Panning is the spread of a monaural signal in a stereo or multi-channel sound field - it is critical to the make up of the stereo image.
Usually, the most problematic area of the sound field is the center, as this is normally the busiest place within a mix. It is advisable to keep the kick, snare, bass, and vocal in the center as they provide the music with a solid grounding and help aid the rhythm (although these rules can often be broken to great effect). For every other instrument, however, it is advisable to position them either side of the center.
Panning several instruments hard left and right can be tempting to create a wide stereo sound which can produce an excellent sonic sound, but generally should be avoided. Many instruments can soon become stacked in the same area leading to a masked, muddy sound. Instead of panning hard left and right for all instruments, find a place inside those extremes.
To maintain balance within a mix, for every element panned one way, another element should be panned the other
Panning Panning is the spread of a monaural signal in a stereo or multi-channel sound field - it is critical to the make up of the stereo image. Figure 1 - Mixer pan controls Usually, the most problematic area of the sound field is the center, as this is normally the busiest place within a mix. Nyquist is a programming language for sound synthesis and analysis based on the Lisp programming language. It is an extension of the XLISP dialect of Lisp. The Nyquist programming language and interpreter were written by Roger Dannenberg (co-founder of Audacity) at Carnegie Mellon University, wit.
Panning gives instruments their own space in the stereo field. It can be used to eliminate masking by moving sounds out of the way of other sounds so the listener can clearly define them.
A good example of masking can be seen when two electric guitars are playing simultaneously as they both quickly eat up valuable frequency bandwidth. Simply panning one left by 40% and the other right by 40% can help to free up mix room.
There are no absolute rules for panning. Like with every aspect of mixing, it is best to experiment and use your ears. If it sounds good, roll with it.
Suggested Panning Positions
The table below suggests some commonly used positions. A clock face is used as the comparable analogy to panning, with 7 and 5 on the clock being hard left and hard right. Pan the instruments anywhere between these positions.
| Instrument | Position | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Kick | Bass heavy instruments, such as the kick, should be kept near the centre as to not disrupt the balance of the track | |
| Snare | The snare reinforces the rhythm of a track and therefore should be set around the centre | |
| Toms | One tom to the left and the other to the right helps balance up the mix. Toms are best used on fills only. Beware if Toms are set too wide they can be very distracting and over-powering in the mix | |
| Hi-Hat | Hi Hats can be panned flexibly as they emit high frequencies and do not disrupt the balance too much | |
| Overheads | Overheads are best panned fairly wide but should never be too loud as to distract the listener | |
| Bass Guitar | Bass heavy instruments, such as the bass guitar, should be kept near the centre as to not disrupt the balance of the track | |
| Rhythm Guitar | If the rhythm guitar has been double track pan the two tracks hard left and hard right | |
| Acoustic Guitar | If the acoustic guitar has been double tracked or recorded in stereo pan the two tracks hard left and hard right | |
| Piano | Mono | For a stereo recording of the piano, pan the two tracks left and right. If recorded in mono try panning just off centre. |
| Strings | Wide pads and strings help to really open up a track | |
| Vocals | Vocals should generally be kept dead centre, although there are many stereo techniques which should not be overlooked |
Got this question from a reader:
I recorded in garageband, which they say records in mono. While playing the music over my two studio speakers it sounds great. When I play it only on one speaker, some instruments are missing, so I mixed again in only one speaker. When playing it on the other speaker now,some parts are quieter or missing. perhaps it has to do with panning, perhaps i shouldn't tamper with the panning and use the stereo output of my interface to listen to what i recorded? So my question is, what does one mean by mixing in mono. is it just using
one speaker only no matter which one?
Bam, what an awesome question! Toyota 5fbe15 manual. Seems like he having some stereo compatibility issues here. This problem has a simple solution.
Check your mix in Mono
Mixing in mono does not mean mixing on only one speaker. Mixing on one speaker would end up sounding really weird since I guess you would end up panning everything pretty heavily towards that one speaker, leaving you with a lopsided mix.
No, mixing in mono means flipping your song into mono, either on your interface(like I do on my Apogee Duet) or simply setting the master fader of your DAW to mono.
Now, I'm not entirely sure how to do this in Garageband but in Logic it's as simple as clicking the mono switch on the master fader. Also, audio interfaces usually come with some software that allows you to switch them to mono mode.
Once you've set your listening system to mono, you should go over your mix again and make sure nothing is missing or sounds different from before.
For instance, a common problem with using cool stereo effects on synths or guitars is that once you listen back in mono all those effects disappear. Once you sum the stereo effects to mono the effects on each side of the stereo spectrum essentially cancel each other out.
Just imagine if your awesome stereo delay for your guitar solo would all of a sudden vanish! No cool solo sound for you!
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Pan in Mono
Going back to the question above, there is nothing wrong with tampering with panning. In fact, I would urge you to pan as much as you'd like. Panning creates separation in the stereo field so that all your instruments get a little space between your monitors.
A good trick, and one that I talk about in Mixing Strategies( this way.
Mono is Better than Stereo
A stereo mix sounds great on your stereo system, but can sound terrible if it's not mono compatible. A mono mix however, will sound just as great on a stereo system.
So make sure to always check your mixes in mono, fix those stereo effects to work in mono, and pan your instrument in mono for better separation. How to add bullets in wordpress.
If you want more mono and stereo mixing tricks, check out Mixing Strategies. These strategies have guaranteed, proven techniques to get a better stereo image, as well as kicking ass with creative panning decisions.
Check it out here:
www.mixingstrategies.com
Audacity Panning Envelope
Image by: Keoni Cabral
Stereo Widener Audacity
