Mixing drums.....

[Nitronick]

Since my main instrument is drums, I have a tendency to pan them from the drummers perspective. When mixing live, I pan them to match what the audience is seeing and hearing on the stage.

So, how do you guys lay out your drum tracks when mixing for a CD/product? From the perspective of the drummer or the audience?

[elicious]

well,do you want it right for one person
or everyone else?
e

[Andy666]

As a drummer I pan them like you. From the drivers seat ;-)

IMO there´s no right or wrong. And played on speakers you can´t tell the difference anyway, so I always do it the way I want it

[RiF]

I thought about this some days ago, too. I am not a drummer, but tend to pan them from a drummers perspective, all other stuff I pan from an audience perspective. Sounds weird, is weird and probalbly I should change it.
Panning from an audience watching a band on a stage seems the most obvious panning scheme for me.

[Nitronick]

Originally Posted by Andy666

As a drummer I pan them like you. From the drivers seat ;-)

IMO there´s no right or wrong. And played on speakers you can´t tell the difference anyway, so I always do it the way I want it

You can't tell the difference? I sure can. Maybe you should check your patch cables

[Nitronick]

I tend to mix from a sense that I (as a listener) am a part of the song, which would put me right in the middle of everything. When getting basic levels set at the beginning of a mix, it's comes rather automatic (for me, anyway) to lay out the drums from the drummers perspective....

[Andy666]

Originally Posted by Nitronick

You can't tell the difference? I sure can. Maybe you should check your patch cables

Hehe

What I actually meant was, that to my ears it doesn´ t matter how they are panned when I listen to the speakers!
Is the ride cymbal in the left or the right speaker? I don´t care...
Does the evil 5-tom fill go from left to right or opposite? Does it really matter in the overall sound experience?
It doesn´t matter to me...Only when I listen with headphones!
I just like it when it´s panned from the drummers point of view as I am a drummer. And I like the records that are made that way so that´s why I do it

[albee1952]

I agree that its not a matter of right or wrong. However, I choose to pan for the audience POV(what if the drummer's a lefty)

[Andy666]

Originally Posted by albee1952

I agree that its not a matter of right or wrong. However, I choose to pan for the audience POV(what if the drummer's a lefty)

Or what if the audience is deaf??

[sw rec]

I'm with Andy, I almost ALWAYS pan them from the drummers perspective, but in the grand scheme of things, there is no right or wrong. Besides, as albee said, SOME drummers set up the other way anyway (hi-hat on the RIGHT). So whatever floats your boat. Or if you wanna have some fun, pan em left to right on one fill and right to left on the next. Why not?