Article on panning.

Article on panning/mixing:
http://www.audio-recording-center.com/a ... ixing.html

I noticed many tracks - old or new - have low and very-high freqs on the left and mids/semi-high freqs on the right. Drums mid (but with the same approach). Well.. there abviously isnt a silver bullet, much separtion in frequencies maybe is a better way to explain - dunno just curious if theres some kind of balance in this or tips/rules of thumb.



Anyone else has something to share about this? (if I was clear enough to make myself clear.. enough.)

Does it make sense? (I know panning is important but is this common/usual?

How do you mix your frequencies? Do some of you have habits in this?

[edited]

Panning is the absolute last step for me when mixing. During mixing I always leave my elements in the center because it allows me to better distinguish any potential volume and phase issues. Most of the time when panning I avoid going full left or full right and usually refuse to push my pan pots beyond 9oclock (left) and 3oclock (right). There's a few reasons for this.

1) Leaving space in the far pan for your reverb/effects.
2) Mono compatibility (ever been in a shop where they didn't have speakers set up for proper stereo imaging?)
3) Widening the stereo image during mastering if need be by delaying the left channel.

While there are set rules for panning I usually try to pan very conservatively. I use pan pots to separate similar elements or stereoize similar elements. A technique I'll also use is to lay out a drum kit (or any multi element part) in full panorama then use a stereo imaging to shrink the width of the image to a more proper space in the field.

For example.
I'll pan the overheads to full left and right and then match the individual elements to the overheads image through panning. After I have my elements in their proper image I'll sum all the tracks to an aux channel and shrink the panning of the aux channel. The drums will retain their pan yet their overall width will be lessened.

Well mixing frequencies is called EQing. Panning is altering the dynamics of the sound image.

Like Seance said, panning is the last thing I do and done only during final mixing. I sample and record everything in mono which makes life easier when on the mixing board.

Its true that bass is more present on the left channel and treble on the right in those recordings. Thats just basic stereo imaging. Really you can pan how you like. Maybe you like the guitar on the right channel and the keys on the left channel and the drum and bass in the middle. But having the guitar and keys on two different channels may perhaps prevent phase cancelling if the guitar and piano hit the same note at the same time but miss by a millisecond. Not all panning is intentional sometimes it solves an issue. Thats why you have to train your ears and learn to pinpoint defects in the sound. Ever noticed in some songs you make, the hardest kick somehow is weakened and sound small in some parts, thats phase cancellation. Usually happens when the bassline and kick meet at a certain point and miss each other by a hair. If they had sounded at the sametime then that kick will be twice as strong. Some engineers just pan the bass to the left channel and call it a day.

I mix my frequencies almost religiously. Start off basic by mixing the main three frequencies. Which is, Bass, Mid, and High. You don't pump up the bass of a violin right, no you tweak the mids and a bit of the highs. Its common sense really after you spend time with your gear.

séance wrote:Panning is the absolute last step for me when mixing. During mixing I always leave my elements in the center because it allows me to better distinguish any potential volume and phase issues. Most of the time when panning I avoid going full left or full right and usually refuse to push my pan pots beyond 9oclock (left) and 3oclock (right). There's a few reasons for this.

1) Leaving space in the far pan for your reverb/effects.
2) Mono compatibility (ever been in a shop where they didn't have speakers set up for proper stereo imaging?)
3) Widening the stereo image during mastering if need be by delaying the left channel.

The first step is a level and pan mix for any engineer that has trained in this industry. It is never left till last simply because frequency separation starts at panning.

1) Leaving space in the far pan for your reverb/effects.

This is not how pans and reverb work.

2) Mono compatibility (ever been in a shop where they didn't have speakers set up for proper stereo imaging?)

Uh, what has that to do with panning? Mono compatibilty is about phase and how saounds translate across a mono system as in PAs and club systems.

3) Widening the stereo image during mastering if need be by delaying the left channel.

No ME will ever do this. You do not5 take a production and then 'delay the left channel'. There are far better techniques for creating width than a simple channel delay.

Ill-Green wrote:Well mixing frequencies is called EQing. Panning is altering the dynamics of the sound image.

Er, sorry, but that statement is wrong. Mixing frequencies is not eqing. Panning is not the altering of the dynamics of a sound. The dynamics are covered by headroom and relative gain values and has nothing to do with panning.

