Panning & dBs - general 'rules'?

[paravrais]

Soooo much misinformation...

Creating identical copies panned hard left & right is EXACTLY the same as one track centred. That's how stereo works. So no, it won't cause 'phasing issues'. You're just manually making it mono.

I can't see much misinformation in this thread? apart from the rubbish you just said XD

Try it for yourself now, make a sub patch then duplicate it twice, put one panned left, one panned right and one mono then draw in a sustained note in the sequencer and have it run from playing both the panned sines into the mono one. If you can't hear the difference there either your speakers are shit or your ears are.

I disagree with the idea of 'normal' panning being boring. The Beatles tried panning all their drums to one side, and that hasn't exactly caught on, has it?

If you're 100% committed to trying new things, stop working in stereo and start working in 5.1.

I don't think anyone said that panning things naturally was boring :\ in fact several people have advised to do it that way already.

On working in surround sound, what's the point when hardly anyone will actually listen to your music off a surround system?

[paravrais]

Here we go, panned VS mono sub; http://www.sendspace.com/file/qihmvj

[3za]

Here we go, panned VS mono sub; http://www.sendspace.com/file/qihmvj

Well yeah that is phasing, but only because you used two oscillators that were not in sync.


Go and record a mono sinewave, and now pan one copy 100% left, and one copy 100% right, still phasing? I think not.

OP If you want to get funky with stereo perception , go look into psychoacoustics. If you want to know about panning go get that book, or watch that video with the guy with a mustache, forgot what it's called (will post if I remember). Also just use your ears, thats what they are there for

[henrebotha]

(1) I can't see much misinformation in this thread? apart from the rubbish you just said XD

Try it for yourself now, make a sub patch then duplicate it twice, put one panned left, one panned right and one mono then draw in a sustained note in the sequencer and have it run from playing both the panned sines into the mono one. If you can't hear the difference there either your speakers are shit or your ears are.

(2) I don't think anyone said that panning things naturally was boring :\ in fact several people have advised to do it that way already.

On working in surround sound, what's the point when hardly anyone will actually listen to your music off a surround system?

1) You're working with a synth running in real time. That means the output is not EXACTLY the same. Try it with an audio sample. Drop the same sample onto two tracks (don't use a sampler! Do it directly), panned hard left and right respectively. The sound will appear to emanate from between the speakers. That's how stereo works. As long as you're dealing with the exact same sound, duplicating and panning is the same as playing it centred. But two synths with identical patches panned hard left and right are NOT identical.

2) Consensus in this thread seems to be to pan stuff all over the place. And as for the surround thing: force them! If you're producing for live performance, perform with a surround setup. If you're producing for DVD release, simply don't include a stereo option.

[paravrais]

You're being pedantic now though. The guy wasn't talking about audio he was talking about synths and it's beside the point which is that panning two subs instead of having one mono sub is a fucking stupid idea.

[henrebotha]

You're being pedantic now though. The guy wasn't talking about audio he was talking about synths and it's beside the point which is that panning two subs instead of having one mono sub is a fucking stupid idea.

Oh shit, I didn't realise... Agreed it's retarded

I do sometimes like to apply a crossover and do stereo widening stuff on the high-frequency components of a bass. But obviously not a sub, lol

[phrex]

Having identical bass lines would also cause phasing issues if I`m not mistaken.

Really? I wouldnt have ever thuoght that. Anyone else have knowledge of this?

Yup. Layering two identical versions of any sound is never a good idea. If you want to layer something to make it fatter then each layer wants to be quite distinct from the others whether by a different EQ approach or effects processing etc.

-> or pararell compression

[Filthzilla]

PROTIP: Pan all drums and percussion 100% right. Pan Bassline and all synth leads and instruments 100% left.

And then make the alpacas mono to fill it in?

Lol'd irl.

[RandoRando]

PROTIP: Pan all drums and percussion 100% right. Pan Bassline and all synth leads and instruments 100% left.

And then make the alpacas mono to fill it in?

Lol'd irl.

it was a serious question

[jyro]

just to revisit this..
where do people usually let their subs peak? getting some dubs ready to pass on to friends playing clubs so in this instance id trust my db meter more than my ears and monitors...

[Ldizzy]

my best panning rule : pan to increase intelligibility of sounds.. if a sound uve just added can't find its spot, try moving stuff around the stereo field and c if there's more space for it once stuff has been panned...

people jump on eqs so quickly, i used to do that all the time... carving a place for ur sounds and blah blah blah..

yet, if ur sounds dont come out of the same speaker, there's very little chance they will clash with each other in the first place...

that's where the panpot is ur best buddy..

in my mind there's three dimensions to a mix, width is one... and it can give the impression of a massive mix if exploited properly..

here's tips that have been very useful to me lately :
- keep the center for very important stuff, that drive ur tune.. like the kick, snare and main sample...
- any effect, i move a bit to the sides.. (namely reverb, which i still dont master quite well)...
- i try to pan sounds against other sounds.. if i move something to the left, i c if there's something in the same spectral range i could pan to the right...
- dont pan too hard...
- think of adjusting the db of ur tracks once panned if u dont have a pan law enabled in ur daw... (read about it)
-there's panning techniques that allow u to move something out of the middle without giving it a precise spot in the stereo field (ive posted about that earlier i could expand about it if u want me to)

what's ur philosophy on panning and db!?!?! i thought it was the subject of the thread and it vanished ... i have a 3db panlaw enabled in my daw... is it a good idea iyo?!?!