Stop Panning Like This

[@HomeStudioCorner]

▶︎▶︎ Free 5-Step Mix Guide here: www.5stepmix.com

[@petergiersch2387]

Can't deny that LCR is a very valid approach and many Masterpiece albums we're done this way. I'm just not sure every single song has to be LCR. And, Believe it or not, I think mono can have a lot of power. Listen to hound dog or I Want to Hold Your Hand. Mono can be very powerful

[@djwilliamworldwide]

You are right and to add on the LCR concept. Make sure to balance the volume after hard pan because things can get weird as you pan hard. This is because volume increases as you pan.

[@cameronmcgehee]

A signal actually decreases, not increases, in level, the more something is panned. This is called pan law and varies depending on your DAW or console, but yes you should check for level, I would personally do it in mono but you don't really have to, when panning things around.

[@lavryk]

Probably worth mentioning... the listening experience with LCR is better on speakers where the sound from left speaker will also get into the right ear (which is actually stereo). With headphones, it's actually two mono channels to be precise, so it can seem a bit too panned. With headphones you can do something like - hard Left would be actually 80% left, 20% right, so it's bit more glued. That will also depend on the parts played, if we have doubled guitar, there's no problem of LCR at all. Of course, final decision should be made with listening.

If you send your track to a stereo reverb it'll sound more natural, close to what you hear on speakers, even if it's fully panned to one side.

[@lavryk]

@ true

[@nashse7en]

hey Joe, just to thank you for all the tips. Some past videos on EQ helped me soo much that i can't even believe that my voice was soo muddy all this time. We just get used to listen to our own mic and don't really know whats happening. Just taking off that low 80-hz and that whistle and also the 240/250hz boomy areas changed my life.

[@jloiben12]

I think, with the exception of drums, LCR panning is a good general rule of thumb for the main elements of a song. But for drums, and more background elements, I think filling in the space often will create a better result

[@WisdomBai]

Thank you @Joe Gilder for sharing this video. since 2021 that I had a studio artist STUDIO 5 until now that I am still not satisfied to know another way in mixing.

[@jcpuga]

Everything sounds so much more alive brother!! Holy...thank you God for this revelation

[@Arian-abbas]

This is great video .. Thank you

I just tried this on a mix I'm working on and it sounds quite a bit better now. I added another 2 "buckets" L50 and R50 since I produce electronic music where the arrangements are less conventional, but with this approach my panning decisions are much simpler and my mix sounds wider. Thanks! Is it me or Joe is showing left and right from the viewers perspective? Very considerate of him😄

[@cezarsantana]

He's definitely showing it from the viewer's perspective - yes, Joe is a cool cat!

[@Level9records]

Thank you so much for this! Your message reminded me of a time back in 2009 when I first learned how to pan and heard my song being played on the radio. I couldn't hear my lead guitar that was panned to the left, and I got frustrated. However, one of my mentor producers told me that some playback systems do not have stereo, and I don't have to worry about mixing for those mono kinds of systems. He added that I should be real and make my mix as I want it to be. It is true that many mixers worry about panning totally left or right, but it's not always necessary.

[@Michaelkenjarrell01]

SUCH A GREAT CONCEPT,, THANKS JOE!

[@DerekPower]

One thing to keep in mind is if you decide to do any M/S processing, LCR panning may complicate that process.

[@ursidae8108]

Mixes should always translate well to mono imo & hard panning can really fuck with your mono levels!

[@robertklein6693]

As always, great information Joe presented in an easy-to-understand to-the-point video. You mentioned toward the end of your video that bass and kick drum always go up the middle. I was thinking that you could do a follow-up video using a song that you produced with multiple instruments and vocals where you demonstrate the preferred location (L, C, or R) of each instrument and vocal in Step 2 (static mix) of your mixing process. This would include explaining why you chose the particular location for each instrument or vocal aside from the fact that your goal is to spread and balance the panning.

