Old 05-28-2019, 01:52 PM   #1
Dork Lard
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Default Metal Vocals - Panning

Hey forum.
I've never done that really 'properly' or as efficiently as could be, and I've been checking out vids on YT every now and then and trying out different things... but how do you mix your vocals generally (and growls in particular, if the rules change slightly there) ? I don't mean EQ and plugins, just the panning.

The classic idea seems to be you pan your vocals over to the middle. Apparently some would keep the vox at 0, exactly in the middle... I've got two vocal tracks so.. 10Left and 10Right ?
Finally: what if I had two tracks with growls/harsh vocals and then two with clean vox at the same time... would you have any tips for that ?
Thx for reading.
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Old 05-28-2019, 01:58 PM   #2
Judders
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Generally people keep vocals in the centre.

If you have double (or more) tracked vocals then you keep one in the centre and pan the others to each side. If you only have 2 vocal tracks then you might have one dead centre and a stereo effect on the other, such as a short slapback delay or such.

If you have growls and singing happening then you decide which is the main vocal and which you want to treat more like backing vocals. Have the supporting vocals more to the sides than the main vocal line.

These are just common rules of thumb though, do whatever sounds good and listen to reference tracks to try and hear how bands you like do it.
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Old 05-28-2019, 02:13 PM   #3
Lokasenna
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It really depends on how many vocal tracks you want - listen to Blind Guardian's "And Then There Was Silence" for an extreme example.

For something simpler, Rob Zombie's album Hellbilly Deluxe is largely a single track down the middle for the verses and then two tracks panned 100% L/R in the choruses. Works pretty well.
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Old 05-30-2019, 02:13 PM   #4
Dork Lard
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Judders View Post
Generally people keep vocals in the centre.

If you have double (or more) tracked vocals then you keep one in the centre and pan the others to each side. If you only have 2 vocal tracks then you might have one dead centre and a stereo effect on the other, such as a short slapback delay or such.

If you have growls and singing happening then you decide which is the main vocal and which you want to treat more like backing vocals. Have the supporting vocals more to the sides than the main vocal line.

These are just common rules of thumb though, do whatever sounds good and listen to reference tracks to try and hear how bands you like do it.
Thanks man, appreciate it. Yeah, makes sense. Sometimes you kind of need to hear (or read) an actual person telling you things. It's not obvious what the best option is, even with testing...
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Old 05-30-2019, 02:14 PM   #5
Dork Lard
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lokasenna View Post
It really depends on how many vocal tracks you want - listen to Blind Guardian's "And Then There Was Silence" for an extreme example.

For something simpler, Rob Zombie's album Hellbilly Deluxe is largely a single track down the middle for the verses and then two tracks panned 100% L/R in the choruses. Works pretty well.
oh yeah, the one with Dragula, heh. Yeah it sounds that way. Although, with enormous production like this it's hard to tell what's going as far as panning etc on for me.

P.S.: that's a great avatar, Mr. Threepwood.
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