digi2ns


Really learning here but I have a question.

For the small (16x20) home room studio, what is the better way to check/verify choices in panning?

Using monitors or head phones?

I tend to mix by monitors but find getting a good grasp of the panning is better through the cans. Is there a preferred method of doing it or is it by accepted figures printed out. I assume different songs will call for different pans.

Hi Mike,
 
In my opinion, you want to go with your monitors because headphones (most times) make us pan things more than they should be due to them being on your head sideways instead of in a triangle like you would listen to any other set of speakers. If you can do good on cans and feel you need them for panning, go for it. But if you have the right monitor set-up and you are as many feet away from them as they are from each other, you have the perfect panning situation. I find that what *I* consider good pans in my monitors, sound a bit more mono than I'd like in my cans due to me never exhausting hard pans. I like my core of my music to not be too panned because it tends to separate or disconnect the instruments.
 
Before I had a really good monitor set-up, I used to do the opposite from you. I'd use my monitors to pan with and my cans to mix with because I just could never get a good representation out of un-corrected NS-10's without a sub. At the end of the day though, use what works best for you. In my opinion though, you should do all your mixing, leveling and panning in your monitors if you can. If you CAN'T you may want to find out why and fix the monitors. Cans are good to reference but I'd never make any decisions based on them no matter what set I use....but that's just me brother. :) Do what works best for you.
 
-Danny

Danny Danzi


Hi Mike,
 
In my opinion, you want to go with your monitors because headphones (most times) make us pan things more than they should be due to them being on your head sideways instead of in a triangle like you would listen to any other set of speakers. But if you have the right monitor set-up and you are as many feet away from them as they are from each other, you have the perfect panning situation. I find that what *I* consider good pans in my monitors, sound a bit more mono than I'd like in my cans due to me never exhausting hard pans. I like my core of my music to not be too panned because it tends to separate or disconnect the instruments.
 
In my opinion though, you should do all your mixing, leveling and panning in your monitors if you can. If you CAN'T you may want to find out why and fix the monitors. Cans are good to reference but I'd never make any decisions based on them no matter what set I use....but that's just me brother. :) Do what works best for you.
 
-Danny

Thanks a bunch Danny,
This confirms what I suspected in my case and some of what I forgot.
I try to remember to NEVER mix through the cans (It might sound good on my cans but going back to monitors its not what I want or way off)


The bit on the monitors triangular placement and your seating is where I tend to forget to be, but YIELDS the best results for me when followed.


Gotta tell myself cans are for REFERENCING only  


One prob I run into is family is home now almost all the time so I tend to not pump up the monitors and use the cans. (Bad move on the mix and good for the family LOL)


Thanks again

sorry but i like hi hats on left, and ride on right

digi2ns

Danny Danzi


Hi Mike,

In my opinion, you want to go with your monitors because headphones (most times) make us pan things more than they should be due to them being on your head sideways instead of in a triangle like you would listen to any other set of speakers. But if you have the right monitor set-up and you are as many feet away from them as they are from each other, you have the perfect panning situation. I find that what *I* consider good pans in my monitors, sound a bit more mono than I'd like in my cans due to me never exhausting hard pans. I like my core of my music to not be too panned because it tends to separate or disconnect the instruments.

In my opinion though, you should do all your mixing, leveling and panning in your monitors if you can. If you CAN'T you may want to find out why and fix the monitors. Cans are good to reference but I'd never make any decisions based on them no matter what set I use....but that's just me brother. :) Do what works best for you.

-Danny

Thanks a bunch Danny,
This confirms what I suspected in my case and some of what I forgot.
I try to remember to NEVER mix through the cans (It might sound good on my cans but going back to monitors its not what I want or way off)


The bit on the monitors triangular placement and your seating is where I tend to forget to be, but YIELDS the best results for me when followed.


Gotta tell myself cans are for REFERENCING only  


One prob I run into is family is home now almost all the time so I tend to not pump up the monitors and use the cans. (Bad move on the mix and good for the family LOL)


Thanks again

You're welcome. :) You know, I have a friend who's wife would constantly break his stones about him and his music. I don't think she meant anything maliciously, but one day I said to her "Brenda...you have a good man.....you always know where he is...just follow the music and you'll find him. Would you rather he went out with the boys drinking and raising hell? Instead he's 25 foot-steps away from you. The guy works hard everyday and is a great father and husband....cut him a lil slack sweets."
 
She looked at me and said..."you know, I never once thought of it that way, Danny. Wow...it's not like he cranks it so loud that it bothers us and you're right, he is a good man and I know where he is at all times." She hugged me and the next thing you know , my friend Bill calls me and says "dude, what the heck did you say to my wife?! She told me that I could buy all the gear I've been talking about and out of the blue came up to me and said "I support you and your music" and I said "uh, why?" and she said "you can thank your buddy Danny for that...just enjoy it!" :)
 
If ya gotta use your phones though, and you really do get better mixes that way...or better pans, use what you gotta use to get the job done. If you happen to listen to a mix that may have more hard pans due to it sounding good in cans yet it seems to lose a little impact on your monitors or in a car, try panning a little tighter and see if that changes. When I say tighter, I don't mean stay in the 50's and 60's....just try not to do everything hard panned. Think of a stage and how you would see and hear the music coming from that stage. Your drums in the center panning, yet you shouldn't hear cymbals and toms panning hard left to right. Think about it...that disconnects the drum kit. People go nuts panning crash cymbals and stuff way too hard. It's a percussive instrument that makes the sound of sssssssssss you don't need it to be panned out to where your guitars or keys may be, ya know? So just think things over and map it out if you have to. :)
 
7-string_guy: I used to like it like that too, As a matter of fact, it took me quite a while to warm up to hats right ride left but I much prefer the listeners perspective when listening to music though it doesn't really matter which you one you choose. Oddly enough...I cannot track my drum kit using listener perspective. It drives me absolutely insane to where I have to swap the sides on my drum bus so it's drummer perspective just for tracking. But when I'm done, I swap it right back. LOL! :)
 
-Danny 

    I tend to prefer drummer perspective myself, but I recently recorded & mixed one song to go on an album of songs by the same band, done by another producer/studio.  Since he uses listener perspective I did it that way too.  It only drove me nuts for about 10 minutes and then I guess I acclimated to it.