wookie-
no, i pan them as i would sitting at a kit.... but of course, what i end up is not natural after all....
i prefer to mix them from the drummer's perspective mostly, but there are times where i'll simply put a piece where it sounds best.
seems that for the most part, kick and snare are always centered, so that is NOT really how a drummer hears it...
with the snare sitting at his/her left side, and the hi hats beyond that...
so i guess, in the long run, it doesn't even matter, since the long-running practice of panning kick and snare for rock mixes is kind of separate from real life perspective.
i used to pan my overheads hard left and right, but have recently changed, and brought them in to 50% left and right.
i'll pan the toms across the field from Left to Right from 50% to center to 50%, small toms to floor toms
i have never met ANYONE.......
ever....
who ever mentioned that the drums seemed panned from the wrong perspective, that
wasn't a drummer.
i don't believe most people could ever tell the difference.
i suppose, to get on the proper bandwagon would mean to always pan from the audience's perspective.
that way, you are the listener, as the mixer, and always sitting in the audience with the band projecting TOWARDS you.
i mean, it's all so esoteric, isnt' it?
sometimes, it sounds best from backstage.
LOL