[@OGBubbaThrice]

We appreciate you joe! Thank you brotha

[@jezwatson8211]

Haven’t been doing this long but hard left n right seems instinctive to me, plus obviously centre, I may pan slightly off centre to create room between parts

[@98939893]

Slight pans can keep competing, overlapping frequencies in tracks away from each other a bit, too, however...

[@JohnPaulHare]

I've been doing this more lately on my mixes and I like the results. In most cases it works remarkably well, but I do find that there are certain instances where going all the way out doesn't make sense, so I'll go part way out to keep things more balanced. It's situational, and depends on the song. I also apply the same thinking to my live mixing approach.

[@PeterNiallLancaster]

Thanks for the video Joe. I found it very interesting. I'm not a big fan of LCR panning, although I hear it used a lot. Panning multiple things to the same place can be problematic sonically by not giving each sound enough space. If you separate a kick and bass by just a couple of points of pan you can hear each one better. Not panning anything other than lead vocal dead centre gives that vocal more space. The end result is that you spend less time trying to make things heard in your mix because you use panning to put them in a place where they can be heard. 

I never pan more than one sound to the same place. I use the whole stereo space to mix in. I don’t want to just hear things left centre and right. I want to hear them from everywhere. 

My reference for mixing is anything from Radiohead’s OK Computer. 

 Personally I find it very odd to hear a piano in a mix that is panned hard left and right. I don’t want to hear it as if my head is inside the lid of a grand piano. Let's be honest, there is never just one way to do things. Mixing is an art form and you can do it however you want to. There is no right and wrong, just personal preferences. If you like your mixes, they are good mixes.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

I hear a lot of people talk about panning kick and bass to get separation, but I've never felt the need. They're meant to be together. They blend together so well. I'm happy having them right on top of each other.

[@aaronthomas7790]

I generally agree with this but find some elements like background vocals or even dual guitars don't always work great in LCR. If you only have 1 harmony for instance it can sound lopsided to one side but gets lost in the center. High passing the BG vocal bus in the sides can help too for headphones.

[@kadiummusic]

Put the reverb or delay of each guitar or/and backing vocal on it's opposite side. 😎

[@jimmyers4890]

I mostly record the house concerts that we have. So I will pan the instruments and vocals by the way they are standing on the stage. We do mostly bluegrass and singer songwriters so I will put the bass up the middle and the lead singer with the harmony singers panned left and right depending on where they're standing on the stage. Whoever is on the left side of the stage from the audience perspective I will pan hard left and the person on the right gets panned hard right. I do the same with the instruments. I don't listen to much modern music but what I do occasionally hear has no stereo separation at all but maybe that's because I'm too old at 70. Thank you so much for all your great advice I love watching your videos and learning.

[@matthewblake2258]

these videos resonate with me man, its gold

[@KountryCuz1]

Thank you for the Info on Recording I Am Working on Some Songs Now !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@xldsyt]

Joe, you are one hilarious geek! 5:47 "Ohhh I'm..Scared!" Thanks for all you do. Your "for purchase" classes are great. It's probably time I review.

[@jerrymckenzie1858]

LCR is a good strategy. Not necessarily the best or only.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Of course. 👍

[@chrisdorsch9754]

I love Duel Mode, it allow me to take a stereo synth and separate the high - and low-end information and I get alot of energy but I only do this in usually one section of the arrangement.

[@dennystreet2454]

As always a tones of useful info

[@josephpeccerillo1640]

I get your concept here as many people are afraid to pan to the extremes, but I don’t agree with everything being hard left, hard right, or center. The spaces in between are very important in a mix canvas as well. If it’s a basic drums, bass, two guitars, vocals band sure…..drums spread in stereo, one gtr left, one right, bass and vox in the middle works great. Now start adding backing vocals, keys, horns, etc. when your mixing 48 tracks of audio and putting everything on top of each other spatially things get messy really quickly. I like to use all the spaces. Often times I’ll use effects to widen an instruments reach. Maybe a slap delay panned opposite the dry signal or a reverb. I’m not saying LCR panning is wrong since I don’t believe anything is wrong. Hell nowadays even out of phase and stereo panning kick drums is acceptable since we no longer have to worry about that cutting needle jumping off the vinyl. Lol. But LCR panning to me is just as limiting as not widening things to the extreme sides. By the way nothing widens your stereo imaging like several sources being recorded with MS miking .

