should you record centred or panned

[bigchungusstuckinmymouth]

when tracking should you record with pan centred and do like 8 takes then find which work best when panned together or should you do the takes panned recording 4 double tracks and then tweak

 

[BenoA]

That's the way I do it. Always centered and then I move around to taste after recording.

 

[glpg80]

Centered and slightly adjusted. I’m not a fan of panned hard L and R on recording

 

[thegame]

All my takes are deadpanned

 

[crankyrayhanky]

tracking I put it off center like 1- 2 o'clock

 

[RaceU4her]

i dont think theres a right or wrong answer, it just depends on the song and what you are going for. I usually start with a left and right track and then go from there, sometimes thats all thats needed, sometimes ill add a center track, sometimes ill add a couple more tracks on each side.

 

[BeZo]

I did both. Wall of guitars.
100%L Amp A
50%L Amp B
50%R Amp A
100%R Amp B

 

[Tone Monster]

Hard left and right. Add one up the middle for the chorus.

 

[skoora]

What do you mean “record’ centered or panned? Do you actually just mean mix, centered or panned?
In any event, the only right answer is what sounds good to you for the particular piece of music you’re doing at the time.
Hard left and right is common not just to the size/spread it gives but it also helps get the guitars out of the way of the vocals, kick and snare drums, which are typically up the center.

 

[tjnx]

I think he means when tracking are you monitoring with the takes panned left or right vs tracking it normal up the center then panning takes after to see what works best.

I've seen people do both, but I'd imagine if you want the takes as tight as possible it would work better to monitor only your current take up the center and your click then see how it all fits in context. Whatever gives you the best results.

 

[Techdeth]

All my takes are deadpanned

Yes doubled left and right

 

[Rackman]

Guitar tracks are inherently mono - or multi-mono if you use more than one mic. When recorded they do not have a panning setting. In mix they acquire one assuming the mix format has 2 or more output tracks.

So I think the whole premise of this question is nonsensical. i guess if you room-miced a guitar with and array of mics like say an XY or ORTF pair that would have panning at recording time. But I don't think that's what OP is asking about at all, and very few recordings are done that way unless you have e.g. a guitar as part of an orchestra.

 

[sytharnia1560]

when tracking for me it is centred, no panning. Now days I will do 2 tracks centre then do the cheat doubling of both and pan one hard left and the other hard right...then the 2 copied tracks I will do like 60% left/right with a slight "nudge" to "thicken" a little

 

[nightlight]

Hard left and right. Add one up the middle for the chorus.

Hahaha. That reminds me of Sunday school jokes about the choirboys.

 

[Uzi Nein Millimetah]

Always record centered, no EQ, and sometimes no effects (although that varies).

Mixing is not recording.

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

One cool thing i have done is double track with two tones and then pan them around 27%

It is pretty massive sounding

 

[Uzi Nein Millimetah]

With the Mesa Quad's stereo outs, I record at least 2 tracks from channel 1 out + 2 tracks from channel 2 out (from one take played), then one of each side is 50% pan and the other 25-35% and slightly different EQ per side. This is the real art of production, which I love doing. And of course, sometimes it's fun to the do the ol' Rhoads actual double-tracking for solos, and pan them a bit farther.

I pan keys hard left and right so they don't occupy the same space as guitars.

 

[RaceU4her]

i dont think ive ever recorded centered once, guess ive been doing it all wrong lol

 

[Corey James]

Hard pan to sides with the wet sounds in the opposite speaker.

Mix drums tucked inside of those (70%) if you want gtr to sound wide.

 

[saxxamafone]

A lot of people also don’t realise that 1 centered track is equally coming out of L and R speakers

So if you copy 1 track and hard pan 1 of them left and the other one right… you actually get the same result