What does it all mean?

So what does this all mean? How can you use it for fun and profit? There are a number of ways.

First, you should consider your panning layout. I often see our beginning mixing students at Berklee ever so carefully setting their pan pots, making sure that all the performers in the mix are ever so carefully placed on the imaginary soundstage. Of course, then they move their heads a little and it all changes, so if they take the time to notice this fact they have to (a) redo it all or (b) learn to never move their head while they are mixing or listening to music (this latter tendency also often degrades the listening experience in some particularly special interpersonal situations, and I don’t recommend it as a general practice). So, don’t take the pan-pot settings too seriously. It used to be we had to worry a lot about disc mastering, and so we tried to get as much monaural signal into the recording as possible. Those days are pretty much gone now, so I can recommend that you seriously consider doing all of your amplitude panning pretty much hard Left, hard Right and Center, usually reserving the center for lead vocal, kick drum and electric bass, and hardly anything else except maybe an instrumental lead. By de-emphasizing the idea that you are trying to mimic a stage, you can develop recordings that are clearer, punchier and more life-like.

If you have delay lines that you can devote to this aspect of mixing, you can get some really realistic panning into the zones between Left, Center and Right. You can also hype up the Center phantom as well with delays, but that will be the subject of another article.

Keep in mind that the material in that phantom image is probably the musically most important material in your mix: the lead vocal, and the primary rhythm elements (kick and bass). Get them out in front, with intensity, clarity and impact. Leave some room around them in the mix, and let them both breathe and speak to your listeners. Hopefully, those listeners will line up to hear your message!

So, when you mix, continue to map out a full broad sound image between the speakers, but don’t try to do it all with the pan-pots. It is the delays that enable you to utilize those intermediate places between hard left, center and hard right. Isolate each element of the mix and give it is own space, so the listener can find it, hear it and more easily savor the power of your music.

We’ll talk about further enhancements to the stereo image that you can do with EQ and other delay techniques in upcoming articles. In the meantime, happy phantoms!

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