[@HomeStudioCorner]

What you’re saying makes sense, but I’ve not found it to be true in my mixes.

[@nessy9022]

Great answer. I can appreciate that LCR panning works incredibly well for 2 guitar rock and other stock genres with similar sonic characteristics, but to me this video essentially boils down to "stop attempting to get creative with your soundscapes" which is, obviously, the antithesis of creativity. Personally I record a lot of stuff in stereo (e.g. amps close miked in mono and room miked in stereo) in order to capture more 'authentic' room sounds and this requires formulating the general stereo placement of instruments prior to hitting record (repositioning room mics rather than moving amps oftentimes). LCR panning is simply inapplicable to this approach. Personally I struggle with the motivation of any instruction imploring artists and engineers to be less creative (even in situations where through trial and error the best outcome is ultimately LCR panning). fundamentalist formulaic approaches dictated as imperatives i.e. this "stop..." video, dramatically reduce the potential for happy accidents.

[@billderenzo8239]

Good concept. I do agree however about not when drum panning and some m/s applications. I'm trying it out tomorrow on some tracks. Thanks for the tip. As usual great information.

[@strangebirdfilms]

I find LCR is fine & simple enough if the mix is sparse but it becomes more tricky when mixes get dense. Often I will hard pan a stereo pair of distorted rhythm guitars and also have clean guitars in the mix, and I find that pulling the cleaner tones closer to center fill the L-R space better. Ditto for dense orchestral arrangements where I tend to pan less aggressively to better mimic a "typical" orchestra seating arrangement.

[@andrewarbogast1]

I don't think you should be fully committed to LCR imo. My toms are 60% L and 75% R and sometimes I'll put a guitar part around 55% to a side depending on how many instruments are playing.

[@chadgrieser8021]

This video is more of a basic starting point for setting up a static mix. I also do LCR panning, but also move stuff towards the middle, and that is usually on toms. This is a good starting point for folks who don't understand how to set panning.

[@tommichaud3927]

Been experimenting with LCR the last few months. Seemed counter intuitive at first but it makes my mixes a lot less muddy. Instruments and voices are much clearer

[@IanTaylor007]

Great example is Tenille Townes - Coming together - the separation of the two guitars just sounds great

[@musiclearner8634]

Man you're the GOAT

[@michaeltablet8577]

Thanks again for all your videos! Especially these days when so many people listen on phone speakers. Anything less sounds mono.

[@emiledubois958]

this is a game changer, thanks, I was fed that half circle with instruments at varying degrees. This put that to rest.

[@douglashazelrigg4377]

I typically pan a mono instrument track either hard L or R and then pan a slightly delayed (25-30 ms) and attenuated copy of that track somewhere in the opposite direction. It allows the instrument to emerge mostly from one speaker, for better reproduction, but also gives it a sense of space due to the timing cues introduced by the delayed track

[@HomeStudioCorner]

That’s a common technique that can cause all kinds of phase problems.

[@douglashazelrigg4377]

@@HomeStudioCorner Good point. On the pro recordings I hear which seem to be LCR, the instruments still seem have a stereo (for lack of a better term) quality to them, that is to say, they sound more dimensional than just a mono source panned hard to one side. You mentioned that the track will often have a delay or reverb send which is panned in the other direction. Maybe that is what I'm hearing? Truth is, this aspect of depth and dimensionality is THE glaring weakness in my mixing knowledge and ability --

[@citizenkang01]

As someone who primarily does live sound reinforcement, monofest is an unfortunate reality. My church has a long narrow seating arrangement, so snless you are in the front 2 rows stereo sound is completely covered. I'm currently rewiring it for stereo possibilities, not to move any instruments/vocals particularly far from center, but to gain access to stereo choruses, delays, and reverbs either onboard the mixer or from the guitars/keyboards.

[@rickmassimo6192]

And it still sounds good when you check it in mono?

