panning

[JesseP]

Alright im sure this has been covered a lot but this is going to be my first time really trying to record a song and im willing to take any advice you guys can give me. Il be recording vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, and bass guitar. I would assume to put the vocals in the middle as that is a common thing to do from what ive been reading. I will be recording the guitar in mono and doing a fake stereo by duplicating the track and shifting one a couple milliseconds ahead (hopefully this works out but ive read it is a good way to get guitar to sound like its in stereo). Should i keep the bass track mixed dead center as well? What about harmonica? My main goal for this track is for it to sound as professional as possible and get a nice clear recording while keeping a natural vibe to the song.

 

[Dogbreath]

It's wide open for ya man. But some of the "normal" things I do is keep my main vocals and my bass straight up in the pan. As to the harmonica, I'd blend that in off to one side or the other after I had my acoustic guitar set.
The acoustic, hmmm...I'd try a few different ideas on that. I usually stereo mic mine, one at the 12th fret like yer sayin and the other down a couple inches out from the bridge but faced away from the sound hole. The hole is too boomy for my taste. But I usually do that with a pair of the same mic. In your case, try the ADK at the 12th, try it at the bridge, move it in and out with your headphones on while someone else plays (if ya can). Try the 58 at the same places, try em both with one at the 12th, one at the bridge, try the ADK over the players right shoulder and a couple feet out. Once ya get your ac sittin where you like it, bring your harmonica in to help round it out. Whichever side it gets panned is fine but I wouldn't imagine hard panning would sound right. I dunno tho...try it.
Bottom line is...since your room, guitar, gear etc is different than anyone elses...experiment.

Oh...and if you mic the acoustic with one mic....and you know the part well enough, play it and track the same part twice. Sounds fuller with kind of a cool effect. Better (imo) than a copy/paste track.

ymmv...hope somethin here helps man.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

How is it panned in your head? That's how you want to pan it in the studio.

And, BTW, panning has almost nothing to do with "sounding professional" and all those other descriptions you gave. Pro recordings are panned all over the map.

Concentrate on getting your tracking (recording) as pro-sounding as possible before you even *start* mixing, otherwise it ain't gonna sound good no matter how you pan it.

-----

Does nobody have any feel for *music* anymore? You have in your heads and guts what you want things to sound like; follow your head and guts with your ears, and you can't lose. If you don't know what you want, then hold off. If you don't know what you want, how can you possibly get what you want?

G.

 

[JesseP]

It's wide open for ya man. But some of the "normal" things I do is keep my main vocals and my bass straight up in the pan. As to the harmonica, I'd blend that in off to one side or the other after I had my acoustic guitar set.
The acoustic, hmmm...I'd try a few different ideas on that. I usually stereo mic mine, one at the 12th fret like yer sayin and the other down a couple inches out from the bridge but faced away from the sound hole. The hole is too boomy for my taste. But I usually do that with a pair of the same mic. In your case, try the ADK at the 12th, try it at the bridge, move it in and out with your headphones on while someone else plays (if ya can). Try the 58 at the same places, try em both with one at the 12th, one at the bridge, try the ADK over the players right shoulder and a couple feet out. Once ya get your ac sittin where you like it, bring your harmonica in to help round it out. Whichever side it gets panned is fine but I wouldn't imagine hard panning would sound right. I dunno tho...try it.
Bottom line is...since your room, guitar, gear etc is different than anyone elses...experiment.

Oh...and if you mic the acoustic with one mic....and you know the part well enough, play it and track the same part twice. Sounds fuller with kind of a cool effect. Better (imo) than a copy/paste track.

ymmv...hope somethin here helps man.

Thanks for the micing advice. Ive thought about doubling it but my concern was that it would sound to produced. The sound has a very natural feel to it and it wanted to make a very organic sounding recording. Il give it a shot i can always drop one of the tracks.

By the way i wish i had some nice stereo mics for acoustic but im on a tight budget and its not even me whose playing acoustic guitar. Im saving for a avalon u5 for myself cause im the bass player.