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Panning with only a few instruments? (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I’m struggling to pan the chorus of my song. It only has drums, bass, one slightly distorted guitar and a lead vocal.

The drums have a nice default panning spread from L-R in the DAW I’m using (Logic). But the convention I’m reading online recommends putting bass and vocal in the centre.

My question is, what do I do with the guitar, which is just playing a power chord at the beginning of each bar.

I like songs that fill the stereo spectrum but due to the composition, this one seems narrow by comparison.

I’ve read about stereo expanders but I’m not sure when to sure them. I was also thinking that I could somehow split the guitar into two tracks by frequency and pan those differently. Not sure how to go about that yet and then not sure if I would need to do the same for vocals in that case.

Any suggestions on how to make the mix a bit more exciting without changing the composition ?

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[–] OneBlindMouse 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

When you say 50%, are you referring to the 'middle' of the frequency curve..? Try separating... low and high pass at about 150-200Hz then centering the low, keeping it clean and adding some kind of saturation to the high then panning two of that, not mad or hard L/R. If the bass conflicts with the kick for space, give the kick priority, either using dynamic EQ or multiband on a side chain.

There is no right or wrong here, just 'what works' but finding the sweet spot in these strategies might help.

Someone below mentioned double tracking the guitar by replaying. This is a good idea but make sure your timings are hitting, especially on supporting 'power' chords, otherwise you'll also lose punch in the final mix. If you're double tracking, listen in mono too. You will possibly have phasing issues.

Enjoy.