Panning Issues

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tbrownapap

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Hey guys first post,

Right now I'm trying recording and production for the first time with a metalcore band. My equipment is VERY low grade but I'm doing the best I can with what I've got. I recently have run into some panning issues, I've panned the lead and the rhythm hard left and right because of harmonization and there are times when the guitars switch back and forth. The issue I'm having is when I want to have the lead in the center and the rhythm panned during chorus's and when the rhythm chugs. I recorded a 3rd guitar for overdubbing but it didn't sound very smooth and would "pop" into the center. So I tried quad tracking but I'm pretty sure I didn't do it properly, its screwed my tone up and drowned out the bass. Do I just EQ it till it sounds right? or is there another way of handling this?
Thanks
 
That always happens when the rhythm "chugs"....;)

I have a vague idea of what you are talking about, but without hearing it, there's no answer.
 
Can't you create an EQ envelope (decreasing the bottom muddiness) when the guitar is panned to the center, then reverting to standard EQ when it's panned left or right?
 
Well right now I have the center parts in separate tracks so ya I've already tried EQing the crap out of it but on my monitors the center sound isn't very noticeable, but say in my car speakers or headphones the center parts drown out the panned parts and this is becoming very frustrating. Maybe I just suck at EQing lol but any help would be nice. I tried doubling all of the guitar tracks and that didn't really do anything except cause more problems. Does anyone know how this trick is done without completely screwing up the levels. This kind of thing is extremely common in this genre of music.
 
From your description, I see the first problem: Your monitors. If you can't hear the center part when you are mixing, but it is overbearing in the car, your monitors or mixing environment is lying to you.

Another thing that generally helps in the situation is to put the center guitar part in a different range than the rhythm part. Try playing it an octave up, that will differentiate it enough from the chugs to be heard without having to crank it up. Another thing would be to EQ the center part brighter than the rhythms.

Without hearing it, it's hard to give much advice because we are just really guessing at what the problem is.
 
Farview said:
From your description, I see the first problem: Your monitors. If you can't hear the center part when you are mixing, but it is overbearing in the car, your monitors or mixing environment is lying to you.
Click to expand...

That's my initial thought too. Maybe your monitors are too far apart for the distance to the listening position.
 
I guess my biggest problem is I don't even have real monitors haha as I said before I'm using very low grade stuff, I have a set of Shure 750DJ headphones which are great. But for an external sound I'm using a shitty ass Panasonic stereo, make fun of if you want cause I probably deserve it. But I really have no budget for anything at the moment and this all I've got. After much fidgeting its no such much the panning anymore, its more getting that full clear distorted sound that has been alluding me (free compressors only go so far). I'll post a clip as soon as I can just try not to laugh to hard, this is my first attempt at any of this stuff so far.
 
tbrownapap said:
I guess my biggest problem is I don't even have real monitors haha as I said before I'm using very low grade stuff, I have a set of Shure 750DJ headphones which are great. But for an external sound I'm using a shitty ass Panasonic stereo.
Click to expand...

Well obviously there's your problem. Since you don't actually have real monitors, your mixes won't come out accurate as they sound in the DAW. Somewhere in there there's some coloring of sound and cuts in frequencies. Though not impossible to mix with, it will certainly make things difficult to adjust to, headphones or speakers.

But no one's laughin' lots of us start out someway or another, I only recently bought my monitors after being in the mixing world for a couple years now.
 
Monitors are kind of a big deal, but you can work around it. If you have another pair of MATCHING speakers, switch back and forth between phones, boombox, any other speakers. The more references you have, the better off you'll be. Invest in a huge stack off blank CDs so you can listen in your car, in your friends car, on the PlayStation, whatever. And a good rule of thumb is to switch to mono to see if anything disappears or becomes too loud.

I don't have monitors yet, either, so I've been mixing on stereo speakers, but switching between my phones and the P.A. speakers. My mixes could be better, but I'm satisfied for now. It can be done, as long as you're familiar with your speakers

Invest in monitors as soon as you can, tho.
 
"a good rule of thumb is to switch to mono"
If you have recorded / bounced to stereo in the first set up your sound will have interference inter-track. set up well in mono first and record again.
 
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