Which drum pan do you prefer? Audience or Drummer Perspective?

[mick thompson]

eg: hats to the left (as if your the drummer) or hats to the right as if your in the audience?

i think i remember seeing somewhere andy prefers to pan the hats to the right

so how about you? and why (if you know why)

 

[TheWinterSnow]

I pan stage (drummer's) perspective, and I do so with every other instrument including guitars (my guitars are panned stage left as I play stage left live). The only thing that I do not pan to stage perspective is orchestras. Audience perspective bugs the crap out of me simply because I am so used to hearing the sound on the stage, or at least preparing for it or imagining that I am listening to the music as I am performing it.

The only reason I don't so that with orchestras is because I have always imagined them in the perspective of the conductor, which is weird because I played in grade school band which was panned out similarly to a baroque orchestra. Also I have noticed that the orchestra from the audience perspective has the same low to high set up as the toms of drums, both go from left to right, high to low, and that is what I am used to hearing, highs and leads/melodies to the left, lower pitch to the right.

 

[mick thompson]

hmm see it got me thinking...i mean people dont think about this shit (general public) but would it feel / hear more natural for them to hear the hats on the right? after all lots of us are musicians and were all know what the stage sound panning is like because we all live / lived on the stage - but for the average dude in the crowd... i know consciously he wouldn't think about it but maybe theres something in his head saying "a hi hat on the left doesn't sound right" because he's always heard it on the right

i dont know... i'd love to hear more answers - i'll read tomorrow - sleep time now

 

[BrettT]

I use audience perspective, mainly because I use Reason Drumkits 2.0 refill and that's how the drums are panned by default.

 

[Morgan C]

Most live mixes are in mono and anyway, people will be way too far away to hear a big difference in panning between two toms.

I always do drummer perspective, because as a drummer its impossible to work out what is being played if everything is reversed. You can't visualise it. And its just annoying. I usually imagine it as a person who happens to have their hats and rides switched around and just ignore the tom fills.


I can understand audience perspective for live DVDs (since you are watching from audience perspective, often up close), but other than that I always prefer drummer perspective.

 

[Fragle]

audience perspective is better for getting "into" the music, from a listener point of view....you just get more of the impression that the band is actually playing in front of you (duh).
however, i have to agree with everything said above...as a musician, audience perspective ist just irritating as fuck.
at the end i think it comes down to the style....there's some stuff that's really vibey and is made to have the listener sink into the music, that's where audience perspective should be used imho.
other than that, drummers perspective all the way.
personally i've been panning audience perspective ever since i started, but i really just got into the habit without thinking about it, and i'll be changing that with the next projects.

 

[DolphinSplatter]

drummer's
cause hats on the right would just be weird

 

[AudioPhile777]

I pan drummer's perspective because people air-drumming along will 99% of the time go left to right... people not doing that won't care...

 

[Damian B]

I play drums, so it's drummer's perspective for me. It would drive me crazy otherwise.

 

[mrbean667]

Drummer's perspective, 'cause I love to air-drum and I know everyone else does too.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Audience.

 

[crosstalk]

I play drums, I've played guitar in bands and it's still...

Audience perspective for everything. I can't stand band perspective. When I listen to music I envision watching it, not playing it. Sure it throws off air drumming, but that's not quite the point anyway.

 

[2000ContourSVT]

Drummers perspective. It's very annoying listening to drums in the audience perspective IMO.

 

[crosstalk]

Since it's a total preference thing and everyone generally likes it one way or the other... what about when you have a left handed drummer playing their kit opposite to normal? Do you pan them like a right handed drummer or opposite?

Since I stick to the audience perspective, a left handed drummer will have hats on the left and floor toms on the right.

 

[ahjteam]

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/8223743-post120.html

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

a left handed drummer will have hats on the left and floor toms on the right.

Yep, still do audience. So everything gets placed where it was if you were standing in front of the kit.

 

[deanbailey]

I've always done drummers perspective for most of the above mentioned reasons.

But one day I was making coffee and placing my coffee tub back to it's spot next to the sugar which was next to the kettle and I realized that the sugar was on the other side of the kettle and it just felt weird to me and figured my coffee would taste weird too...of course it's ludicrous and the OCD had it's hand in it but it then sorta hit me...

When I mixed Drummers Perspective I sorta of listen to everything a little differently and mix it differently than audience perspective. Because when you air drum you picture yourself in the drummers seat so in my mind I see drums in the way so I would always get the toms a little 'higher' and guitars a little behind. etc
I then switched it around changed levels and slight EQ's because I approached it differently and heard things differently too, and the mix sorta became cleaner.

true story.
But it's still awkward to listen to, so It feels weird but sounds good. Almost like a left and right brain debate.

 

[::XeS::]

Audience

 

[slayercannibalsuffohead]

Tits! ........ Woops, wrong thread!

 

[James-Doolan]

Crowd perspective as most of the people listening to it wont be drummers or musicians