The old technique of panning mixes came from the 50-60s due to the restrictions of the medium available and hot the lathe had to cut acetate. The technique used did not entail panning bass to one channel but it did involve panning everyting bar drums to one side and the drums on the other. The reason bass is never panned dates from the days of having to have a focused bass centre or the cutter would skip and the vinyl could never be mastered.

If you are interested in correct procedures then the old school technique of a level and pan is where you need to start. Levels are set for headroom and relative gain staging and pans are used to separate frequencies. Only then will you know what needs preocessing.

Zukan wrote:The old technique of panning mixes came from the 50-60s due to the restrictions of the medium available and hot the lathe had to cut acetate. The technique used did not entail panning bass to one channel but it did involve panning everyting bar drums to one side and the drums on the other. The reason bass is never panned dates from the days of having to have a focused bass centre or the cutter would skip and the vinyl could never be mastered.

If you are interested in correct procedures then the old school technique of a level and pan is where you need to start. Levels are set for headroom and relative gain staging and pans are used to separate frequencies. Only then will you know what needs preocessing.

Thanks Zukan.

I feel you're ain't talking shit as your replies feel natural/logical. I already experimented a lot in the meantime and noticed it's influence. I don't agree with panning as a last task! I already created some good habits and I think it's essential to initially bare in mind what to place where etc.

I will get so **** pro in the future. I'm spending so much time in this shit and always was just chopping n drumming around. Now with this sample database I created, I hear so much new potential in it.

I think frequencies and panning are the most important things to wrap your head around.

But who am I. I'm just a noob

Zukan wrote:

séance wrote:Panning is the absolute last step for me when mixing. During mixing I always leave my elements in the center because it allows me to better distinguish any potential volume and phase issues. Most of the time when panning I avoid going full left or full right and usually refuse to push my pan pots beyond 9oclock (left) and 3oclock (right). There's a few reasons for this.

1) Leaving space in the far pan for your reverb/effects.
2) Mono compatibility (ever been in a shop where they didn't have speakers set up for proper stereo imaging?)
3) Widening the stereo image during mastering if need be by delaying the left channel.

The first step is a level and pan mix for any engineer that has trained in this industry. It is never left till last simply because frequency separation starts at panning.

1) Leaving space in the far pan for your reverb/effects.

This is not how pans and reverb work.

2) Mono compatibility (ever been in a shop where they didn't have speakers set up for proper stereo imaging?)

Uh, what has that to do with panning? Mono compatibilty is about phase and how saounds translate across a mono system as in PAs and club systems.

3) Widening the stereo image during mastering if need be by delaying the left channel.

No ME will ever do this. You do not5 take a production and then 'delay the left channel'. There are far better techniques for creating width than a simple channel delay.

Any trained engineer would know that it's much more difficult to create a volume and phase relationship when all audio is left in the center, if this can be done in mono any mix will sound better post pan.

1) I understand how pan pots and reverbs work. I'm making a case for leaving space in the far left and far right of the image for spatial effects.

2) You're right, but I'm speaking of mono compatability in the sense that a stereo image that isn't too wide won't sound nearly as **** on a playback that is set up improperly.

3) Some Mastering Engineers will do this if the mix is truly too narrow. Of course there are better ways to widen an image then with a single channel delay, that is merely the simplest.

Seance, maybe I came across as harsh, so my apologies there, but those assumptions are wrong pal.

In a mono system the centre information is the same as the sides. That is how mono works. The phase relationships are handled irrespective of a mono or stereo signal being used. I understand your argument that it is easier to judge levels if they are centre aligned but that is covered in the level and pan mix that engineers perform prior to adding any effects or dynamics. The sounds then have to be mixed and that entails panning prior to any processing as it is the stereo field placement that determines what effect/dynamic should be used.

With regards to the widening of the stereo field to allow for reverbs is a fine recommendation but the pan does not determine the spread of the reverb. You can have an extremely narrow field but with very wide reverbs. I know where you were going with this but a better approach is to leave acres of headroom and the reverbs will take care of themselves. In terms of width a reverb that is extremely wide will saturate any pans in that area, so has to be used very carefully.

BTW, if an ME uses channel delay for stereo widening then it's time to fire the dude. Widening a mix using channel delay will cause horrendous phase problems and misalign every timing factor set by the pre delay of the verb, the feedback of the delays etc...