Panning/seperation questions...

[Crayon Boy]

Just a couple panning questions for those who may know more about this kind of stuff than me. Just curious how I can get more seperation out of my mixes and make them sound bigger. I'm mainly curious about overheads and guitars. I usually pan stereo overheads out wide left and right... is that normal, or are they usually panned out to 3:00 and 9:00 o'clock? I usually pan stereo rhythm guitars out to 3:00 and 9:00 o'clock... Anything more towards the center seems to lose the "stereo" feel, and anything spread out more seems to make the mix thinner and seems to lose some of the guitar power. What do you people think? What's the standard... any good tips??

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

There's no "standard" -- Mixing is an artistic process, with some general guidelines to follow....

One of my articles may help -- Mixing 101

 

[Massive Master]

I'd add that "most" projects I get in, whether from pro OR project studios, have stereo imaging anomalies that I try to address even before tonal shaping. The stereo image is one of those things that a lot of "mastering" engineers (quotes used in sarcasm, referring to 'some guy with a PC and WaveLab' calling himself a "mastering" engineer) have no idea how to handle. There are no "mastering programs" (sarcastic quotes again...) that truly address the issue.

This is nothing new, as the mastering engineer's job always has included image management and enhancement. The hard part is the "feel" of panning - If you pan an acoustic guitar all the way to the left, it sounds completely different from an acoustic guitarist sitting to your left. While certain stereo mic'ing techniques will make a "natural" sounding stereo image, the panning of a mono track is inherently flawed from the start.

For a more "zen" example of this, there's an article (Stereo Imaging) on my site and an audio example on the Audio Samples and Studies page (under "services" - look for Classical Contemporary - Schaumburg Youth Orchestra - The Typewriter) of a WAY exaggerated stereo image from a spaced pair recording with no "center" to speak of, A/B'd against the mastered version - The stereo image was adjusted to imitate what the listener would actually be more likely to hear at the podium. Instead of instruments on the left and instruments on the right, suddenly you can "point" to an instrument that's towards the center, yet the stereo image remains wide and bright.

It's still not the greatest recording in the world, but it certainly served its purpose for this particular study.

John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com

 

[Chibi Nappa]

A tip for panning drum overheads:

Start with them hard left/right. Choose whether you want audience or drummer perspective, and pan accordingly.

Solo both overhead tracks and sloooowly pan them both towards center. There will be a point in there where the "center" of the drum kit suddenly snaps into focus. Stop panning inward as soon as you hit that point.

I pan the rest of the drums to the same location they are heard in the overhead sterio field.

As far as panning instruments, I prefer to pan them as wide as possible, but my ears tell me where they belong. Try to imagine "pressure" pushing on your ears. If one of your ears doesn't have enough "pressure" on it, pan an instrument to the empty hole and wiggle it around until your ears "feel" even. Kinda' hard to explain, easier to do.