[@arjanhurkmans9190]

I like the "70 style" panning a lot for guitars, guitar dry hard left and guitar reverb only hard right (VH I for example). But I can't get that to sound as good as those records in my mixes. I always feel I miss some punch.

[@SouthYarraMan]

There is a major pitfall in LCR which is that many times a listener is hearing only one spaeker or one side more. So any element hard panned will not be properly heard. This is why a mix must first be made in mono mode with spatial effects muted. The trick is to switch back & forth (& use a Gon'z'o meter LOL). The more tracks in a project the greater the stereo image challenge will be. I agree that counterbalancing is vital & this applies equally not only to LCR. As a special effect hard L or R is useful. It will always depend on the song but even so, its rare that any listener will hear music from a centralised point! So I would always be awate of a) frequency masking 'racoon effect'', b) comb filtering (not applicable to the bald!) & mono drop out. Mid to side EQ should then be checked for overlap or frequency range trimming/adjustment. Notching/multiband or intelligent eq etc So beware o🎉f LCR in any default sense. Only my opinion of course but i err on the side of caution!

[@strangebirdfilms]

IDK, the majority of ppl are listening to music off their phone thru ear buds, a soundbar or some kind of bluetooth thing, and while I'd agree their playback system probably sucks & compromises a ton of fidelity thats baked into the actual mix, hearing one side more than the other doesn't seem like the major issue.

[@SouthYarraMan]

Well the best way to disprove thst is to listen to sny well balanced track in mono. It shouldn't lose any audio quality. Then switch back to stereo in an ideal listening position. But there are often occasions when that isn't possible. If you mix hard LCR without using corrective EQ & other techniques, it won't translate. I msde all the relevant points in the earlier post. Ear buds are not suitable because of the way we perceive sound in air, as opposed to in our head.

[@strangebirdfilms]

@@SouthYarraMan yeah im familiar with mono v stereo playback. what i'm saying is the reality of the real world is that the end listener is mostly listening to your mix on ear buds or over ear wi fi phones like Beats etc. thru their phone on the train or whatever, so if they have a speaker jammed into each ear, it may be unsuitable but they are hearing both speakers equally, or from the same distance (which is zero distance). i'm not really arguing with you so much as failing to see how this is an issue for a majority of the playback situations in the real world. In your original comment, when you said "listener" did you mean mix engineer? Maybe that's where I'm confused? I'm talking about the end user listening to the track you've mixed, not anyone standing in the control room while the mix is happening.

[@SouthYarraMan]

@@strangebirdfilms Hi there. My point is that hard LCR as a technique will have frequency masking or phase related issues if you don't correct for that. Its mostly a mid to side problem. The point about real world listening relates to acoistic not ear buds per se'. In fact its always best to mix in mono (with effects muted) & make mix decisions that way, switching back to stereo for comparison. This helps to avoid potential issues in any mix, LCR or otherwise. I think this is already a well known & accepted methodology. If an element is hard pannrd L or R it won't be present in the opposite side as its reduced in volume to zero. In-ear listening won't be so critically affected. But in any case, a lot of people diss mono listening. Oh well... its a production choice that has to be made. I only make the observation. If we all had one ear I guess it wouldn't matter. LOL!

[@portclaire]

The LCR is also a legacy from the first analog consoles around the 60s that had only those three options. Thought it was worth mentioning.

[@Zack-Hates-Youtube]

That is a super important point and is the only reason people even talk about LCR. Just because that's what they had to do back in the day doesn't mean that's what we should do now.

[@stevechaplin6020]

I normally allocate voice and instruments to 3 - 4 zones across the spectrum and I’ve only used 90 - 100% when I need something to stand out. I can’t bring myself to put the vocal, kick and bass all at 0%. But the concept of LCR to test a wide spread is interesting and certainly worth talking about.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

A big part of it for me is simplicity. Mixing is all about making hundreds of decisions, so if there’s a way for me to make fewer decisions, I’m all over it. Giving myself only three painting positions helps me mix fast, and I personally haven’t noticed any degradation to the quality of my mixes as a result.

