Panning overheads agains the hihat,ride,toms etc.

[GeertSamuel]

I'm currently mixing a demo for a band and today I got this request from the drummer. It sounds really weird to me and curious how you guys think of this.

Overheads:
Original left needs to go Right and Original right needs to go Left.

Toms, hihats, ride still need to be panned normal. He wants drummers' perspective so that means hihats left and ride right.

And he also wants snare a bit off center (about 15/20% to the right).
I know panning the snare off center has been done, but not in rock/metal orientated stuff.

I asked "Why?"
- Or else the cymbals will sound really dull.

I actually never heard of anything like this, or did I miss a technique/ideoligy or something somewhere?

 

[ArthurD]

Make two versions and show the whole band both. Let them decide.

 

[~BURNY~]

The guy is just trying to be a smart ass. Hit him with a stick every time he opens his mouth.

 

[Exocaster]

Don't worry, you're not missing anything. He has no clue. Where he got this idea from, I don't know; I'm not sure how mixing the kit like a sensible person would make the cymbals sound "dull". Someone probably told him this and he's taken it to heart.

He's the drummer though, so he's probably been huffing paint.

I'd worry that he'll stick to it even in the face of it demonstrably sounding like ass though; "it's my tone, man" kinda thing.

 

[JeffTD]

Nah this will actually shrink your stereo image, or at least the perception of the cymbal separation within it. Terrible idea. The point of spot mics is to increase definition within the field provided by the OH mics, and panning those in an exaggerated manner like we do with toms/hat/ride/china/splash spots is what adds bigness and width in the first place.

 

[MattGrave]

Is the original OH positioning from drummer's perspective? i.e. when you listen to just your OHs is the hi hat on the left and ride on the right? If it's not, that's what he's asking for.

Moving the snare off centre is dumb however.

 

[GeertSamuel]

Created a mix last night with that, has some phase issues, when getting up the ride and hihat mic. Left it in, and also created a second mix with the panning I think sounds best.
I will post clips as soon as the whole mix is done and the band approves of the mix.

 

[RedDog]

Here's an idea, fuck the drummer, pan the mics as they were positioned. Drummer perspective means you sit on the throne and pan those mics as you see them. Also the snare idea is fucked, that guy is deaf as shit.

 

[~BURNY~]

Actually the snare panning makes sense but only for jazz or more acoustic stuff. Not in modern, polished music productions.

 

[smy1]

Just reverse the OH L->R & R->L (like he asks). Then pan the rest in the positions that are correct for the reverse OH tracks and just tell him you did it how he wanted.

He'll never figure it out because he got his reversed stereo image and that's the only thing he can actually determine.

 

[MetalSound]

well, if he isn´t able to figure out the difference between toms panned from left to right vs. toms panned from right to left than you could that...

 

[theNeologist]

Reason # 6239 of why you don't let a drummer in the mixing booth

He's a drummer...tell him to sit on his throne and play the fucking song.

 

[Heabow]

I don't think the snare panning is bad actually. 20% sounds a bit drastic tho, I'd tend to pan it less than 10% personally. But it can help to create a realistic image of the kit and/or help to avoid fight with the kick. Simply try this and see how it sounds! If it's disturbing, so it does not fit the specifical project. Just my 2 cents...

 

[Plendakor]

Why he wants only the OH reversed is weird if he wants to have his listening position. Does the guitarist want the sound from behind the speaker too ?
Panning the snare is not so dumb IMO, but 20% lmao..

 

[slo77y]

tell him to flip his ear phones

 

[Terminus]

If you flip the OHs and not the rest, won't the bleed from the other mics make the hat/ride/whatever other cymbals he has basically be fucked? Like you'll hear bleed on the opposite side of where the spot mics are? Retarded.

 

[RedDog]

How about this.

Don't do that.

 

[NecroDM]

Drummers are usually tone deaf so I'd recommend to tell him to STFU.

However I understand why we'd want to hear the drums from the drummer's perspective, but that would only make sense if you flip all the mics and not just the overheads, that shouldn't cause any issues afaik.
TBH, I tend to pan the drums from the drummer's perspective (even though I'm a guitarist) but everything needs to be placed correctly otherwise it's just retarded.

Cheers,
Necro

 

[B36arin]

TBH, I tend to pan the drums from the drummer's perspective (even though I'm a guitarist) but everything needs to be placed correctly otherwise it's just retarded.

Agreed.

The only people who really care about which way the drums are panned are drummers and people who like to air-drum. So to me it makes complete sense to pan the drums from the drummer's perspective.

 

[~BURNY~]

I generally pan from drummer's perspective too out of habit but most of the time, when I ask the drummer's opinion, he has no idea what I'm talking about.