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I've just thought of this looking at the 'stereo' thread, is there (I did do a search by the way) any stuff on here about techniques/use of panning in mixing tracks? It seems a bit of an underrated and ignored part of fitting a track together.

I'm sure there' some experienced heads here with some tips about how to make the best of the space you're given to mix a track, could it be worthy of a spot in the production bible?

• Is just panning your percussion/hats parts all over the place a bad idea?
  
  Keeping bass/kick/snares dead central actually key in getting a good mix (and vinyl-isable?)
  
  Ccan you squeeze more juice out of a track if clashing freq.s are separated in the spectrum?

Just throwing some ideas in the air there.

the way I pan drums is based on how an actual drum kit is set up. Kick is always in the middle, snare is panned a little to the left, the hi hat is panned even more to the left than the snare. now, since you're making dubstep tunes, you're most likely going to have more kicks, snares, and HHs so you want to spread them out more to make the track seem fuller, wider. if you're using 2 or 3 kicks, you don't want to pan them extrememly left or right, cuz then you'll be able to tell that you're using 3 kicks. you want them almost on top of each other. same technique goes with snares, except they'll be panned more to the right/left. HHs should be spread out a lot.

Dignan wrote: if you're using 2 or 3 kicks, you don't want to pan them extrememly left or right, cuz then you'll be able to tell that you're using 3 kicks.

If it's done in a subtle way it can sound sick though...

Way too many producers use panning in a pedestrian way, I love it when I hear non-standard use of panning, it really wakes the listener up.

1 rule there is is the vinyl one that was mentioned, that your lows and low-mids are going to be made mono at vinyl mastering stage so panning there is going to disappear.

Chances are you're probably going to want your snare/kick fairly balanced in the centre, although some panned aspects of these sounds can sound huge.

Is just panning your percussion/hats parts all over the place a bad idea?

i think its a good idea as long as you dont have your hi-hat jump from hard left to hard right and back again this sound a bit wierd, unless this is the efx your going for.

Keeping bass/kick/snares dead central actually key in getting a good mix (and vinyl-isable?)

no. i think if these are your main elements in your track its best to have them more central, but it is always good to have some stereo efx's on them (reverb, chorus, ect.) you can have them a bit left or right as well.

Ccan you squeeze more juice out of a track if clashing freq.s are separated in the spectrum?

i think you mean separated in the stereo field. i think you can when you here some records the guitar is panned hard left and the piano is panned hard left, i think this is because if they where both center they would sound rubbish.

my main tip is do what sounds good for the track (no wronges or rights (or lefts( ))) make it sound good

and pan can also be used creativly ie sweep from left to right

and dont over do it avoid panning to hard left or right more is less in this case

3za wrote:

Is just panning your percussion/hats parts all over the place a bad idea?

i think its a good idea as long as you dont have your hi-hat jump from hard left to hard right and back again this sound a bit wierd, unless this is the efx your going for.

Keeping bass/kick/snares dead central actually key in getting a good mix (and vinyl-isable?)

no. i think if these are your main elements in your track its best to have them more central, but it is always good to have some stereo efx's on them (reverb, chorus, ect.) you can have them a bit left or right as well.

Ccan you squeeze more juice out of a track if clashing freq.s are separated in the spectrum?

i think you mean separated in the stereo field. i think you can when you here some records the guitar is panned hard left and the piano is panned hard left, i think this is because if they where both center they would sound rubbish.

my main tip is do what sounds good for the track (no wronges or rights (or lefts( ))) make it sound good

and pan can also be used creativly ie sweep from left to right

and dont over do it avoid panning to hard left or right more is less in this case

Yeah I meant stereo field. With the hats and so on, I usually have (roughly) a pair of hats left and a pair rightish, cymbals arranged roughly like a drumkit, shakers all over the place. That sort of thing.

Questions about the whole <300Hz = Mono vinyl thing. Chorus et. would still cause problems when put onto a mono kick wouldn't it? And is 64 left worse than 30 left for example, or does it mean just put everything bang in the middle.

panning is definitely important for drums, i mostly pan them like a kit, but i run 3-4 hats at a time so spreading them left and right works pretty well. i may also auto pan or automate them to make them bounce accross the stereo field, whatever works to make the mix more interesting. its all about subtlety when it comes to panning, you can tell when things are in the right spot. i always listen to my mixes in the car because your surrounded by speakers and it gives you a break from listening thru the same monitors. case in point, working on a track today and my boy had panned one of the hats hard right and i didnt notice till i listened to it in the car and as soon as i did it was obvious.

Megaladon wrote:Questions about the whole <300Hz = Mono vinyl thing. Chorus et. would still cause problems when put onto a mono kick wouldn't it?

i wouldn't put chorus on a kick that just sounds plain wierd. stereo is not need in the lower frequences so there is no need for stereo fx or panning but i wouldn't worry to much about the every thing under 300hz has to be mono, just dont do any thing crazy a little reverb is ok.

Yeah that was a bad example, I just wonder when it's actually worth thinking about if stereo stuff is going to be a problm. It's not as if any of my tunes are close to be pressed and released or anything. Obviously you wouldn't want your bass all over the place in a club though.

overly wide panned high frequencies (like hats) can be hard to cut on vinyl so don't get carried away.

i like to put a stereo enhancer on my snares so that they pop right outside you ears.. i think this is pretty common for dubstep. ill place 3 different hat rythms left and right and center to fill things up.

Panning is essential to fill up space..

I pan drums like how I play a real drum kit, I always have pads with panning automation (so when people listen on headphones, its sweeping around their ears) melodies I need to have the odd note slightly panned left or right in say.. 32 bars so its still interesting to listen too..

The way I see it.. I build music "mainly" for people sitting in their bedrooms with headphones on and to sit and chill out - so creating space is quite important for me.. I often listen to Flying Lotus - Camel > Flying Lotus - Melt and Nathan Fake - The Sky Was Pink when I am lacking inspiration on how to create space, them three tunes are panned perfectly in my opinion.

Congas, Bongos, Tablas and random clicky noises what're creating rhythm for me are often panned all seperately from each other - why not being very realistic and sound every electronically panned and not recorded - I think it creates a lot of space and its interesting to ears.

JSills wrote:panning is definitely important for drums, i mostly pan them like a kit, but i run 3-4 hats at a time so spreading them left and right works pretty well. i may also auto pan or automate them to make them bounce accross the stereo field, whatever works to make the mix more interesting. its all about subtlety when it comes to panning, you can tell when things are in the right spot. i always listen to my mixes in the car because your surrounded by speakers and it gives you a break from listening thru the same monitors. case in point, working on a track today and my boy had panned one of the hats hard right and i didnt notice till i listened to it in the car and as soon as i did it was obvious.

what if you're working with breaks tho? what's the best way to work panning in that case?

good question, didnt think about breaks. chopping would def work. i usually layer loops with original drums as well. if its a loop from an original tune like the amen it would be mixed down already. depends pon where your geting the loop from i guess.

My question in the stereo thread (which started this thread... I'm still ing at how dumb my question was) was to do with a break I'm working on.

I have the break high-passed and panned hard to the left, and have got it going to an aux bus which has a reverb and a delay. The aux is then panned to the right.

It's a pretty cool effect