[@andyjsmith1981]

Love it Joe, I find myself constantly duplicating guitar parts and panning hard right left mainly because I'm creating space centre for lead vocal, daft question, should I be recording guitar parts individually? Also I pump bass guitar down the middle, is this what you do?

[@Take-the-Ticket]

If you are doing rock and metal everything but the lead (but that could be good too, with leads panned to taste) should be recorded separately. One rhythm track hard left, another recording doing the same performance or slightly different hard right. That will leave small differences between the performances that really make a huge sound. Even quad-track the same part sometimes. Never say never, but never just duplicate the track and send it to the other side, that makes a thin sound.

[@theAshesofDecember1]

I feel as though this doesn’t happen much in metal production. Guitars, vocals, snare, bass, and kick absolutely. But things like Toms have to feel as though they actually roll around the stereo space in those middle spaces. Further, they should match the overheads

[@Muravchix]

Apart from the case of a duet, would you also sometimes pan other sounds every so slightly to help with separation between two sounds that occupy similar ish areas? (This is common advice I've heard before) Because if you can only hard pan to separate, then you lose the ability to surprise the listener with wider moments in the mix (switching from a mono-ish state to hard panned elements that come in, e.g. in the chorus). Great video thanks!

[@jeremythornton433]

Well, I guess I'm wrong. I generally do hard left and right for the guitars, bass, kick and snare right up the middle as well as the lead vocal. But for say organ and piano, I might have tehm panned 50 % either left or right. Also, if I have a bit of a choir for backing vocals, I tend to spread them out.

[@prinsonmonthero]

❤️❤️

[@TheGarageBandSyndicate]

I typically make three duplicates of guitar tracks and pan each one different degrees of LRC and then pull the fader back on the ones not hard L or R till I fill the listening perspective. I feel we can only process so much info in one part of our perspective. By using all the space we can process more of the sound.

[@sm5574]

When choosing panning references, people should realize good LCR didn't become universal until around the mid-80s. It definitely existed before then (early equipment could _only_ handle LCR), but it was very hit or miss in terms of professionalism, so you need to be careful in your selection if you're referencing the 1960s or 1970s. This is especially true for people who focus on classic rock, since that's the time period most references will be from.

[@maverick_trail]

This works great if you have 3 or more tracks of the same instrument, but something like 2 guitars doesn't translate well to the LCR model. Plus, when I think of hard panning guitars, I immediately think of Van Halen 1 and that's not a mix I aspire to.

[@agirotto1]

I've been doing it for several years now, and it definitely works and makes the song fuller while cleaning up the mix a bit. When you hear your favorite songs and listen to, say, Jimmy Page's guitar hard panned left, you realise this is the way to go.

[@vadimmartynyuk]

I like to go between TIMID and LCR

[@BenMartinBox]

Hey Joe, the LCR concept is fairly simple to understand for mono sound sources (Vox, Guitars, Bass, Piano...). I understand that you gave the "Electric piano" (Rhodes style sound) example for instruments that spread allover the LCR field and your solution for it is also reasonable but I'm curious about how would you deal with specific electronic PAD synths that (by design) spread sonically allover the stereo field (evolving and moving in time). Dealing with one instance may be easy, just letting it naturally "Stereo-Centered" but what if your have several of those in the mix (electronic ambient or orchestral music - like Vangelis)? Would you treat them all alike, meaning, let them naturally "Stereo-Centered" so they can naturally LCR spread (all around)? Thanks for sharing. Stay safe.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

When I have several stereo keys/pads, I choose one or two to stay stereo, the rest become mono and get panned left or right.

[@BenMartinBox]

@@HomeStudioCorner Appreciated. I do it almost the same. Stay safe.

[@artale4404]

Instrumentation dictates this. IF there are a lot of instruments some LCR and some in between will work fine but again its not a hard fast rule. LCR works very well but experimentation and balance depending on the instrumentation must be taken into account. If the instrumentation and arrangement suck then no type of panning will help. Remember most phones are a mono speaker and ear buds or headphones are not even true stereo. I like that Joe is offering an approach that some may never have tried and should. Experiment with your song and listen to all the possible panning positions. Your ears will tell you what is best for your arrangement.

