10 Mixing Tips in 10 Days: Day Six - LCR Panning

Welcome to day six of the 10 Mixing Tips in 10 Days series. I'm very excited to share today's tip because of how much it helped me when I first started out. Today I want to talk about LCR panning, and how it can help you create huge mixes and have the foundation of your song punching up the center.

Mixing Tip:

Use LCR panning to widen your mix and give your instruments space. 

What is LCR panning? LCR panning means Left-Center-Right panning. It's the idea that you either pan something hard left, in the center, or hard right. LCR panning can do wonders for a mix to widen it and to give your instruments their own space. 

*Note: LCR panning isn't something you HAVE to do EVERY mix. I'm all for breaking rules and trying new things, but LCR panning is a good place to start and can improve your mixes. 

How do you know what instruments to pan where? Well, this could be an entire blog post in itself but here are some good starting points. 

• Center - Kick, Bass, Lead Vocals
• Left and Right - Everything Else

Yeah I said it. 

Seriously though, the point is to try it! The key here is getting your mix to sound balanced and widening your sound. Doubled instruments are a great place to start as well. Do two takes of your rhythm electric guitars and your acoustic tracks, then pan them hard left and right. You'll instantly notice how much bigger your mix sounds and how less crowded the instruments are. 

LCR panning also allows the instruments in the center to really cut through. This lets the lead vocals, kick, and bass really act as the foundation and punch of the song while still giving other instruments their own space. 

Like I said earlier, this is by no means a rule that you must follow every mix, but it will help in many mixes. Next time you are in your DAW or at your mixing console, try LCR panning. 

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