A few questions on panning

[Potapka]

Hi, ppl,

1) Reading Russian/Belarusian forums and AE's opinions, I've noticed that most AEs here tend to avoid hard panning by all means, claiming that panning guitars 100% left and right "creates lots of phase and mono compatibility issues". Many of them pan distorted guitars only 80%, or make 4 - 6 guitar takes and pan them like 40%-60%-80%, "to have some guitar sound around the center". As a result, I hear lots of local metal records, that apparently were produced with "classic rock" teqhniques and approaches and sound like rock, lacking that bigger-than-life modern metal sound. Are there any sound reasons to have records produced like that?
However, many western AEs seem to pan guitars and OHs 100% left and right. Which approach is more relevant for, say, modern death metal, metalcore and emo stuff?

2) How should I pan strings (stereo) and a synth lead (stereo) in a well-packed epic metal mix (think Nightwish)? For now I've split a string stereo pad into 2 mono tracks, panned them like 60% left and right and moved one of them 30 ms forward. Is t ok?

 

[StefTD]

about your first question: I almost always hard pan and most of the guys do it hear afaik, the only
times I don't hard pan guitars it's for my soft stuff, recording some accoustic pop/rock songs and
some bluesy stuff.
I think a more "classic rock" style could suit the emo stuff you mentioned well in some cases but
especially for metalcore and modern death metal I would always hard pan, if you quadtrack guitars
two tracks hard panned and two to 80% on each side, but that's it.
Additional leads or harmonies sound cool at 50% imho if there aren't vocals on top because as a
listener it's more outstanding and it's easier to focus on these parts.

I love panning stuff different, recorded a more funk orientated song with some friends last year,
one guitar was panned 50% to the left, the other one 80% to the right, the keys the other way
around, bass was something like 15% to the left and the kick drum 15% to the right and so on.
But I would never do this if I want a modern metal sound.

About the mono compability-who really listens to stuff in mono nowadays?
If you're interested in the music you should at least be able to listen to it in stereo


Can't really help you with your second question, the way you did it, it's a bit like "fake" dual
tracking the synth, if it sounds good, no problem doing that way and I would treat them like
guitar harmonies-so 40-60% panned to one side and the other track to the other, or if there's
just one track, center it as long as there aren't vocals on top.

Just upload a sample, most of the guys on here are helpful and way more experienced than I am

 

[-Noodles-]

I'm nearly always in L/C/R mode with mixes at the moment.

 

[AEL89]

I literally do whatever with panning. If its metal/heavy I'll usually do hard L/R for guitars but sometimes I like to drop a side of rhythm if a lead comes in and pan the lead 50 to one side and bring in the other rhythm to about 80 on the other side. I'm automating panning a fuck load on my mixes. L/C/R mixing is a learning tool as far as I'm concerned.

I also HATE hard panned hi hats/chinas/rides/toms. Toms are the worst hard panned. Literally distracts me. I'd say the key is to automate and keep things reasonably natural if it calls for it.

I'd also say make sure it's perfect in mono. If you automate the panning; automate the volume too. If you're mix is intelligible in mono and amazing in stereo, you're doing it right.

One last time... automate, automate, automate.

 

[Kohugaly]

About the mono compability-who really listens to stuff in mono nowadays?

Many people listen to music trough mobile phone when they are outside with their friends. I see it every day. Anyway the sound quality is shit no matter how good is the mix/mastering :-D

 

[BLUElightCory]

Hi, ppl,

1) Reading Russian/Belarusian forums and AE's opinions, I've noticed that most AEs here tend to avoid hard panning by all means, claiming that panning guitars 100% left and right "creates lots of phase and mono compatibility issues". Many of them pan distorted guitars only 80%, or make 4 - 6 guitar takes and pan them like 40%-60%-80%, "to have some guitar sound around the center". As a result, I hear lots of local metal records, that apparently were produced with "classic rock" teqhniques and approaches and sound like rock, lacking that bigger-than-life modern metal sound. Are there any sound reasons to have records produced like that?
However, many western AEs seem to pan guitars and OHs 100% left and right. Which approach is more relevant for, say, modern death metal, metalcore and emo stuff?

Generally speaking, stereo width comes from having different sounds coming each side, so the more things are panned center, the less overall "width" you will perceive. That's why many modern engineers use a lot of hard panning, as it maximizes the perceived stereo width of the track, which helps contribute to the "larger than life" sound of many modern-sounding professional mixers.

Hard panning in and of itself will absolutely not cause mono compatibility issues or create extra phase issues. However, hard panning can make it harder to perceive potential problems with masking when summed to mono, which is why it's always a good idea to check mixes in mono every now and then.