[@thefuzzboxx1018]

Hi, what about rack toms and floor toms?

[@sm5574]

I have found that drums are the primary exception to LCR because of the overheads. The overheads catch the entire kit at once in a stereo spread, and as such, they will span the entire spectrum between left and right. There's really no avoiding this, unless you simply flatten all the drums into mono. So what I do is try to match the panning of the individual mics to the space they occupy in the stereo overheads.

[@countryguitaronline]

How do you like to pan a mix with only one acoustic and one vocal? Both down the center? Or vocals in the center and acoustic guitar slightly off to one side?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

The only options are L, C, and R. So in this case: C. 😊

[@countryguitaronline]

Cool, I'll keep it simple then 👌and might try recording acoustic in stereo with two mics and go L/R with those to see if it sounds fuller. Thanks for all your videos, they've really helped me out a lot! @@HomeStudioCorner

[@DavisEJay]

Hello Joe! Last year I purchased your mixing course. Just a quick question. What do you recommend (PC) for a cpu as far as the processor size and if it needs to be cooled? Just your preference or I should ask what do you use

[@HomeStudioCorner]

I use an M1 MacBook pro

[@jakestewartmusic]

LCR feels like standing right in the middle of the band, where more central-based panning sounds like hearing the band from the middle row of the audience.

[@Stemma3]

I thought I was an animal. I love things hard panned because I like to hear everything. I remember having BALANCE when I was I kid and going Left or Right to hear the different guitars I'm not a mixer, but I have my own songs and I'm always "What the hell, I don't care... I'm panning LEFT, RIGHT or CENTER. I even hate when the virtual drums don't have panned cymbals. It's good to see that I'm not an animal

[@Thedustbowlaudio]

Hey Joe, nice vid. Do you ever find that narrowing a drum kit a bit helps to solidify the mix? I use almost exclusive LCR but do sometimes think that having the kit stretched all the way L to R weakens the image - looks great when you view the panorama on a meter but sounds more together at about 70 - 80% width - possibly related to pan law I guess as I tend to balance my kit then adjust pan on a group channel?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

I only narrow if it doesn’t sound good LCR, which is rare, especially because I record drums with XY overheads.

[@djerikfox]

..hi Joe, in LCR how do you mix synths pads plucks?leave as they are or add some stereoizer plugin?regards

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Leave as is

[@krystiankrewniak]

I actually prefer the timid panning. It's true that sometimes it's good to do it the LCR way especially when you have instruments that play in the same part of the spectrum, but in general I am not sure that's the best rule to stick to.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

There is certainly an element of personal preference. But I personally enjoy nice wide mixes. I find them to be boring when they are panned too close to the middle. It makes them stand out when compared to other music I listen to.

[@krystiankrewniak]

@@HomeStudioCorner I understand. I guess if I would use this method, I would like to use it more as a surprise. But there may be something more to what you're saying ☺️. I still have a lot to learn. Anyway, thanks for the video. Great as always.

[@SausageFingers73]

Hi Joe, another great video. Quick question, most of my recording are me playing all the instruments, the usual drums, bass, guitars and keys. Would you typically pan certain elements of the drum kit to reflect how they would be set up. Obviously kick and snare down the middle but would you pan the toms from left to right, and possibly hi hat off to the left, that sort of thing?

[@380stroker]

All drums panned in the center except the overheads which are hard left and hard right. This will widen the drums.

[@fayetalg]

LCR is a engineer and producer preference. I do mostly hip-hop and RnB and the one song I can come off hand remembering is "Bout It" by Master P but it was a terrible mixup anyway

[@inkfairy1]

Hi, Joe. 🙂 Have you ever heard of Voodoo People by The Prodigy? I was listening to it last night and it DEFINITELY sounds like they used LCR panning in this one. Please listen to it and tell me what you think. Btw, love your videos, man.🙂

[@lethalz9]

So drum panning then?

