Basics of Panning?

I'm slowly putting my songs together in Sonar, but haven't got to the point of mixing, panning, etc., and I'm really ignorant of these things. I know I could take a bunch of time and listen to a bunch of music in the headphones to try and figure it out, but are there any standards as far as panning goes? What tracks are usually left in the middle? What are usually panned slightly to each side? Farther to each side? I assume not much is panned 100% to either side. Just looking for you guys' superior wisdom in this. thanks.

What ever you think is good is what you should do.

I can only speak to how I pan things in my projects.


Bass and drums are up the center as is the lead vocal.  generally dead on center or no more than 5%    but usually on center. 

back ground vocals and thickening vocals.... panned opposite (assuming 2 or more BGV tracks) at between 20% to 50%. looking for a balance when listing in head phones. 

Instruments: guitar, piano, flute, horns, etc.... these are like the BGV. I want them panned usually no more than 50% max, usually less...... and if there is a piano on one side, place a guitar on the other to achieve a balance.  

extreme panning 80% to 100%.... used carefully. I use this on double tracked acoustic guitars..... record the part 2 times and pan 100% opposite to get a full stereo sound on the guitar. I will also use this on twin leads for the solo parts. 

Anytime you use panning, which should be all of the time.... unless you are mixing a straight mono track, you should listen with headphones since the panning really sticks out better in the cans. If it sounds natural, like you're setting in the front row of a live show, you have succeeded. If it sounds weird or unnatural, go back and rework the panning. 

Mostly it is trial and error and the window is large.  Listen for the things in the mix and if one sounds like it is in left or right field, bring it in closer to the center. 

In my console view, I often place the "balanced pairs" side by side.... piano and guitar........... harmony vocal 1 & harmony vocal 2.......... pad & strings........... this way, I can easily see the relative levels in the meters and make panning and volume changes easier and with greater accuracy. 



one more thing..... I will often solo the pairs...either alone or with other tracks..... other pairs or simply the bass/drums... to listen and double check for a proper balance.... so the mix doesn't end up left or right side heavy. 

Take your time, work through it and make it sound good and natural. 

Hope this helps you.   

Hi Dapper, 
You really  need to put on a pair of headphones and listen.  It not just about where it is placed but how it is placed.  Your ears will help you decided.  

Rimshot

Regarding "standards": There are really sound technical reasons to keep bassier sounds centred. The human auditory system has very poor directional perception below about 200hz (and effectively none below 80hz). So there's no real imaging gain from panning those frequencies, you just end up not using the speaker system's energy efficiently. Beyond that, though, you're far more in "matter of taste" territory.

John T


One thing I do recommend is not relying on panning to create mix clarity. Many listening situations are effectively mono, and very very few listening situations involve people sat at the optimum position of well set up pair of speakers.

Good point!  That's why I always try to get my mix right in mono before panning and imaging.  Frequency incompatibilities and other issues rear their ugly heads more easily (at least for me) when I listen to the first few passes without any stereo imaging or panning.

Obviously "Panning" has to do with left/center/right. I'm guessing that "Imaging" also includes how far from you a sound is, no matter where it's panned - like a "depth" thing, controlled by how much reverb is on it. Am I right... or wrong?

one of the best things I ever got my hands on re: mixing is this blue paper covered coffee-table sized book by somebody named Gibson I think that presents mixing as an exercise in image manipulation, illustrated by these cool 3-D pictures of the sound field around and between your monitors and explaining how to use different tools, i,e, pan, eq, lvls, verb, etc, to position things around in it.  He addresses a bunch of common scenarios liek some of the stuff you are asking about. If you can snag that puppy you'll get all the answers you seek

Dapper


Obviously "Panning" has to do with left/center/right. I'm guessing that "Imaging" also includes how far from you a sound is, no matter where it's panned - like a "depth" thing, controlled by how much reverb is on it. Am I right... or wrong?

You're close.

Imagers add very slight amounts of delay as you "pan".

The better ones have delay adjustment so that you can dial in side to side and front to back.


best regards,
mike

one of the best things I ever got my hands on re: mixing is this blue paper covered coffee-table sized book by somebody named Gibson I think that presents mixing as an exercise in image manipulation, illustrated by these cool 3-D pictures of the sound field around and between your monitors and explaining how to use different tools, i,e, pan, eq, lvls, verb, etc, to position things around in it.  He addresses a bunch of common scenarios liek some of the stuff you are asking about. If you can snag that puppy you'll get all the answers you seek

Michael Five


one of the best things I ever got my hands on re: mixing is this blue paper covered coffee-table sized book by somebody named Gibson I think that presents mixing as an exercise in image manipulation, illustrated by these cool 3-D pictures of the sound field around and between your monitors and explaining how to use different tools, i,e, pan, eq, lvls, verb, etc, to position things around in it.  He addresses a bunch of common scenarios liek some of the stuff you are asking about. If you can snag that puppy you'll get all the answers you seek

I was mixing our album in L.A. and with all the tracked guitars, doubled-vocals, etc., the engineer I was working with could not understand the panning.  So I had to draw it out for him.  I went home and drew it out and color coded instruments that I wanted to match panning on the left and right and then all the other tracks were placed in the field.  When I showed him the next day he said "I got it" and off we went.  He said the David Bryne did the same thing at times - visually relaying how he "saw" the mix.  Fun stuff.


Rimshot