How do you pan harmonies.

J

JimH

New member
Where do you pan harmonies/backup vocals and why?. For example, say that a chorus has three harmonies doing just "aahhhhh" behind the lead vocal. There are high, middle and low harmonies. Do you pan them to one side so they sound like a block? Do you spread them out across the stereo field? Do the number of harmonies determine where you pan them? In what way?

I'd do a search of any previous thread on this, but the word "pan" has only three letters so I can't search for it. (Argh!)
 
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It depends on the song and what you are trying to achieve. If there was a formula to do it "right," I'd love to know it! ;)

In a recent song, I had one lead vocal, and two backing harmonies. Since the lead vox was dead center panned, I put the high harmony about 50% left panned, and the low harmony an equal distance right. Doing this gives a big, warm sound. Too much hard panning breaks things up in my opinion. But putting the harmonies slightly left and right separates them enough to make them distinct.

Check out recordings by Yes and groups like the Manhattan Transfer to get some good ideas on vocal harmony panning.
 
I generally pan 3-part harmonies just slightly across the stereo field - e.g., low part 15% left, middle part center, and high part 15% right.

It seems to me that panning them further apart tends to not work when you play it back on a stereo system. If you're sitting to the left, you hear the low part stronger than the others and vice-versa. In other words, you lose the balance in the harmony.

I haven't a clue what's right or wrong here. But that has tended to work for me.

However, Dark Friend's suggestion of listening to someone like Manhatten Transfer for ideas is a good one.
 
i normally record each harmony twice and put the first set of harmonies 20% L and the 2nd set of harmonies 20% R. The caveat being that i'm recording harmonies for background vocals not for a situation where every singer is a 'lead vocalist'.
 
Listen carefully and take mixes apart.
http://www.mp3.com/uru has some of my demo's on it, if you listen to You Know that will give you some examples of different styles of panning, as the backing vocals are split into seperate groups.
(don't listen LoFi - it sucks)
 
Thanks for all the replies, guys.

I have listened to Yes a lot, since I'm a big Yes fan. Though I guess I never paid much attention to where the harmonies are panned. Next time I will. I also listened to "You Know", sjoko2. Still need to listen again.

One example I was thinking about was Kate Bush. It seems like on some of her songs there can be a group of harmonies that sit up in the corner of one side of the stereo field. Altogether they only take up a small space. I thought this was a neat effect. I can't think of a particular song at the moment, but if I do I'll post it. Kate Bush can do many different things with her voice because of her range and sound. Her voice can be so thin that she can overdub a lot and the space still doesn't seem crowded.
 
POINT TO REMEMBER!!!!!!!

Higher frequencies are always "perceived" to be louder in volume to the average lisener.

Two ways to compensate:

1. Lower the level of the higher harmony to offset any "perceived" difference in level

2. Pan the lows 35% left (or however you see fit ) and compensate the highs by putting them 50% right (or however you see fit)

these will help to offset any level problems or should I say "perceived" level problems

if you have a mid harmonie that you want to "appear" in the center, either lower its level a touch and keep it in the center or leave its level alone and pan it very slightly (ie. 3-8%) left or right.
 
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