[@johnRivs]

How do you go about 1 vocal + 1 acoustic guitar? Sometimes I like doing what you said about duets. I just move them slightly, like 1-3 points, to get them out of each other's way. Do you have a different approach for situations like these?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Up the middle.

[@Highwaystar240]

L and R panning 50% works for me on electric guitars, hard right and hard left sound way too away for my taste, it's like guitars sound weak

[@HomeStudioCorner]

To each his own, but I know that for me if I think something doesn't sound good, but I see every professional mix doing it, I take a step back and entertain the option that maybe my taste is wrong and should be adjusted.

[@joshuaday914]

Thanks for your video! Question though, are the Studio One panners stereo panners or are they more of a subtractive balance control?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Both. You can change how they work.

[@ykar18]

So, in that case, does the pan law (0dB, -3dB, -6dB) have any influence, and how do you deal with it?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

I literally don’t pay attention to it. I just pan em and move on. 👍

[@dspoet1]

I have to disagree with you on this one. I know a lot of pros who don’t do this, me included.

[@zerodbu]

I've found some situations where binaural positioning with delays (200 to 500 microseconds) is far more effective than level panning. On a live bluegrass recording, if my mando is far stage-left, It will go to the right at unity and the left with a 500uS delay and a 6db/octave LPF cornered at about 5Khz.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

What do you mean by "more effective"? What's the benefit? Sounds overly complicated. I'd be curious to know what the sonic benefit is.

[@zerodbu]

Dave Rat explains it well in his "panning" video kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYSZdH6koKqIoqM (jump to the 8:18 mark) By "effective" I mean realistic. Timing differences are how our brains locate a sound source in our our environment - not level difference. It doesn't work great in a rock mix and it requires headphones/earbuds to achieve the best result. I really enjoy your channel - you're teaching valuable stuff - keep up the good work!

[@BandiFornosky1]

Hey Joe, LCR is nice but what about phase issues? Also in mono, like from a phone, everything wide disappears.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

If it disappears in mono, usually something else is wrong.

[@arturomartin8101]

HI Joe, But ¿ what about the separation between the soft and the hard parts of the song? . Using only LCR, there will be no difference or movement.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Panning has nothing to do with making a song big and dynamic.

[@osomdaran]

Joe, where do you usually put the snare/cymbals and the backing vocals?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Snare: C. Cymbals and BGVs; hard left and right.

[@chriskemp466]

I tried guitar hard right and reverb for it hard left and the reverb doesn't show up until you bring the guitar in a bit (reverb still hard panned). Why is this? ( using Reaper)

[@HomeStudioCorner]

That happens sometimes. I think it depends on the software you are using, and the reverb itself.

[@matthewjohnson0627]

Joe! What do you think about mixing in mono from end to end, and saving panning until just before the export to master?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Sounds boring to me. 😊

[@matthewjohnson0627]

@@HomeStudioCorner by the way, I mixed my most recent song with your approach, and it was so much easier! If you’re interested, here’s the link. Thank you for all you’ve done! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqrPdpKFfLNph7c

[@fb8966]

Dear Prudence. Beatles white album ,,,,Amazing amount to learn::: Listen with headphones .

[@demodeiowa]

would you apply this to drum toms?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Yup. But if it sounds too wide I’ll bring ‘em in.

[@MrMillsapOfficial]

I’m just gonna give up at this point 😂

[@CamariMusic]

soooo what about the new old and shiny Dolby Atmos...

[@riisanmusic5478]

Just been reading a book written by a pro and he says not to do this. Some things may work well but why pan a stereo track hard left or right ?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

If it doesn’t need to be stereo. Or if it’s a dense mix.

[@riisanmusic5478]

I don't know why you think all the pros do this. If you read Bobby Owsinski's book he explains how this causes ' big mono ' where everything is stacked on top of each other. There are also quotes from Dave Pensado and Ed Seay saying the same thing. One quote says that if you pan a stereo track ( keyboard, synth) hard left or hard right then you will end up with a " Trainwreck" on the edge of the stereo spectrum

[@HomeStudioCorner]

The point of this video is too many people never actually pan anything wide. LCR helps them get over that. But I also said in the video that I only do it if/when it sounds good. If not, I’ll bring em in.

