Still can't figure out panning!

[ZiggyPastorius]

For the second album, Something More Creative, by my electronic music project "Industrial Platypus," I want to refine/master/what-have-you the sound a little bit. Now, I know absolutely nothing about mastering/production/et cetera...I use Logic Express to do all my composing/recording/editing/et cetera and one thing I've been trying to figure out is how to pan individual instruments or individual parts of a song to the right or left speakers. I was told a while ago by someone on these forums that my songs sounded too "monophonic," and so I wanted to try to make a change, and make my next album better sounding in any way I can. I'm the only one who is doing anything for the album, by the way. Composing/recording/creating/editing/et cetera is all done by me. My question is can anyone tell me how exactly I do this in Logic? I can't figure it out, and I've been looking for months. Also, can anyone recommend me a big, extensive, and good book for learning everything I can about Logic? I tried to go to a bookstore and find some books on Logic, but I found nothing. I checked online a bit, but I was hoping someone on here had used a particular book that they thought was great and could recommend me. Thanks, guys.

 

[junior]

Hey,

I'm getting the feeling that it might have been me, though I thought I made it clear with you that the mix buffer I listen through had been switched to mono by an engineer that day and hadn't switched it back. So OBVIOUSLY everything you did sounded mono!

But yeah, I think after having listened to your stuff properly I felt you could pan your instruments a bit better. I got the impression that every single stereo track was panned hard left and right. Just move around that knob above the faders in the mixer window and see how it sounds.
And I also think I suggested to you to listen to your favorite CDs that you think sound the best. Sit in front of the speakers (or through a headphone) and listen carefully and see where you can hear each instrument located. Then apply that to your mix and then adjust it to your liking.

BTW I think there are tons of movie tutorials around the net, if you still want a guide. Search for one specifically about mixes (or maybe someone can suggest one for you) and buy/download it. I think it'll be better than reading a book.
Good luck.

 

[ZiggyPastorius]

Hey,

I'm getting the feeling that it might have been me, though I thought I made it clear with you that the mix buffer I listen through had been switched to mono by an engineer that day and hadn't switched it back. So OBVIOUSLY everything you did sounded mono!

But yeah, I think after having listened to your stuff properly I felt you could pan your instruments a bit better. I got the impression that every single stereo track was panned hard left and right. Just move around that knob above the faders in the mixer window and see how it sounds.
And I also think I suggested to you to listen to your favorite CDs that you think sound the best. Sit in front of the speakers (or through a headphone) and listen carefully and see where you can hear each instrument located. Then apply that to your mix and then adjust it to your liking.

BTW I think there are tons of movie tutorials around the net, if you still want a guide. Search for one specifically about mixes (or maybe someone can suggest one for you) and buy/download it. I think it'll be better than reading a book.
Good luck.

Thanks for clearing that up

And thank you! I feel so stupid now, because it's so obvious, but now I know. One thing (and I may learn this with videos/books/whatever) I still need to figure out, though, is how I can do an effect to make it pan smooth as an effect (like, vocals moving from pan-left to pan-right smoothly over the course of a track). Not sure if you can do that without making a bunch of tracks and just transitioning them, but I'll see. Thanks a lot.

 

[zimv20]

I still need to figure out, though, is how I can do an effect to make it pan smooth as an effect (like, vocals moving from pan-left to pan-right smoothly over the course of a track).

use automation. it's basically drawing a curve over a waveform that represents the values of some parameter, like panning, volume, send levels, etc.

imho, it's absolutely essential to a mix. i automate tons o' stuff. many plugins have different parameters you can automate. e.g. a compressor plug may offer automation of threshold, input, output, etc.

 

[AviationFan]

Also, can anyone recommend me a big, extensive, and good book for learning everything I can about Logic?

No, but I highly recommend the Logic tutorial videos from macprovideo.com. The basic ones should cover Logic and Logic Express alike.

I still need to figure out, though, is how I can do an effect to make it pan smooth as an effect (like, vocals moving from pan-left to pan-right smoothly over the course of a track).

Look up "automation" in your Logic Express user guide. It can do what you want.

- Martin

 

[ZiggyPastorius]

Ah, yes! I've used that before in some of my other tracks, but I didn't realise panning was there...Guess I could probably look better

Final question this time, I think...I can do panning for instrument tracks, but is there any way to do it for recorded tracks? The places to use automation are gone in the hyper editor when I select an audio track. For example, I'm trying to make some of my vocals move from left to right. I did it earlier by chopping up the tracks and making a bunch of new tracks, but, if I can do it with the automation, I'd rather.