Recording Drums: LR Mixing (1 Viewer)

[Willie Willions]

What are yers preference for drums in the mix when recording? I'm trying to figure out what I'm a gonna do for the next few recordings.
Before I've just gone for snare, kick and hi-hats in the middle with the cymbals slightly to the left and right and toms panning from left to right.
I'm thinking just to keep it all in the middle for clarity though, opinions?

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

Ohhhhhhhkay.
First off, there's no right way to do it.
Secondly, different things will work for different songs.
Mono drums on one song. Narrow stereo on another. Crazy wide stereo on the next.
Figure out what works best for each song.

The only real 'rule' is to keep kick and snare in the centre.
Some people have blood curdling arguments over which is the "right" way to pan drums - as in drummer perspective or audience perspective. They get completely crazy over it. Weirdos.

Go with whatever works, basically. And whatever you like.
Personally, I tend not to pan my drums too wide in general. I'll usually go to about 60 out of 100. If I've got stereo room mics I might have them out wider than the rest of the kit.
Most other folks I know pan drums all the way out almost all the time.

 

[the departed]

rack tom L
floor tom R


NEVER.
gross.

 

[Willie Willions]

Ohhhhhhhkay.
First off, there's no right way to do it.
Secondly, different things will work for different songs.

Ah yeah I knows that, I'm more seeing what other peoples preferences are. Stuff like -

rack tom L
floor tom R


NEVER.
gross.

- I used to go for drummers perspectice but it just sounds weird... I also would have had it panning pretty far from left to right but that also sounds wonky if one tom is used a lot...

 

[Pantone247]

rack tom L
floor tom R


NEVER.
gross.

ah totally depends

my oft cited favourite drum recording, Talking Heads, Once In a Life Time. Tom hits on the off beats, bar one on the left, bar two a deeper tom on the right. Brilliant.

Can sound sick on a big drum roll, thundering across the stereo image, but if you use it all tasty like...

Would I be right in saying most recordings pan from the drummers POV... I've noticed very few that work from the Audience POV

and what about lefty drummers!!!

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

Exactly!
It's a bleeding nonsense, I tells ya.
How can one way sound 'wrong'?

 

[Pantone247]

all drums should be mono... or panned to one speaker, left or right OR put the kick in the left and the snare in the right.

It's what George Martin would do

 

[the departed]

actually, come to think of it, i love the drum mix on some of 'rated R' by QOTSA. lots of all of the drums being panned hard left or right.
works really well.
so yeah, i guess RTM has it right, there is no right or wrong.
except rack tom L, floor tom R....heehh. ah no, sure i used to do it all the time.

i solved the problem for myself by only using one tom these days.

 

[Goodbye]

Get drummer to play song, pan had left
Get drummer to play song again, pan hard right

Done a lot in funk. Sounds deadly.