Panning question

[metaljoseph]

I play mostly rock music and some chill dashboard like acoustic songs. I have two guitars playing on the songs(rhythm and lead), a bass,lead vocals, backup vocals,and sometimes a keyboard.I am having a little trouble figuring out a good way to pan my instruments. What I normally do is put the lead at about 45 L,duplicate it,then pan the clone the same 45 right(some times I nudge the clone over a few millaseconds to give it a fuller feel.I do the same with the back ups but pan them more at about 55 left and right. Lead guitar I do the same but 35 left and right{without the nudge). Rhythm guitar at 40 L and R.Bass in in the center. Can anyone give me a better grasp on what you do or what you think I should do.Maybe no clones?Or maybe lead on left rhythm on right.Please Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rweiss]

For dashboard type styles, I'd recommend taking two exact same takes of the vocal track (that means singing it twice rather than copying it so the frequency waves aren't in phase and you get a fuller sound) - you could also experiment with singing the second take at a lower octave and just turning it up just enough to be barely audible in the mix - this will harmonize it (provided it's done correctly) and add more fullness. Either method will give you a better vocal track overall. Experiment and see what you like.

 

[metaljoseph]

Ty. Thanx for the feed back I will try this but I'm kinda more interested in how hard you guys pan them.What about guitars?

 

[rweiss]

There is a post on here somewhere with pics to the sound field imagery - (for some reason I can't search for it) - It's real simple but divides it into 4 parts, looking something like this:


Bass - Guitar - Drums - Vocals - Drums - Guitar - Bass
(I'm not totally sure what's in the fourth tier (where Bass is) - I can't find the thread about it so I dont remember.)

Basically this starts with vocals in the center (up front) in the sound field and panning off to the left and right from there. The way I set my mixes up is:

*Vocals - Two takes of lead vocals, each 30% left and right / Two takes of backup vocals, each 100% left and right.
*Drums - kick/snare center, OH's 30% left and right, toms from 25% to 25% left and right.
* Guitar - I pan both the guitars about 50% left and right respectively.
* Bass - center.

This is just what I do, I'm not saying mine sound great, but I figured I'd supply my input. Try it out and let us know how it goes!

 

[Rokket]

There is a post on here somewhere with pics to the sound field imagery - (for some reason I can't search for it) - It's real simple but divides it into 4 parts, looking something like this:


Bass - Guitar - Drums - Vocals - Drums - Guitar - Bass
(I'm not totally sure what's in the fourth tier (where Bass is) - I can't find the thread about it so I dont remember.)

Basically this starts with vocals in the center (up front) in the sound field and panning off to the left and right from there. The way I set my mixes up is:

*Vocals - Two takes of lead vocals, each 30% left and right / Two takes of backup vocals, each 100% left and right.
*Drums - kick/snare center, OH's 30% left and right, toms from 25% to 25% left and right.
* Guitar - I pan both the guitars about 50% left and right respectively.
* Bass - center.

This is just what I do, I'm not saying mine sound great, but I figured I'd supply my input. Try it out and let us know how it goes!

I do it very similar. Sometimes I will have two guitar parts per side, and the distortion tracks are usually panned hard so that there is enough separation to avoid frequency collision and the inevitable phasing.
Depending on the song, sometimes I duplicate the bass and pan it hard left/right too. But only if the bass is a lead instrument, otherwise, I leave it centered.

 

[boomtap]

Have you ever checked out some old beatles stuff where they have the drums on one side and everything else on the other. That still trips me out. Wouldn't really work with todays musical styles, but it is a great way to check out how creative you can be with your pans.

I always was under the impression that the goal is to get all your lower freqencies centered to make room for your lead vocals, and then depending what other insterments you have to work with, set them in the mix wide but keep them out of the way of one another so you don't get mud. I personally hard pan alot of guitars. Here is a mix I did hard panned 2 seperate tracks with all the bass in the middle of the mix. Just a thought. The sample really kicks in about 2:30 into the song.

Fallenshort Consequences

 

[Rokket]

Have you ever checked out some old beatles stuff where they have the drums on one side and everything else on the other. That still trips me out. Wouldn't really work with todays musical styles, but it is a great way to check out how creative you can be with your pans.

I always was under the impression that the goal is to get all your lower freqencies centered to make room for your lead vocals, and then depending what other insterments you have to work with, set them in the mix wide but keep them out of the way of one another so you don't get mud. I personally hard pan alot of guitars. Here is a mix I did hard panned 2 seperate tracks with all the bass in the middle of the mix. Just a thought. The sample really kicks in about 2:30 into the song.

Fallenshort Consequences

I had read somewhere that the Beatles old recordings were done like that because it was around the time that stereo recordings were first invented, and that's how most of them were done. I guess that explains the old Elvis Presley 78's that my mom has. They were panned that way too.

 

[boomtap]

Ya, that is what I have heard too. They did lots of stuff though to make things sound wider on those albums.

 

[Atterion]

Have you ever checked out some old beatles stuff where they have the drums on one side and everything else on the other. That still trips me out. Wouldn't really work with todays musical styles, but it is a great way to check out how creative you can be with your pans.

The Doors recorded similar to that too (Ray's keys hard one-way, and Robbie's guitar hard the other way with Jim right in the middle, and never mind the drums they were usually an FX/Panning spectacular in themselves).

 

[rweiss]

"boomtap"?? I've been robbed!

 

[boomtap]

I love to listen to some of that type of stuff, and sit there and just pick out all the things they did. They relied on inginuity to creat new sounds rather than technology. It can really get you thinking about how to make your recordings unique.

 

[boomtap]

http://www.boomtaprecords.com I started a label many years back, and now all the bands have bought out their contracts, and now I basically and trying to decide whether or not to get back into it.

Sorry if I stole your name. That is my name on all kinds of things. XBOX live, Few dozen message boards, soon my licence plate....

 

[wesley tanner]

kick snare and bass usually sound odd to me if they're not close to center, but other than that, it's all about what's right for the song... panning can be a huge attention getter in car systems and besides, it's fun. anything that you get into the habit of doing for every mix will homogonize your sound. boo to that, I say.

 

[rweiss]

http://www.boomtaprecords.com I started a label many years back, and now all the bands have bought out their contracts, and now I basically and trying to decide whether or not to get back into it.

Sorry if I stole your name. That is my name on all kinds of things. XBOX live, Few dozen message boards, soon my licence plate....

No worries, I've been meaning to put something cool down there anyways...

 

[boomtap]

I go the name when I was working with a band in the studio and thier drummer was going nutz and I kept telling him to "just play Boom Tap Boom Tap Boom Tap".