[ddots-l] Re: Thoughts on panning?
- From: "Phil Muir" <philmuir1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 08:26:48 +0100
Hi Stephanie!!
Sorry I didn't get back to you on this sooner. Anyway, here are my thoughts on
this.
If I only had a couple of tracks in the entire mix then, I probably wouldn't
pan them as far left and right. On the other hand, quite often when mixing I
will have to fit the following into a mix:
drums, bass guitar, electric guitar left, electric guitar right, lead guitar,
Hammond, acoustic guitar left, acoustic guitar right, 3 part harmony backing
vocals and the lead vocal.
In that instance, it may be necessary to pan things quite wide in order to fit
everything into the space. The most extreme panning that I would ever do on
guitars though is 99% left and right. So, for example, I may pan the left an
right acoustic guitars 99% left and right, the electric guitars 90% left and
right and maybe, half pan the keyboards. In other words, when recording
keyboards, I don't record them on a stereo track. I always record them on two
mono tracks. I may then, mix the left channel of the Hammond hard left and the
right hand channel of the Hammond 50% right. I would probably mix the piano in
the same way to balance up the other side of the mix. In other words, the left
channel of the piano, 50% left and the right hand channel 100% right. I don't
leave the keyboards panned hard left and right as I feel that they would be
taking up too much of the stereo spread in the mix. Panning them in the way
that I have described, still gives the keyboards some of the stereo spread in
the mix, without taking over. Naturally, if the mix doesn't have as much to
go in then, you can afford to pan them right across.
I always leave instruments like bass guitar in the middle and the lead vocal in
the middle. I use Drumkit From Hell for drums. The Drumkit From Hell samples
are really good and I always love those tracks in stereo as the panning on the
drums is nicely done. I would also separate out the 3 part vocal harmonies
too. I always have the lowest harmony more to the left and pan them across
that way. So, the harmonies would go from low on the left to the hiest one,
more to the right. I would fit them into the mix wherever I feel they happen
to sit right.
Finally but probably most importantly, I would also EQ the various instruments
and vocals. EQ can help to separate out frequencies and help to spread things
out nicely in the mix. Sometimes I have found that EQing instruments and
vocals is what the mix needs, rather than lots of panning. It can also help
various instruments and vocals cut through nicely. I would also add
compression to vocals and other instruments such as the kick, snare drum and
bass guitar. I wouldn't need to add compression to the electric guitars as I
record them with compression on.
Well, those are my thoughts. Go for it!!
Regards, Phil Muir
P J Muir Productions
Music and audio production
URL: www.philmuir.com/
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephanie Pieck
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2006 4:40 PM
Subject: [ddots-l] Thoughts on panning?
While I think the effects of panning are really cool, I'm curious to know
what other people think of this question. If you are creating music that might
be listened to using headphones, what is the most extreme panning you would
use? For instance, if you have two electric guitar tracks or drum tracks, and
you want to highlight the interplay between them by placing them on opposite
sides of the mix, how far to the left and right is too far?
Thanks for any ideas.
Stephanie
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