Panning questions, guitars, solo's?

1) - which sounds better?  I personally would probably go with 100/100 but it would also depend on what else I have in the project.  if I only have the 1 guitar and a bass and drums then I probably would go with something closer to 40/40 or 50/50 instead to help fill up the sound space.  but if I've got keys and organ and strings, etc filling up the stereo space then I'd probably keep them wide.

2) is this a stereo or a mono guitar solo?  if stereo then panning won't help you any.  channel tools will help (sonar) but for a mono guitar solo it should be C.  if you double track it you can pan it like above, tho.  depends on the mix - if you need to fill space then fill space, but the overall sound should be equal in both speakers for a solo at the very least.

I still use the "live band soundstage" approach for a lot of panning.  but I also make sure I've got a good stereo field with sound filling the spaces.  sometimes I'll do something nutty too, but it depends on the song.  if you listen to a lot of the older "records" like Beatles you'll hear where some times they panned things really oddly - like all drums on the left and bass all the way on the right.

3) that completely depends.  I tend to use a compressor on the bass track, on all vocal tracks and on the overall drum bus, then on the master bus I'll usually not use a compressor but I will use a limiter.

sometimes I'll also use parallel compression (actually I use that a lot) for just about anything.  it really depends on if the instrument NEEDS compression or not.  don't use it if you don't need it, but on the other hand, compression is probably the most use FX in my mixes.

Beags,
 
Wow, that give me alot to think about. I understand "filling in" the mix a little better now.
I was using quite a few guitar tracks, as long as I am giving them their own space (40%, 50%, 80%, 100%) it shouldn't be cluttered?
 
I was putting the Guitar solo at 100% left, and 2 guitars w/ distortion strummed at 40% L and R. Obviously bass, drums, lead vox at C. But know I see completly what you are saying.
 
Thanks for your help always appreciated! As for now I only have MC4, using no other software.
 
Barry :)

Thanks Robo, that above was for you!

OK... I'm gonna tell you what I do.

3. I get the sound I want going in. generally there are no compressors on the guitar in the box. Perhaps some reverb in a GUITAR BUSS.   I will send all my guitars to one guitar buss to place some verb on them all. I usually do this when I have multiple guitars in the mix.

1&2. I have generally only used a mono guitar signal...one guitar and it's panned about 30% either way with something else on the other side to balance it.  However....

I like to use twin guitars in solo mode alot. when I do, I generally pan them about 50 to 70 % opposite, never 100% . Set the levels about the same and pan them opposite. You want enough bleed into the opposite weaker channel to keep from the stark reality of 100% panning.

Something new I have just started playing with. Doubling the guitar track. take a nicely played guitar... playing chords or lead.... doesn't matter and clone the track. Now in the new track, highlight it and right click it. In the box select CLIP PROPERTIES. In the new box that opens you will see the starting time of the track is set to 1:01:000 you simply need to change that to 1:01.040  or some other very small time difference. That will move the new track BACK in the time line 40 "clicks". Pan them about 80% opposite of each other and click SAVE and then play them. You should not have phasing issues and you should hear a fatter sounding guitar with a hint of stereo imaging now.

To hear this technique on the guitar and the sax.... Listen to this  use headphones for the best experience.

Here is a great resource of reading and knowledge. They also have practice tracks to learn on.  http://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms-intro.htm