[@slayabouts]

Oh hell naw I’ve always thrown guitars all the way to the sides

[@HomeStudioCorner]

🤘

[@chetsenior7253]

I listen to the song and go where it leads.

[@380stroker]

On drums pan everything in the middle except for overheads. Overheads should be hard left and hard right

[@mazy-beats]

Panning is not so much guesswork. Why should I limit myself in this way?

[@samoduwole2408]

👍 👍

[@gelatinous6915]

It is important to keep in mind that your mix still has to be listenable. Hard LCR panning may sound great with a fancy speaker setup or nice monitors, but its a total pain in the ass to listen to in the car, with headphones, or with earbuds. There's a balance, and there's a reason why nobody pans like this anymore.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Sure they do.

[@alzy101]

LCR mixes are dull to my ears. Having wide pans is good and all but having no in between pans make it sound empty to me. You need a happy middle ground. LCR some stuff but in between most is my approach.

[@yocaine]

Am I wrong or is this not even true for your reference track? The guitar is loud on the left - yes, but it is also happening in the right side. Doesn't that mean it is not lcr mixed?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Guitar left. Reverb right.

[@PACKTdotSPACE]

better to pan like 75 percent either way rather than 100.. for less volume loss in mono

[@maseratifittipaldi]

Devil's advocate : Center means 100% both speakers. Slightly off center does not mean only that narrow band between center and "timid" panning point. It means only slightly less than 100% on one speaker but still 100% on the other?

[@Macacos]

Old desks didn’t have panners, just a switch: LCR.

[@GaryCunninghamyouareenough]

🤟🙏🏻

[@JoeStuffzAlt]

One thing I noticed: the guitar played on the left, but I heard some of the reverb on the right, which had an interesting effect. Thinking about his, especially how PCM audio is, LCR could give a bandwidth boost. It's hard to tell how much. 16-bit PCM Stereo is often two completely separate 16-bit mono tracks. If audio is on the center, it means it lives on both tracks. If an instrument lives on one track, it takes away competition for bandwidth away from the other track.

[@dama77]

Mr. Joe Gilder: I play a lot of Flam on the snare drum, could you please tell me how to make the 「 Flam notation 」 and 「 Drag notation 」 on the sheet music? The version I am using is "Studio One 6.5 Professional”. Looking forward to your guidance. Thank you very much ~ kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZnJm36krtBoY5I kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmO3omqrgNhnfZo kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2WkZHiBbK2jobc

[@JakeVanDanger]

I actually prefer the "timid" panning. Hard panning everything demands splitting attention of my ears and I don't enjoy the song as a complete work as much.

[@ArmchairRamb0]

Mix in mono. Then make a stereo mix and go nuts. All your phase issues will be revealed.

[@TheAT5000]

All the options sound the same on my cellphone speaker 😂

[@HomeStudioCorner]

You make a powerful point. 👍

[@TheAT5000]

@@HomeStudioCorner , Thanks for taking the time to make the lesson! I do volunteer mixing at a church, and not panning far enough is one of my complaints about the senior recording mix engineer. His reasoning is that he remembers back when cassette tapes had the vocals and instruments panned hard left and right so if you only have one or the other. I plan to make my own separate recordings on my own equipment for a couple weeks and see if I can at least get permission to send my mix to the stream video.

[@JAANDLU]

All good stuff but I would add one more thing. Bass and kick can be cheated a bit to help with separation. If you just pull the kick 5 to the right and bass 5 to the left, they still sound up the middle but it can create some space for each. But this I would only use if everything else I did wasn't doing it for me. Also, the bottom line, creatively, anyway, is do what sounds good to you. For example on the album A Live One by Phish, you can distinctly hear the drums on the right, the bass just a bit left, the guitar just left of that and the keys on the far left. So, some albums do do this with great success. But, hey, if you are looking to sound like everyone else, yeah, do just LCR.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

I’ve never felt like kick and bass need separation. I’m fine with them mushing together.