Panning
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Posted on Aug 03, 2002 09:30 am
crux
Typo Szar
Member Since: Jul 04, 2002
After listening to much of the information on this very informative website (bow bow), and much of my own experimentation i have found taht panning is a very important factor of good mixing, even though it seems just like left speaker right speaker. but the thing is, there isnt much information on panning, tricks and tips, dos and donts, when and hows... if anybody can share their own littles laws and experiences and maybe even point to an article about id appreciate it very much.
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Aug 03, 2002 09:53 am I think panning is one of those things that you just have to do what sounds good. There's really no rules about it. Some sugestions I'd have though are if you have more than one guitar doing different things, pan them differently. That's where I use it the most. It can also sound nice on vocals. I tend to keep the bass and drums in the middle, but if you try panning them and like the sound, by all means go for it.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Aug 03, 2002 11:08 am Like Fuzz said, a good start is with the bass and kick drum pretty much centered. You can pan your drum's just like you where sittng at or facing the kit. (Snare and hat just to the right, high tom middle, mid tom slightly left, low tome and floor further to the left yet. spread the ride and crash's out that way also.
This is just an example. Don't forget you can use a bit of reverb to set voice's and instrument's back a bit in the mix also.
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
Aug 05, 2002 01:29 am I use a lot of fades with my panning, like during the high part of a song or line of lyrics have a sound start in one ear and end up in the other, or have sounds ping pong back between ears. I like to pan my vocals and guitars differently, say for example my vocals on the right and guitars on the left, and then slowly change them, so they meet in the middle and then pass through each other and end up in the opposite place. Drums I like to pan as if I were sitting at a drum kit. Dueling guitars I pan each on a different ear... you get the idea. It's all expirimentation
SonicoMember
Since: Apr 19, 2002
Aug 05, 2002 09:47 am Have you heard the panning in some of the beatles albums??
Is weird when listening to them in headphones because some songs are drums and bass panned to left and guitars and vocals to right and things like that.
I'am sure that you have noticed that, but what do you think is the reason for mixing that way??
Also I think that these albums were not compressed because the songs seem so dynamic.
Just my point of view!!
Aug 05, 2002 10:03 am I think the reason was that stereo was a new thing then and people were not quite sure how to best use it...ya gotta remember that alot of the stuff we take for granted may not have even existed then :-) Just like when you got your first phaser pedal and everything you played had the phaser cranked to 11... :-)
Ya, I have heard it, it's weird, it didn't sound good but ya gotta give them credit for trying it and using it, the best way to learn is from mistakes...
SonicoMember
Since: Apr 19, 2002
Aug 05, 2002 12:12 pm In fact, it sounds weird but it souds good and that is what I was trying to say.
For me, the important thing is the music and in the beatles recordings the music is unique, revolutionary (I'am not a beatles fan) and the mix and recording quality doesn't matter too much.
I know that the engineers of that time did the best with the tools available and I take my hat off for that!!
Aug 05, 2002 12:37 pm absolutely, the fact that Sgt. Peppers was supposedly recorded on a 4-track amazes me...I never liked the hard panning they did, but the music is revolutionary, you are right, and the brilliant technical minds they had working for them were awesome, just imagine if those guys had things like Nuendo available to them! Just imagine what they could have done!
SonicoMember
Since: Apr 19, 2002
Aug 05, 2002 01:23 pm "just imagine if those guys had things like Nuendo available to them! Just imagine what they could have done!"
I think that God could not allow perfection!! and for that reason didn't put on earth The Beatles, people that worked for them and DAW technology to coexist.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Aug 11, 2002 06:46 pm Well, George Martin did do it all on purpose. He wanted to try to make everything stand out. And that it did. He was an innovater and not afraid to try something differant. So in the end, as odd as it sounded compared to today's mixes. It was very ingenious, and it caught my attention fully. And I think it was some of the thing's people like him did, that gave me the idea's I use to this very day. There are no bad idea's, just idea's that don't fit everywhere, only somewhere.
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
Aug 11, 2002 09:45 pm Exactly Noise, if no one else tried things, would we have the idea to do so? I'd like to believe I'm that creative, but we all know differently.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Aug 12, 2002 09:42 pm You probably are that creative, you just haven't let yourself go far enough out on that skinny little limb yet. I had lot's of encouragement most of the time, and was lucky enough to get the chance to try thing's my way. And that in itself was more then enough to encourage me to go even further out on the limb then most would even think of going.
To quote myself from a beerish moment in my life.
"Rule's are meant to be broken, and whose music is it anyway's."
