Hi Sara! I approach drum width and panning based on: ● The genre of music and typically associated mix & production techniques ● What serves the song best ● The preference specified by the artist My personal preference is to mix drums in the audience's perspective, especially if there will be a video of the band performing the song. Whilst recording, I normally use a Glyn Johns style microphone placement for the overheads which often provides enough hi-hat signal so that I don't need to rely as heavily on the dedicated hi-hat microphone. Each song is of course different! Thanks again for a great video. I hope that you and yours are all safe and well! Peace, Love & Ringo, chaz
Sara, your videos kept popping up on my feed so I just assumed I was subscribed. I wasn't ...but I am now. I love your approach. Thanks so much for all the hard work you making the complex simple for all of us.
And yes, i try to mix artificially wide while keeping things pretty much in phase. In that way, I can embed the track in frequencies and sound image. Thx!
I dont quite get, at 4:58, the matching action with the O/H. Do you mean it needs to be at the extreme left with the OH? Then the Hi Hats on the Right with the extreme Right matching the OH at that point?
No, not extreme left and right, I'm referring to its position in the stereo field, the overall sound stage. Saying that though, you can go to the extreme and many do. It depends how wide you want the drums to sound. I like to leave room in the sides for guitars in the choruses for example
Its great info...but for me i really have to see it if this is on youtube ..as video and not a written contant .than it would be so much better and helpful to see what you are talking about because a lot of us would love to follow along in the mixer of our daw of choice...thanx for the quick response
Great insight towards drum processing Sara.. Just a small clarification if you fancy enough to answer... Whilst the master buss is set to Mono, is it ok to make Volume fader changes within the drum tracks along with pan pot changes? Or is it wiser, only to do pan pot adjustments without breaking up your initial drum mix balance? And.. is it a good idea to narrow up the "drum bus" using a seperate plugin so there is more space in the extreme L & R corners for the hard panned guitars/synths etc... Thanks millons for reading out our queries.. Cheers.. 👍👍😍👊
I'd do the pan pot adjustment in mono. I know it sounds crazy but it's to do with pan law. The final decision is always what sounds best in stereo for me though, so try it and see how it translates for you. If it's not sounding right in stereo, change it.
Hi Sara. Question here. If the drums were recorded in drummers perspective and for some reason further down the line we decided to go for an audienceperspective, can a simple stereo flip on the drum buss work? thanks so much your channel is pure gold!
Ok, if I match the pan postion of the HiHat and the Toms with the Overheads hard left and right, would I adjust those again when I take back the Overheads to about 85?
What if you have this scenario: kick centre, snare centre, HH 5-10R (just to take away from the centre a little ) so where would Sticks and Claps go from the audience perspective, please? Both recorded in stereo, both wide sounding. Mix is very busy, lots of wide synths and fx. Can I pan claps & sticks anywhere up to half way each side or even wider or is there any golden rule for these and I shall keep them narrow and on specific side? I would appreciate your opinion on this. Thank you 🙂
There are no rules, you can place them where they sound best to you. With a busy mix and lots of stereo sounds things start to sound congested. Do all the sounds have to be stereo? You can create more width by using mono sounds and panning them opposite to each other at varying degrees of the pan pot. Narrow some of the stereo sources too, like I said, there are no rules!
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing yes, I have already changed few of them to mono and panned accordingly (all strings section for example). This sounds good to me.I just wasn't sure if Im breaking some rule here with claps and stick. Thank you for reply. Much appreciated 🙂
Thx Sara, I'm that leftie drummer that mixes in MY perspective. Is it drummers perspective or audience perspective? Great explanation by the way🤩. I also keep the mic away from the center, it often sounds pretty harsh and I tend to lowpass it heavily.
Great video! I keep my drum buss at 100 wide but never pan the OH track past 80... the drums really pop out more in the song! I don’t like audience view since I am a drummer. I always pan where I hear the toms in front of me. On a 4 piece kit for instance the rack Tom is really almost in front of you so I slightly pan it left. The floor Tom is more right however so that’s always more like 35-45... anyways... just what I do! I agree, drums are never a full 100 pan. They usually don’t go past the drummers shoulders. It’ll really make the drums pop out in the mix!
