pan left, pan right, what the heck???

[frodo]

Well - you could try the 3 channel mono panning idea.That is; everyting is either panned left, right or centre.Simple and nice, makes the mix open and spacious.Used by some of the worlds top mixers.Bass, drums, and vocals often go in the centre.- until next timefrodo

[mazz]

The best tool for understanding the aesthetics of panning is a good set of headphones and a collection of your favorite music. Listen to a song 10 times in a row and each time pick a different instrument or texture and try to analyze where it lives in the stereo spectrum. Try to understand how it's placement influences the texture and groove of the piece. Don't underestimate the power of a mono instrument to grab attention. A big, washy stereo mix with everything wide panned is cool but just put a mono guitar or piano in there panned just off center a bit and see what it adds to the vibe of the piece.Intense, focussed listening is really necessary for becoming better at engineering. Listening to a song for pleasure and letting it wash over you is great but to really glean the nuts and bolts of the production, you need to really dig in to the mix and separate out the elements. The ear can be trained to pick things out and put other things in the background. This aural zooming is practiced by all great engineers and is the key to training your ears for mixing and engineering.There's a lot of great techniques but no short cuts.Mazz

[bmete]

Mazz,We really should take all of your suggestions and put them into a book. Seriously, they are so on the money. Since I started recording and engineering at home, I've gone back and listened to some of my favorite old CD's Joni Mitchell, Hendrix,k Van Morrison and of course Blood Sweat & Tears, and I am hearing things in the mix I have never heard before, ( even though I've listened to them 10,000 times before. But just like you said, when you hone it, wow, it 's a whole different tune. Bob

[ernstinen]

Jul 19, 2008, 10:33am, mazz wrote:The best tool for understanding the aesthetics of panning is a good set of headphones and a collection of your favorite music.Another great post, Mazz! Headphones are THE tool for learning panning.Listen to "Cry Of Love" by Hendrix. Talk about wild panning!Also, "Her Majesty" at the end of The Beatles' Abbey Road is REAL interesting on headphones. Of course, most of the later Beatle stuff is headphone material!One of my favorite hard rock CDs is "Moving Pictures" by Rush. The drumming and panning is outstanding on that album.Ern

[ibanez468]

Yeah, LISTEN ta' Mazz! He explains the very thing that I (and I'm sure alot of others) do on a regular, especially when listening ta' CDs/albums/tapes/whatever. Always seeking, separating & focusing on specific instruments or sounds. Not always the easiest thing ta' do wth so much goin' on in the tune, but quite challenging & interesting. I always find it ta' be quite amazing what the ear can pick out when ya' put a pair of cans on, and start gettin' inta' some in-depth listening sessions. That's when you can pick up on some interesting engineering techniques that the BIG boys used back in the day (if you're listening to older material), and are still using to this day! Then you can implement those ideas & techniques into your own tunes. Takes practice, but the more you practice, the better you get, just like anything else.I-468

[mazz]

Growing up, the headphones were a family survival mechanism for me. Many, many hours as a young teenager were spent lying on the floor in the dark with headphones on. I've always been fascinated with sound and the world created by stereo records was a revelation to me. I didn't understand necessarily what was going on or how to achieve it at the time (I'd never been in a studio), but I cataloged in my mind all of those things I heard and started to figure out how to do them when I was recording my own stuff on 4 tracks, cassettes, whatever I could get my hands on. I did exactly what I suggested, which was to train myself to zoom in and out of mixes to focus on different aspects and parts. It turns out it was time well spent.I love to share this stuff with everyone, it's all bottled up inside me, a lifetime of intense study. I'm glad we have this forum, I learn so much!!Cheers!Mazz

[aubreyz]

Jul 19, 2008, 1:00pm, mazz wrote:Growing up, the headphones were a family survival mechanism for me. Many, many hours as a young teenager were spent lying on the floor in the dark with headphones on. I've always been fascinated with sound and the world created by stereo records was a revelation to me. I didn't understand necessarily what was going on or how to achieve it at the time (I'd never been in a studio), but I cataloged in my mind all of those things I heard and started to figure out how to do them when I was recording my own stuff on 4 tracks, cassettes, whatever I could get my hands on. I did exactly what I suggested, which was to train myself to zoom in and out of mixes to focus on different aspects and parts. It turns out it was time well spent.I love to share this stuff with everyone, it's all bottled up inside me, a lifetime of intense study. I'm glad we have this forum, I learn so much!!Cheers!MazzOh those days!! I grew up not being exposed to much else but gospel. At about 13, I found this rock station on the radio late at night listening in my big ol' Koss cans. The first song I heard was Phil Collins "In The Air Tonight" -- What a landscape of dynamics and sound. I'd never heard anything like that. Luckily I found a station that also played the Beatles, Zep, and Pink Floyd. It took a long time before I knew why what I was listening to was so cool but, as Mazz pointed out, I started listening to individual elements. Why does the vocal sound like that? What kind of instrument makes that noise? Why do I hear different things in different ears? I didn't have a clue that one day I would be recording, but those early years of learning to listen paved the way.Glad you brought that up Mazz. You have to show up at listening university with a good set of headphones!!--- but leave 'em off to mix Aub

[bmete]

Oh yeah, Headphones, black lights and incense.. and of course, the parental yell,, if I can hear the music over here, the damn headphones are too loud....Bob

[ernstinen]

Jul 19, 2008, 1:00pm, mazz wrote:Many, many hours as a young teenager were spent lying on the floor in the dark with headphones on. Yup, me too! Actually lying in bed in the dark. Did they have beds when you were growing up, Mazz? My first REALLY good radio was a Heathkit Electronic Workshop. You could make all kinds of cool stuff with it, but when I built my first AM radio, I was hooked. I ran a copper antenna wire all around the backyard trees, and even living in Michigan, I could easily get WBZ in Boston, WRVA in Richmond VA, and when the weather was right, some stations in Memphis. What a musical education! WBZ was really cutting-edge in playing the newest tunes, even before WLS in Chicago.Then my dad built a Heathkit FM tuner, and my life changed forever. Those were the days when FM was known as "underground" radio, i.e. radical. I'll never forget the first time I heard the "John Barleycorn" album by Traffic. I'm thinking "Wow, you can Rock and be Jazzy at the same time!"Later, when Steely Dan released "Aja" and "Gaucho," my sense of REALLY great engineering was enhanced. I still use those CDs as reference CDs when I mix.Another fantastic sounding recording is "Wildflowers" by Tom Petty, produced by Rick Ruben. MAN, that guy's got some ears! It doesn't say on the CD if it's a digital recording or an analog recording, but my guess is it's analog. What a huge, warm sound. Kinda like Petty's "White Album" in its versatility and arrangements.Ern

[mazz]

My uncle was stationed in Korea in the early 70s at the tail end of the Vietnam war. He brought home a stereo that he bought over there at the PX and he had a really nice turntable and a Sony reel to reel (which I later borrowed frequently to record on). He had a set of headphones and it was the first time I'd ever put a pair on. He had the Santana album that didn't have a title (Santana 3, with the light show on the cover). I'll never forget when those congas come in and then the cowbells in the other ear and it just builds from there in stereo. I just about jumped out of my skin. I'll never forget that moment. The whole family was in the living room talking and I was about 1000 miles away in my own little world. That was it for me, I never looked back. After that I convinced my dad to buy a new stereo and, of course, a pair of headphones which became "mine" from then on!!And yes, Aja with that incredible reverb on the vocals on Black Cow. I'm willing to bet that's the Capitol Records echo chamber. What an incredible sound. Still holds up to this day as incredible production. Roger Nichols is God. I bow down to him! Mazz