I need some Dual vocal Panning advice please help me out

Posted on Apr 16, 2009 05:30 pm
YeugeneB
Member Since: Apr 16, 2009

So My band is self recorded by me and in most of our songs my guitarist and I harmonize vocals for just about the whole song.

If it was a triple harmony I would just hard pan 2 of them and keep the main vocal in the center, but since there are two main vocals do I center them both? any tips or advice?

and on the songs where there is one main vocal but the harmony comes in every now and then how do I pan that? should I pan at all? should I dub One of the vocals and hard pan that while leaving the higher or lower in the middle?

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Noize2u
Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Apr 16, 2009 08:44 pm

You can pan them slightly off center, one to each side. Extreme panning can work in some cases. It is really dictated by how well it fits in the music and how big a space you want to convey in the music.

I will often times keep the lead vox centered and pan a harmony slightly off center to give it its own space and some depth.

There are really no hard fast rules for how exactly to pan the vocals in a mix. But extreme panning is pretty rare these days. But it does appear now and then.

crux
Typo Szar
Member
Since: Jul 04, 2002

Apr 17, 2009 11:22 am

I think this one is all about effects and y ur doing dual vocals, sometimes when i do dual vocals its just to beef up, or create a kind of chorusing. in both cases i will pan them dead center and maybe add more reverb to one to put it behind.

if both vocals have to be clear and serve their own purpose then definitley pan them a little off center, maybe 10% either way.

if they r harmonies again u can probably just line them up in the middle and use reverb to space them. i find though that if doing harmonies, for a much thicker sound, leave the lead in the middle but do each harmony twice and pan them either way, makes it much richer.

CptTripps
Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006

Apr 17, 2009 11:54 am

Two main vocals if not singing at the same time, leave em both centered imo. Now if they are running into each other (think dropkick murphys)maybe a slight pan of 5-15 to keep em from walking on each other.

On lead vox with a harmony. Either center the lead, sing the harmony twice and pan em accordingly. Or leave em both centered if not conflicting, whatever fits the song really.