things you just don't talk about in public, man.

G.

 

[LemonTree]

that's the cat out the bag now

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I tend to pan mine up and down, rather than left and right.

Dammit, Chess......... STFU! Don't give away the "secrets of the pros!"

Shit... I've said too much..........