Me too because of the sudden disappearance and sudden instances where all that noise comes in and goes away. It’s a big distraction when I play but at this point we need some kind of clean up with our live mixing. lol. I’ll check out that gate and try it out
Hi Sara! Love your videos. I learn every time I watch. 🤘 Do you find the need to mic the hi-hat on a rock drum kit? In my experience, it becomes too bombastic in the mix. I've tried 57s, 58s, and a large diaphragm condenser. (All I have, except a 609) in most cases, even with minimum gain, the SPL is just way too high, and the mic distorts. (Otherwise functional microphones/signal path) Typically, I find myself turning my hat track way down or muting it entirely, as the overheads tend to pick up the hat plenty loud, and more clearly. I've even nixed the hat mic all together recently. Any tips for micing the hat for a round, sweet sound? Ribbon mic? 🤷
It's pretty common to not use the hihat mic except to highlight a particular section. It's also pretty common to only need a tiny bit of it to do enough to bring a bit more focus to it. A fav mic for hi hat is a small diaphragm condenser with a pad, like the AKG 451B, that won't distort!
Hi. Impossible to download the free Panning Drums for Clarity and Focus PDF guide. I tried with chrome, explorer and firefox. Same error. I also tried right click and save link as. No way.
HAHAHA!! Drummers perspective ALWAYS for myself and my own stuff. I think it's just because I play drums, but hearing them mixed in an audience perspective always weirds me out. No right or perspective though. Either or works at the end of the day 🙂
Let me know if you have any questions about panning drums. How do you pan your hi-hat? How wide do you pan your drums? I’m curious to know!
Hi Sara! I approach drum width and panning based on:
● The genre of music and typically associated mix & production techniques
● What serves the song best
● The preference specified by the artist
My personal preference is to mix drums in the audience's perspective, especially if there will be a video of the band performing the song. Whilst recording, I normally use a Glyn Johns style microphone placement for the overheads which often provides enough hi-hat signal so that I don't need to rely as heavily on the dedicated hi-hat microphone. Each song is of course different!
Thanks again for a great video. I hope that you and yours are all safe and well!
Peace, Love & Ringo,
chaz
Thanks for sharing!
As a drummer and producer of 30 plus years, audience perspective DRIVES ME INSANE to this day!
I love the way you breakdown things great educational stuff
Thanks!
Absolutely spot on, Sara! Thanks so much for another great video. Cheers from South Wales, NY, USA. - chaz
Glad it was helpful!
Sara, your videos kept popping up on my feed so I just assumed I was subscribed. I wasn't ...but I am now. I love your approach. Thanks so much for all the hard work you making the complex simple for all of us.
Oh thank you!
And yes, i try to mix artificially wide while keeping things pretty much in phase. In that way, I can embed the track in frequencies and sound image. Thx!
Thanks for sharing!
Great video Sara!
Thank you!
Thanks Sara. I'll try mono mixing drums in my next mix.
Hope it works for you!
thank you sara more of these pls pls thx
I dont quite get, at 4:58, the matching action with the O/H. Do you mean it needs to be at the extreme left with the OH? Then the Hi Hats on the Right with the extreme Right matching the OH at that point?
No, not extreme left and right, I'm referring to its position in the stereo field, the overall sound stage. Saying that though, you can go to the extreme and many do. It depends how wide you want the drums to sound. I like to leave room in the sides for guitars in the choruses for example
Its great info...but for me i really have to see it if this is on youtube ..as video and not a written contant .than it would be so much better and helpful to see what you are talking about because a lot of us would love to follow along in the mixer of our daw of choice...thanx for the quick response
I understand, sorry for that
What a video, I love your way to explain. Saludos desde México
Mayel Silva, thank you so much :)
Great insight towards drum processing Sara.. Just a small clarification if you fancy enough to answer...
Whilst the master buss is set to Mono, is it ok to make Volume fader changes within the drum tracks along with pan pot changes? Or is it wiser, only to do pan pot adjustments without breaking up your initial drum mix balance?
And.. is it a good idea to narrow up the "drum bus" using a seperate plugin so there is more space in the extreme L & R corners for the hard panned guitars/synths etc...
Thanks millons for reading out our queries.. Cheers.. 👍👍😍👊
I'd do the pan pot adjustment in mono. I know it sounds crazy but it's to do with pan law. The final decision is always what sounds best in stereo for me though, so try it and see how it translates for you. If it's not sounding right in stereo, change it.
Hi Sara. Question here. If the drums were recorded in drummers perspective and for some reason further down the line we decided to go for an audienceperspective, can a simple stereo flip on the drum buss work? thanks so much your channel is pure gold!
Good question! You'd have to flip the panning on any stereo sends so the reverbs would match too
Thank you for this great tutorial
My question is whether in panning low frequency sounds should be close to the center or vice versa
I usually keep low frequency sounds in the centre where I can
Ok, if I match the pan postion of the HiHat and the Toms with the Overheads hard left and right, would I adjust those again when I take back the Overheads to about 85?
