TimN
New member
Well, I came up in the seventies, but I'm far more interested in current trends insofar as that goes, but the degree of stylistic differences today is wide (music-wise). I'm not sure who is listening to what you're doing, but treatment is always dependent upon the song at hand. I mix a lot of rappers and R+B singers, and sometimes I use reverb and delays, and sometimes not. It's always there, though the dose is sometimes real small, and sometimes big. I myself play and record folk-rock and pop music, so things are a bit different, but not that much.
Music is very often crushed today, but that is coming to an end. I'm not so sure about "dryness" though. What does that mean? I'm not an engineer, but I've mixed plenty of songs, and panning is always relative to the tune, though I do certain things all the time: Vocals are in the center, with reverb and delays (almost always synced to the beat) relative to the music; guitars (electrics get panned about 30 percent left right (sometimes--it really varies) acoustics are usually closer to the center, but that's because they are often recorded whilst the player is singing as well. Keys and other stuff? Who knows? It depends, really. There is no rule--I listen to a lot of different music, and it always amazes me how panning is used. For instance, listen to "September Gurls" by Big Star--the drums are panned to one side (the left). Sure, its an older track, but why? It wasn't necessarily what was done then (Bread's music often was mixed like that too--some really nicely recorded stuff, though).*
Most of the decisions I make about panning relate to my experience listening to music. I do what producers in the past have done. All you have to do is listen. If there is a certain type of music you like, then pay attention to what the producer is doing with panning. Of course, there are other things going on that will affect the panning--reverb tails, delays, the amount and kind of guitars, keys. But it's possible to get an idea about what to do by simply listening. Especially in headphones.
*About 8 years ago I finally heard Bread's "Baby I'm A Want You" as it was intended to be heard, sort of. (It was an mp3, but light years better than the old record I used to listen to on a fucked-up junko record player, or the AM radio.) David Gates' voice was accompanied by what I think is a plate reverb--I could hear into the reverb, it's tail shifting to one side. Until that point, I had never realized that was there. I could never afford the kind of system to hear that back in the day, so for decades I missed out. I played that song a few times back to back, just to hear the crazy sonic stuff therein.
Music is very often crushed today, but that is coming to an end. I'm not so sure about "dryness" though. What does that mean? I'm not an engineer, but I've mixed plenty of songs, and panning is always relative to the tune, though I do certain things all the time: Vocals are in the center, with reverb and delays (almost always synced to the beat) relative to the music; guitars (electrics get panned about 30 percent left right (sometimes--it really varies) acoustics are usually closer to the center, but that's because they are often recorded whilst the player is singing as well. Keys and other stuff? Who knows? It depends, really. There is no rule--I listen to a lot of different music, and it always amazes me how panning is used. For instance, listen to "September Gurls" by Big Star--the drums are panned to one side (the left). Sure, its an older track, but why? It wasn't necessarily what was done then (Bread's music often was mixed like that too--some really nicely recorded stuff, though).*
Most of the decisions I make about panning relate to my experience listening to music. I do what producers in the past have done. All you have to do is listen. If there is a certain type of music you like, then pay attention to what the producer is doing with panning. Of course, there are other things going on that will affect the panning--reverb tails, delays, the amount and kind of guitars, keys. But it's possible to get an idea about what to do by simply listening. Especially in headphones.
*About 8 years ago I finally heard Bread's "Baby I'm A Want You" as it was intended to be heard, sort of. (It was an mp3, but light years better than the old record I used to listen to on a fucked-up junko record player, or the AM radio.) David Gates' voice was accompanied by what I think is a plate reverb--I could hear into the reverb, it's tail shifting to one side. Until that point, I had never realized that was there. I could never afford the kind of system to hear that back in the day, so for decades I missed out. I played that song a few times back to back, just to hear the crazy sonic stuff therein.
