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Panning with Drum Samples

Author: John Gellei

Sequencing drum samples is just about as important as ever in the music production scene, but one skill that is becoming ever more needed and valuable in the rap and hip hop scene is the ability to pan correctly. The reasons for this will become important soon.

Panning is, after volume, the most obvious step in the mixing process. Mixing can be extremely complicated to master, especially during the beat making process, but when starting to get into the hang of things, it does become easier with time.

At its essence, panning is distributing the volume of an instrument over the stereo field in a decisive manner. You can pan an instrument or drum samples ‘hard’ (all the way) to the left or to the right, meaning that the opposite channel no longer contains any information about that instrument or sample loop. You can also pan slightly or moderately to either side of the stereo field, and this is the most common way to pan.

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 is it important in most cases to leave the kicks and snares in the center field, unchanged? Well, that is because if you are making pop, hip-hop, RnB or rock music that you think might one day play in clubs or get popular, and want them to offer the best sound on all platforms, the center channel must contain the bulk of the main instruments. This is especially true of club music situations. Usually, different mono (single channel) speakers are peppered throughout a venue, and if a song with a bad distribution of instruments is played, half of the club could, for example, miss out on the snare altogether if it has been moved to just the other channel. You could see how this could be devastating. This is why it’s best to only push non-essential or supporting instruments to the sides.

The frequency of drum samples can also play a big part in the way that you may want to spread out the different sounds. For instance, a cymbal that occurs once every four bars can be moved all the way to the right of the stereo field as it does not occur often, leaving room for instruments that are more active. It could also be the other way, though, with common sounds occupying the far-reach corners of the stereo spectrum and gaps being left with no drum sounds for creative effect.

Want to find out more about drum samples? Then visit http://www.mydrumsamples.com/ for all your needs.

Tags: fun, hobbies, lifestyle, music, music production, Technology

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 2:36 AM and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.