I'm kind of curious about how hard you guys like to pan your guitars/overheads/harmonies and other such stuff. For example do you like to have your guitars way on the outside, the harmonies, then overheads?
Do you mix it up depending upon what the song seems to call for, and if so what is that calling? Is there anything with panning that is a giant no no, like say using eq to get the dynamics back from an overly compressed track?
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FWIW you can't EQ something which isn't there, you can "rebuild"
FWIW you can't EQ something which isn't there, you can "rebuild" harmonics using any of a number of methods/gear.
Anyhow as to panning some basic guidelines for rock stuff would be to pan your hi hat wide right, leave the snare in the middle or close to the middle, kick in the middle, crash and ride wide-ish to either wide. Spread your toms so they are panned starting from left-center to mid-left, but not too wide. Some folks like to pan them right across the stereo spectrum, experiment. Don't pan too much stuff hard left or hard right, it can ruin your stereo image, be judicious. Bass guitar and lead vocal in the center. Rhythm guitars about 60% left and keyboards (or 2nd rhythm guitar) about 60% right. Harmony vocal 1 at 35% left, harmony vocal 2 at about 35% right. Guitar solo in the center. These are just guidelines, experiment. These settings won't work perfect in every scenario but they'll give you a basis for a simple rock mix. These settings make a good jumping off point to get started anyhow.
That also assumes you are using mono tracks, if you are using stereo tracks then be aware that the panning works differently than for mono tracks. Experiment and see what sounds good to you. Listen to some of your favorite albums and try to picture where everything has been panned.
Anyhoo hope that helped a bit. Cheers. 8-)
Vaylence wrote: Is there anything with panning that is a giant
Every song is different, but even suggesting this is, indeed, a giant no-no.