obscurity wrote:Bullshit....Yes, it's fucking bullshit....some kind of golden fucking rule, which is why I now call it as the bullshit it is when I see it.
Yeah i gotta admit this is what set me off. Ok so I acted like a jerk, for that I apologize, but those posts about bullshit were just so completely ignorant. Deshead's posts are the words of utter sonic-genius. The guy knows his sound science like no one I've ever met. Tonetripper, too.
Here are some other thoughts I have about panning. I like to imagine a realistic band performance, typically. The diagrams below show the implied panning of a stereo recording mix, of this band. This is also an example of "fun with Adobe Illustrator".
First, let's look at the whole band, on a stage, and dials symbolizing pannning for each instrument. If you were to imagine that each band member sings, you might pan each member's vocal in the same direction as their instrument. If there were a group of singers singing backup harmonies on the right side of the stage (audience perspective), one might put them together, panned all between 1 and 3 o'clock, perhaps. The object of this type of demonstration would be for a realistic approach, a representation of the live rock band:
All of this would apply in the same fashion if you were recording a symphony orchestra. The placement of each instrument on the stage would dictate the placement, panning-wise, in the mix. Orchestras set up the way they set up on stage, for a reason. It's no surprise why the soprano violins sit in front, they are the quietest instrument. It all makes sense if you wish to preserve the integrity of the music. You might also just set up two stereo microphones and pan them hard left and right to record the orchestra in full stereo spectrum, with panning recreated the way that the orchestra intended, based on their stage setup.
Next, let's take a closer look at panning for a drum kit. Drum kits are a band's worth of instruments, on their own. This example assumes that this is a right handed drummer, and the entire kit is on a stereo submix, and the kit itself is shown from above, with respective panning dials showing panning for each individual drum instrument (or, mic, if it's a live kit being mic'd):
Stars=cymbals, flat thing=kick drum, etc. If it were a left handed drummer, the panning positions of all pieces, would switch. Some drummers also like the "drummer's perspective" panning of the kit, which basically switches everything so the instruments are panned as if you are the drummer sitting at the kit, not the listener standing in front of it, listening.
So, you also might experiment like the Beatles did, by putting the drummer and bassist on one side of the room (one side of the mix) and putting melody instruments on the other side, or perhaps splitting things up randomly. In this sense, one should certainly experiment, and try everything. There is never a "be-all-end-all" way of doing anything when it comes to mixing.
One can also use reverbs to then blend stuff together, extremely short reverbs on low volume, that simply double instruments in the stereo field, without creating the image of a room.
), there are no rules as to when you'd want one, the other, or both on a track. Other than, of course, do what sounds right.
But I can hear how it sounds better now as I gradually experiment w/ this stuff.