We're always taught from the start that the kick and the bass should be panned dead center, but every now and then I hear a tune in which this is clearly not the case and I'm always left thinking "hey, that kind of sounds alright." Example: Miles Davis "Funky Tonk"...the drums sound like they're panned a little to the right to me. Maybe it's just to give Miles as much center stage as possible? And I was listening to a Talking Heads track the other week, can't remember which one, and the bass was panned way off to the left yet it worked. 


Any more examples? And have any of you had the gall to try something like this in your mixes? 

Van Halen 1 is a great example, Jimi Hendrix stuff as well.
it is amazing how some mix things like that but I will say this, they tend to really stand out.
not as powerful as stereo but do have no problem standing out in the spectrum.

I respect the way your open minded to a lot of what some might call outdated mixing styles.
what is really cool is right around when stereo first came out so many producers were unsure of exactly the ramifications so there was a lot of experimenting going on.

we learned a lot from them.
another favorite band of mine are the Mama's and Papa's, another example of being around right at the time when producers were doing a lot of new things, musically speaking :)

listen to any of the older Beatles stuff like Revolver and Rubber Soul. The primitive stereo mixes are really crazy. It's almost like they decided that stereo was worthless unless you could hard pan tracks.

I really prefer mono Beatles mixes but the old stereo mixes are cool.

love rubber soul, one of my top 5 favorite albums.
 
#1 aerosmith-get your wings
#2 guns and roses- appetite for destruction
#3 the beatles-rubber soul
#4 jeff buckley-grace
#5 boston-(their 2 first albums) sorry.
 
each one of these albums has shaped who I am, for instance get your wings made me want to become a musician.
guns and roses made me want to have attitude in my music.
the beatles taught me song arrangements (how songs are created)
buckley taught me you need to sound good without anything accept your voice and non distorted guitar
boston gave me a reason to believe.

chuckebaby


#5 boston-(their 2 first albums) sorry. 
  

Why the "sorry?"  Boston's first two albums were awesome!  I bought multiple copies of each because I played them so much I'd flatten them...

craigb

chuckebaby


#5 boston-(their 2 first albums) sorry. 
  

Why the "sorry?"  Boston's first two albums were awesome!  I bought multiple copies of each because I played them so much I'd flatten them...

because I was only supposed to pick one album :)
it was the top 5 man, not the top 5 + 1 extra  :)
 
id never apologize for loving boston, much like you I have worn out a few boston albums tapes and really showing my age 8tracks.
still trying to figure out scholtzys ever so elusive sound.
not using a rock man either. he made a lot of his own equipment back in the 70's. but he did really heavy on an 8 band MXR and a wah pedal cocked half way in the middle or a sweet spot only known to tom.
troubling is the open laundry throwing by previous members.
 
and as well as brad delp taking his own life, if you look real hard on the net you will find the I think to be the biggest reason why he did take hiw own life.
it wasn't made public until scholtz started a law suit against the wifes of delp and bostons original guitarists wife.
then these records were made public, I wish they weren't.
 
I wont post it here in an open forum out of respect but it is a tragic, sad story.

According to George Martin, those early Beatles records with their strange panning were the result of a clueless record-company suit mistaking a 2-track mono recording for a stereo recording. Or perhaps knowing the difference and assuming the public didn't.

bitflipper


According to George Martin, those early Beatles records with their strange panning were the result of a clueless record-company suit mistaking a 2-track mono recording for a stereo recording. Or perhaps knowing the difference and assuming the public didn't.

Geoff Emmrick also has a lot of stories about that stuff, and I think that the more I read, the more I think that he is more interesting with the Beatles, than George Martin was.
 
I have to re-listen to some of these things ... but Holger Czukay's first two solo albums are totally insane with bass on bass on bass with bass soloing above it like a guitar, and the panning of it ... is all over, because one is here and the other is over there and such, which made it very different.  The albums are "Movies" and "On the Way to the Peak of the Normal" ... and the long cuts, specially, are a total trip on really good something or other.
 
Later, a similar style of production was also done for CAN's album "Landed" that was totaly crazy and had everything going every which way, and I think it was done so on purpose to confuse afficionados and people that thought that rock music should have this or that or this or that! I would have to re-listen to the earlier CAN stuff but I don't think that their stuff was as well recorded as it became in "Future Days" and "Soon Over Babbalooma" (my favorite album of their later days), but in there, they demonstrated an ability to work as if the music was a symphony ... both "Bel Air" and the 2 long cuts that go together on Side 2, are so smooth, and pretty and the transitions are masterful and beautifully designed ... dig the simplest touch of a cymbal ... in the middle of nowhere ... that makes sense! Beautifully composed stuff ... and very anti-rock music per se, and quite classically inspired as a "trip".
 
I'm not sure, yet, how to talk to you about this with Tangerine Dream, specially early, and even Klaus Schulze, two folks that broke the stereotype of what a recording should be or not be, from the first day.
 
Just thought of another ... Ryuichi Sakamoto ... Neo-Geo, Beauty and Heartbeat ... that trio of 3 albums is insane! And play out loud track 11 on Heartbeat and Track 6 on Beauty! ... and that guitar and song design is fabulous in both of these ... dig that little rap ... I wonder if the CHB can ever do something like that mixing styles so seamlessly. On good speakers even the early stuff by Sakamoto with the Yellow Magic Orchestra was mixed all over the place, too.  Ryuichi mixed the Roland Synth with actual Bass Guitar opposite each other, and I think that was on purpose, in some pieces, not all of them, as he tended to use the Synth for a Bass ... but then you hear "Amore", or "Heartbeat" and a few other pieces, and you go ... goodness ... wow!

I had never heard Holger Czukay before, amazing stuff, thanks!

sharke


I had never heard Holger Czukay before, amazing stuff, thanks!

I like his solo albums up until the "Blessed Easter" piece ... after that he went straight ambient and lost the mixing fun ... that he had before, and he stopped playing the bass altogether --- didn't need it for the ambient pieces!
 
Fun one ... in "The East is Red" ... I call it the USC Marching Band on acid!
 
But "Movies" and "On The Way to the Peak of the Normal" are special albums for me. I remember playing that bass stuff to a lady here in Portland that played the Red Lion circuit on bass (she was good!), and she liked it, but she could not handle the music design at all, and was more comfortable doing the required material for her circuit. I still think that it was much easier than this material.