| Mix Panning and Drum Samples |
| Written by John Gellei |
| Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:33 |
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In rap and hip-hop music production these days, sequencing is still very important. Panning, though, is fast becoming a skill to really treasure, as it is one way to easily make 20-30 drum samples and sounds fit in a track without crowding the room so to speak.
In rap and hip-hop music production these days, sequencing is still very important. Panning, though, is fast becoming a skill to really treasure, as it is one way to easily make 20-30 drum samples and sounds fit in a track without crowding the room so to speak. When going through any mixing book or tutorial series, you'll quickly notice that panning is quite near the top of the food chain. Applying it to drum samples can seem quite easy, but there is a lot to think about when making bigger, track-wide decisions later on in the music production process. At the very basics of panning is the philosophy of sound distribution. In essence it's about changing the volume of sound, but not evenly. The sound is distributed unevenly among the left and right channels, and this effectively changes the location of that particular sound in the stereo field. This can be done with drum samples, with a string section or an electric bell, the creative part is left up to you, the mixer. When used with drums, a complicated piece is easy to achieve with a bit of practice. Drum samples and panning go hand in hand. Some things to keep in mind will follow, but you must remember to experiment a little bit as nothing is set in stone. Having said that, you should try not to pan the kick and snare drum samples beyond a little bit, and I will show you why in a minute. An example would be the center including the kick and snare and supporting sounds in the left/right channels - not directly in mid-point. Why would we not want to pan the snare and kick drum samples beyond a few percentage points? Well, the reason is all about centre frequencies. What do I mean? Have you ever been in a club where they play popular music, like rock, RnB and hip hop? Yes, I'm sure we all have. Now those clubs have a weird speaker set up. Hardly ever are there stereo speakers all around the place in pairs. To achieve some good energy, the managers often put the left speakers on one side and the right on the other side. What this achieves is a sweeping effect across the floor. If you panned the snare hard-left and the right hard-right, one half of the club would only hear the snare through their speakers and faintly hear the kick on the other side. This is not really good for a good feeling among all dancers and patrons. The frequency at which a drum sample plays can also be a big factor in determining which samples you should pan left or right. If a cymbal only plays once every four bars, why would you put it right in the center when you can pan it left, for instance? Put the hi-hat closer to the center. This is known as proportional panning, but the opposite effect can also be good, it all really depends on the situation. Play around with it and see what appeals to you. About the Author: Want to find out more about drum samples? Then visit http://www.mydrumsamples.com/ for all your needs. |
