pan settings when playing at gigs

[buckshot]

Can anyone tell me if it would be better to have all of the pan settings for each trigger set to the cntr when playing live, i`m using the pa system at the moment and going out stereo, but i have just bought a JBL eon g2 and will be getting another one to match , i also run a carlsbro 600w gamma sub woofer to help out with the bottom end, i just wondered about the way my settings are at the moment and will it improve the stereo effect if i was to alter them.

[grog]

You can go nutso on this which isn't a good thing but yeah, I believe some panning helps. I want to say there's been some discussion on this in here before but I'm not so sure at to the specifics.

I have the snare, HH, kick and ride panned center.

I have two crashes, one panned medium left, one panned medium right.

My toms are were I "go crazy". Tom 1 starts hard left, Tom 2 center, Tom 3 hard right. If I had 4 toms, I'd modify that somewhat but you get the idea.

I have a china and a splash, one panned just off center left, one panned just off center right.

www.myspace.com/rubberuniverse

[Strike]

You do have to be careful with panning on a gig. If you pan too much, people on one side of the stage will not hear your kit as a whole but will only hear the center and one side of the pan.

Does that make sense? Not sure if I typed it like I thought it.

[buckshot]

Thanks for the advice chaps,very much appreciated, i think i`ll just have to try some different settings and see what sounds best for me.

[ige87]

I'd advise to use the KISS theory: Keep It Simple, Stupid! Good luck whatever you settle upon.

[Oz DrumR]

I'm in the centrally panned school.

At first I panned left and right, but if you're playing a wider room, then as has been previously said - those standing at the right won't hear much (if any) of the stuff that is panned hard left.

I now pan centrally . . . . think about it: if it was an acoustic kit, for someone stood say 20-30 feet away, would a snare hit sound as though it was coming from a very different place to a floor tom hit? I wouldn't think so (IMHO) Also, do the majority of listeners appreciate a panned sound, or simply a good clear sound?

Recording is a different kettle of fish - pan until your heart is content.

[grog]

I now pan centrally . . . . think about it: if it was an acoustic kit, for someone stood say 20-30 feet away, would a snare hit sound as though it was coming from a very different place to a floor tom hit? I wouldn't think so (IMHO) Also, do the majority of listeners appreciate a panned sound, or simply a good clear sound?

I can't argue with that--clear sound should win out.

But, comparing what we can do in smallish venues with an ekit as opposed to an akit is an apples/oranges thing. I would think an ekit player would want to take advantage of some of the advantages such a kit has to offer. In this discussion, that boils down to having something that won't overwhelm the audience (heh heh, who needs panning when you're sending sonic booms out onto the floor). If you have a clean sound that's not over dominating the room, then you should consider some simple panning, again, not much, to broaden your sound just a skosh.

Drum panning in the studio? The first guy who wormed his way into our album production process (eventually left when it was clear we were gonna can his arse) panned drums in such a way you got whiplash listening to it--it was truely the most godawful, amateurish approach to mixing drums we'd ever heard. We listened to tons of stuff in order to get a feel for how drums are panned and discovered that with the basic kit, everything's pretty much panned centrally. Percussive bits can be out there and there's the (very) occasional cymbal pan that's noticeably wide left or right but otherwise, most of the stuff we listened to had drums panned center.

www.myspace.com/rubberuniverse

[Oz DrumR]

The first guy who wormed his way into our album production process (eventually left when it was clear we were gonna can his arse) panned drums in such a way you got whiplash listening to it--it was truely the most godawful, amateurish approach to mixing drums we'd ever heard.

I'd agree with you to a sensible approach in the studio - when I've recorded with the V's (and A's come to think of it) - it's been only slightly off centre, certainly nothing hard left and right! . . . I think we're roughly on a similar hymn sheet!

[drum head )'>]

I moved everything to front and center after a couple of musician friends giving us feed back after a gig.

[pchanning]

If you are running the sound without a FOH desk, why adjust the panning?... just run 1 lead in mono - seems to be the accepted practice IMO. Panning, even in small venues, sounds wierd. YMMV though!

[gingerbaker]

Why go stereo is my question.

IMO, all panning does is cause an unnatural soundscape, and if anything, reduces the ability of everyone in the audience to hear all parts of your kit.

The panning stuff, IMO, is for recording. And, hopefully, used judiciously there.

[grog]

For several years, our sound person was strictly a Mono gal. But when the keyboardist really started showing her what a stereo mix could do (in small venues), she became convinced of what it could do.

Since she's my wife, clearly I believe her.

www.myspace.com/rubberuniverse

[gingerbaker]

For several years, our sound person was strictly a Mono gal. But when the keyboardist really started showing her what a stereo mix could do (in small venues), she became convinced of what it could do.

Since she's my wife, clearly I believe her.

www.myspace.com/rubberuniverse

Are you speaking about the keyboard sound, the drum sound, or all the sound in general, Grog?

What do you feel is the advantage of stereo sound?

Our guitar players went through a phase where they connected their amps to each other, each on the opposite sides of the stage, and got some stereo imaging, but they gave it up pretty quick, because they couldn't hear themselves as well as they could before.

[Rythmstik]

If you are running the sound without a FOH desk, why adjust the panning?... just run 1 lead in mono - seems to be the accepted practice IMO. Panning, even in small venues, sounds wierd. YMMV though!

I agree. This is what I do for small to medium gigs, as well. Larger gigs I leave it up to the sound man out front...

[grog]

Are you speaking about the keyboard sound, the drum sound, or all the sound in general, Grog?

At the end of the day, the sound in general. My wife grew to feel that with the keyboard/synth's setup in stereo, she was able to "do more" with the overall sound. The drums were also done in stereo so my panning is described as above but to be honest, the drum part of this stereo equation was, in her opinion, rather small.

Now, what exactly she meant by "do more", I can't honestly say. I think she felt we had a fuller, more developed sound, particularly if she could pan some of the vocals a bit off to one side or the other. Just a bit. And that's with 3 lead vocalists, all of whom do a boatload of backing vocals with a 4th backing vocalist (moi).

Again, I wish I could be more specific. I just know that she went from being a "mono is fine" person to "hmmm, this stereo stuff has real possibilities". Perhaps I should ask her for details over dinner tonight?

www.myspace.com/rubberuniverse