I probably would adjust them if they sound too detatched to the drums. Hope that makes sense
What if you have this scenario: kick centre, snare centre, HH 5-10R (just to take away from the centre a little ) so where would Sticks and Claps go from the audience perspective, please? Both recorded in stereo, both wide sounding. Mix is very busy, lots of wide synths and fx. Can I pan claps & sticks anywhere up to half way each side or even wider or is there any golden rule for these and I shall keep them narrow and on specific side? I would appreciate your opinion on this. Thank you 🙂
There are no rules, you can place them where they sound best to you. With a busy mix and lots of stereo sounds things start to sound congested. Do all the sounds have to be stereo? You can create more width by using mono sounds and panning them opposite to each other at varying degrees of the pan pot. Narrow some of the stereo sources too, like I said, there are no rules!
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing yes, I have already changed few of them to mono and panned accordingly (all strings section for example). This sounds good to me.I just wasn't sure if Im breaking some rule here with claps and stick. Thank you for reply. Much appreciated 🙂
Thx Sara, I'm that leftie drummer that mixes in MY perspective. Is it drummers perspective or audience perspective? Great explanation by the way🤩. I also keep the mic away from the center, it often sounds pretty harsh and I tend to lowpass it heavily.
Yes, exactly! Mind blown...
Great video!! Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
is new age panning method have?
Great video! I keep my drum buss at 100 wide but never pan the OH track past 80... the drums really pop out more in the song! I don’t like audience view since I am a drummer. I always pan where I hear the toms in front of me. On a 4 piece kit for instance the rack Tom is really almost in front of you so I slightly pan it left. The floor Tom is more right however so that’s always more like 35-45... anyways... just what I do! I agree, drums are never a full 100 pan. They usually don’t go past the drummers shoulders. It’ll really make the drums pop out in the mix!
Thanks for sharing Brian!
i never pan OH hard LR , i keep that region for keys or guitars only room are hard panning .. i pan my OH 70 max to be more realistic
That's a good strategy
Hi!!! Can we do a video to gate drums?
In all honesty, I hate gating drums. I now use the Oxford Drum Gate by @sonnox and it was a game changer for me.
Me too because of the sudden disappearance and sudden instances where all that noise comes in and goes away. It’s a big distraction when I play but at this point we need some kind of clean up with our live mixing. lol. I’ll check out that gate and try it out
i prefer drummer perspective for recorded versions so drummers (and air drummers) listening at home can play along
That's a good point!
Hi Sara! Love your videos. I learn every time I watch. 🤘 Do you find the need to mic the hi-hat on a rock drum kit? In my experience, it becomes too bombastic in the mix. I've tried 57s, 58s, and a large diaphragm condenser. (All I have, except a 609) in most cases, even with minimum gain, the SPL is just way too high, and the mic distorts. (Otherwise functional microphones/signal path) Typically, I find myself turning my hat track way down or muting it entirely, as the overheads tend to pick up the hat plenty loud, and more clearly. I've even nixed the hat mic all together recently. Any tips for micing the hat for a round, sweet sound? Ribbon mic? 🤷
It's pretty common to not use the hihat mic except to highlight a particular section. It's also pretty common to only need a tiny bit of it to do enough to bring a bit more focus to it. A fav mic for hi hat is a small diaphragm condenser with a pad, like the AKG 451B, that won't distort!
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Thanks, Sara!
Hi. Impossible to download the free Panning Drums for Clarity and Focus PDF guide. I tried with chrome, explorer and firefox. Same error. I also tried right click and save link as. No way.
Email me and I’ll send a link
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Mono mixing drums is a great technique. I learnt that the hard way 😂
It really is! Great for getting the relative levels correct and balanced with the vocals, especially at lower listening levels
HAHAHA!! Drummers perspective ALWAYS for myself and my own stuff. I think it's just because I play drums, but hearing them mixed in an audience perspective always weirds me out. No right or perspective though. Either or works at the end of the day 🙂
Totally!
Your voice reminds sooo much of Mrs Doubtfire 😊
Wasn’t that an Irish accent?
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing 🤷🏻♂️ 🤓 thank you for all your mixing tips. Really appreciate it 🎉
@@jossuecastaneda8135 you're welcome!
Nice mi máster greeting
I prefer the pan pot to the Pol Pot.
Assuming not a lefty kit, of course.
I prefer audience perspective
Me too. It's what sound "normal" to me
you should clearly gave simple advice like "pan them 10 to the right" and that's your starting point.
1 : 23 u nasty 🥰🥰🥰
haha!
This would be nice if it was visually done instead of telling it ..im a visual person so for that reason this tutorial doesnt work for me...
Hi, thanks for the feedback, I'll definitely bear that in mind for future videos, thanks
Why are Brits and Australia ians better at making mix tutorials
those poisonous animals and the dry and hostile environment makes anyone from there a better mixer and mastering engineer
Drummer’s perspective interferes with listeners' ability to air-audience.
Indeed!