[mickyplankton]

Hi all. I'm slowly beginning to dip my toes more in the water of mixing techniques that go beyond the basics and wondered about panning. I noticed that Garageband has this feature but I've never bothered using it. I'm assuming it's used to make the listening experience more dynamic and to perhaps separate out elements of the song that need a little differentiation, but I've no idea what thinking to apply to this process and how to begin using it. It seems simple enough to implement but where do I start?

[Boydie]

Great topic and you are about to discover a whole new dimension to mixing

There are definite guidelines I can give you - but most importantly HAVE FUN experimenting

Panning is just the process of placing things in different parts of the stereo field, which helps to create interest in the mix and also helps separate instruments

My normal workflow would be to initially ignore panning and use EQ, reverb etc. to separate instruments (for reasons I will explain below) - but panning is one of the more enjoyable aspects of mixing - especially when you get your head around automation and start flying things around the stereo field!!!

But first a word of warning - panning is great fun but there are 2 very important things to consider...

Unbalance Mixes
There is a danger with panning that you will end up with an "unbalanced" mix - ie it will end up "left heavy" or "right heavy", which in some cases can be unnecessarily distracting for the listener (the tips below will help with this)

Something that sounds OK on speakers (where left and right signals mix between the speaker and your ears) may be really unbalanced on headphones - and a lot of listeners use earphones/earbuds

Things Disappearing When You Playback In MONO
A mix that sounds great in stereo (with all of your careful panning placement decisions) can sound awful in MONO. Some think in this day and age MONO is out dated and not used - but this is simply not true as many phones still have one speaker (= MONO) and many PA system systems are MONO

There is a lot of acoustic science behind why things disappear when you collapse a stereo mix to MONO - but for now just make sure you check your stereo mixes in MONO (which is often just a button within your DAW on your master bus to toggle between stereo and mono

Some broad guidelines to get you started

Down The Middle
I would suggest panning the following "dead centre": Lead vocal, bass, kick drum and any instrument solos

I would then look to balance the mix by finding other "main" elements - e.g. If there are 2 guitars playing through the track Imwould pan one to the left and one to the right (experimenting with different amounts but always keeping them equal - e.g. 25% left and right or 100% left and right)

If there is one guitar and one piano I would pan each left and right

If there is occasional "ear candy" I would be a bit braver with the panning

There are lots of other tricks but I would limit my advice to this to get you started

[mickyplankton]

Great topic and you are about to discover a whole new dimension to mixing

There are definite guidelines I can give you - but most importantly HAVE FUN experimenting

Panning is just the process of placing things in different parts of the stereo field, which helps to create interest in the mix and also helps separate instruments

My normal workflow would be to initially ignore panning and use EQ, reverb etc. to separate instruments (for reasons I will explain below) - but panning is one of the more enjoyable aspects of mixing - especially when you get your head around automation and start flying things around the stereo field!!!

But first a word of warning - panning is great fun but there are 2 very important things to consider...

Unbalance Mixes
There is a danger with panning that you will end up with an "unbalanced" mix - ie it will end up "left heavy" or "right heavy", which in some cases can be unnecessarily distracting for the listener (the tips below will help with this)

Something that sounds OK on speakers (where left and right signals mix between the speaker and your ears) may be really unbalanced on headphones - and a lot of listeners use earphones/earbuds

Things Disappearing When You Playback In MONO
A mix that sounds great in stereo (with all of your careful panning placement decisions) can sound awful in MONO. Some think in this day and age MONO is out dated and not used - but this is simply not true as many phones still have one speaker (= MONO) and many PA system systems are MONO

There is a lot of acoustic science behind why things disappear when you collapse a stereo mix to MONO - but for now just make sure you check your stereo mixes in MONO (which is often just a button within your DAW on your master bus to toggle between stereo and mono

Some broad guidelines to get you started

Down The Middle
I would suggest panning the following "dead centre": Lead vocal, bass, kick drum and any instrument solos

I would then look to balance the mix by finding other "main" elements - e.g. If there are 2 guitars playing through the track Imwould pan one to the left and one to the right (experimenting with different amounts but always keeping them equal - e.g. 25% left and right or 100% left and right)

If there is one guitar and one piano I would pan each left and right

If there is occasional "ear candy" I would be a bit braver with the panning

There are lots of other tricks but I would limit my advice to this to get you started

Hi Boydie. Thanks so much for going to the trouble to post this. It's fascinating and super helpful. Really appreciate it. I will let you know how I get on!

[pompeyjazz]

Hi Micky,

I was going to reply to this earlier but Boydie has covered more than I was going to say. Brilliant advice. IMO Getting your head around EQ is the most vital thing to a mix. Just a small example of something that I do with panning to get a fuller guitar sound is... Pan the original guitar track at 10 to, then record the same guitar track and pan that to 10 past.

Good luck

[mickyplankton]

Thanks Pompey. With EQ my current version  of Garageband does not have that functionality. But it does have an option to raise or lower treble or bass on a track. Which I have used to some effect on Seven Hills of Santiago. Do you think that this is the best option in the absence of an EQ option?

[pompeyjazz]

Hi Micky - Yes, EQ is very basically treble and bass control. Think of those old graphic equalisers that you used to have on your stereo 

[mickyplankton]

Thanks for your help both. You have inspired me to rework one of my recent songs which was a little muddy. The reworked version is here.

https://soundcloud.com/mickyplankton/backs-against-the-wall-remix

I

[Cawproductions]

Hi Micky.

Totally agree with the comments of other here.

I usually dont pan anything at tracking stage. Then go through each element and roll off bottom end and find the sweet spot.
Then listen to what sounds are conflicting,
Normally on my tracks, Kiks and Bass, guitars and vocals, etc.
Once you have boost and cut (EQ) to seperate each element, Also reverb to position front to back then you can go ahead and position (Pan) them in the Mix.
The above is a very basic way to start but i always approach a mix this way.
Like Boydie mentioned, always check your mixes in MONO and STEREO, sometimes things dissappear.

Hope this helps and dont forget, everyday is a school day, I am always discovering new things when mixing.
Andy

[cowparsleyman]

agree with CAW and Boydie...Track first, ensure you are really happy with the sound you are recording, it saves loads of time later on.

I tend to use automation on Panning to add movement and add interest to something that needs to be continued, like an EDM theme.

Sometimes I use it to give the effect of something flying overhead, like a fighter.

It's very effective, but don't over use it,as it'll get on people's pip.

Hope this helps Mickey

cpm