panning hard

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revamp

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i notice that when i pan anything hard left/right the sound becomes really thin, and it just doesn't sound good like it did when it was centered. is there a solution for this?
 
i used to pan guitars hard left and right all teh time until i noticed exactly what your saying about it getting thin sounding, i've found that if you pan something just a few notches it sounds a ton better than a hard pan, unless its something that should only be on one side, but for guitars i like to pan one a few notches left and one a few notches right, sounds nicer in my opinion, but i'm not as smart as most people on here when it comes to technique, ..
 
I don't know all the technical details, but I believe many mixers (and most computer mixers) have an algorithm for adjusting the volume of signals the further they are panned from center. Additionally, if you are taking a stereo track, and hard panning it, you may get a completely different tone due to the way the left and right signals combine (phasing). I've noticed this with acoustic guitar tracks that were recorded in stereo, but I decided to pan at mixdown. The sound can be dramatically different than the original. The key is to record individual tracks in mono, the way you want them to sound, if you plan on hard panning them at mixdown.
 
Dupe the track by bouncing to another track. In this way, you'll have 2 of the same tracks hard-panned that will provide you more of a presence & definition.
 
to make that clear for everyone i believe he meant "duplicate" for dupe thanks
 
MISTERQCUE said:
Dupe the track by bouncing to another track. In this way, you'll have 2 of the same tracks hard-panned that will provide you more of a presence & definition.
Let me be even more clear. If you duplicate a track and pan one hard right and the other hard left, you have the just discovered MONO. The same signal going to both sides is mono. It is the exact same thing as taking one track and panning it to the center. The center is where the signal seems when you have the same signal going left and right at the same volume.
I don't know how to make this any more clear.
 
Farview said:
Let me be even more clear. If you duplicate a track and pan one hard right and the other hard left, you have the just discovered MONO. The same signal going to both sides is mono. It is the exact same thing as taking one track and panning it to the center. The center is where the signal seems when you have the same signal going left and right at the same volume.
I don't know how to make this any more clear.

Yes indeed-y!!!
 
When panning full right, the single source will be twice as loud at the right, but 0 loud at the left compared to the same source centred.
 
Farview said:
Let me be even more clear. If you duplicate a track and pan one hard right and the other hard left, you have the just discovered MONO. The same signal going to both sides is mono. It is the exact same thing as taking one track and panning it to the center. The center is where the signal seems when you have the same signal going left and right at the same volume.
I don't know how to make this any more clear.
You can get a "stereo" image by adding a simple delay of about 10ms to one of the tracks. To get them to sound louder, dupe the track and pan them both to the same side... then throw a bit of eq in there....
 
revamp said:
i notice that when i pan anything hard left/right the sound becomes really thin, and it just doesn't sound good like it did when it was centered. is there a solution for this?

I pan fairly hard all the time, and it thining out is kind of the point. If you want it big and in your face, put it up the middle...but then you loose any kind of stereo field...typically you don't pan one thing hard one way without having something else panned hard the other way to balance it out.

There are some other "tricks" you can use to "thicken" it up...like pan your (lets just say) guitar fairly hard to the left, and set a slapback delay on it so it only delays over on the right. This will still give you your hard pan, but it will also not "feel" as empty.

Another thing you can do, which might sound stupid...turn that panned track up a bit. The reason it sounds thin is because it's only coming out of one speaker...so you just cut the power in half.

I think the best thing to do is to listen to recordings you like REALLY closely, and you'll see that there's most likely tons of panned things, and they are a little thin. it's the nature of the beast

You're trying to make the song sound good...not that one track.

Have fun!
Tait
 
Rokket said:
You can get a "stereo" image by adding a simple delay of about 10ms to one of the tracks. To get them to sound louder, dupe the track and pan them both to the same side... then throw a bit of eq in there....
The 10ms delay will cause phase problems in mono, if your stuff isn't in danger
of getting radio airplay, go for it.
To get them louder, turn the fader up.
 
There's also the 60-70% option- that area where it's left' but still in the blend.
Wayne
 
Robertt8 said:
There are some other "tricks" you can use to "thicken" it up...like pan your (lets just say) guitar fairly hard to the left, and set a slapback delay on it so it only delays over on the right. This will still give you your hard pan, but it will also not "feel" as empty.

I've heard this quite a bit lately and have YET to accomplish it. I'm fairly new to this home recording schtuff and new to this forum so go easy on me. I've been playing for 40 years so I'm not a kid, but maybe some of you "kids" can help. Can I get a DETAILED idea of how to accomlish getting ONLY the delay in one side? No matter how I do it I end up getting the original signal too. I'll give an example.

I use GT3 PRO for mixing. Let's say I have my drums straight up as well as the bass guitar. I'll pan my guitar to the left, say 40% and then add the delay that I want. Then using the AUX SEND on that channel I'll send it to another channel or a bus. That's where I get lost. I use VST plug-ins for the delay and I don't see a way to connect to only the OUTPUT of the delay to send it anywhere. I always get the original signal along with the delay.

Can somebody tell me what I'm doing wrong and maybe give me step by step instructions on the RIGHT way to accomplish this?

Thanks!

7
 
There should be a mix control on the delay. It is labled differently on different plugins. Look for something that says wet or dry, and set it all the way wet. That will give you just the delay coming out of it.
 
Farview said:
There should be a mix control on the delay. It is labled differently on different plugins. Look for something that says wet or dry, and set it all the way wet. That will give you just the delay coming out of it.

Thanks for the response! I checked and the only thing that seemed to come close to a wet/dry was a proximity knob. I turned it all the way up and got the delay without much of the vocal. But then sending it out again got me confoozed again. I went from aux send to a separate channel and BOTH channels still had the same signal again. So just for the heck of it I made a copy of the track and put it in ANOTHER slot with the delay proximity set to 100 and that seemed to work. But I'm thinking this is just a 'work around' and the correct way might result in better track, etc. Correct?

Thanks again for the response!

7
 
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Don't dupe the track, instead play and record it twice on two separate tracks/takes. Then hard pan each track L & R.

This produces excellent sound, not all all thin or weak, and leaves the centre ground of the stereo field in the mix free for single instruments like bass.
 
I've never heard anyone say this before...but why not triple mic your amp...put it on three separate mono tracks..pan two L and R hard...then leave the other in the middle
 
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