Center-panned vocals sound lopsided, best way to fix?

W

wtrispsn

New member
First of all, forgive me if this as been answered elsewhere, I've been looking for over an hour now for this answer...

I have the vocals panned dead center on a mix I'm doing, but the track definitely seems to favor my right monitor. I've switched monitors around to eliminate a problem with a single speaker, and had other listeners acknowledge my problem, so it's not my ear. It's likely the 2 hard-pan guitar tracks (despite having the same VST chain) are causing this difference; the problem is still present when I mute all my other non-center pans...

Question:
Is it a bad idea to have my main lead vocal track panned off-center so it sounds centered to me, or do I need to adjust my hard-panned guitar tracks until the lead vox sound even? The levels on the guitar tracks look equal visually, but don't sound so.


Thanks for your time!
 
Are the hard panned guitar tracks supposed to sound even? Because if they are, it doesn't matter how they look.
Also, if, with all tracks muted but the vocals, they still don't sound on center, then your monitoring situation is far less than ideal. Don't make the mix fit the monitors; fix the monitors, then fix the mix.
 
I would do some basic tests first...'cuz it may be that your monitor's L/R levels are off.

I've had that issue...minor, but it would pull everything just a couple of clicks off-center.
I balanced out the overal monitor levels (either via the monitor's trim pots or at some other point in the path)...and then when I played my tracks, everything was as it should be.
 
Question: When you say "center-panned vocals" are you talking about a single vocal track or multiple vocals stacked at the center?

And is/are the vocal track(s) mono or stereo track(s)

The key is to listen to just a single mono track center-panned. If that single track is off-center (and it's not just that one of your ears is more clogged or less sensitive than the other), then probably either the left and right volumes on your monitor feeds are set different or are themselves imblalnced due to some equipment spec tolerance defect in your monitoring hardware chain, or you have some room acoustics issues messing with your balance.

If the vocal is a stereo track and not mono, there could be an imbalance in the stereo vocal recording itself.

If you have a mono vocal track that is centered fine all on it's own, but only become inbalanced when you add your guitars, then try reversing the pan on the guitars (l to r and r to l) and see if the vocal imbalance seems to move with the guitars. if so, then you probably either have volume imbalance between the two guitars or more phase issues between one guitar and the vocal than the other has.

If the vocals are off-center just a little bit, it won't kill anybody; there's nothing in the U.S. Bill of Rights or in any holy book that says that vocals need to be dead center, or that if they're a couple of degrees off that it will hurt the mix. That said, though, I agree with The Cancers; it's best to isolate the source of the problem and fix it rather than working around it or living with it, because it can also be causing other issues that you may not have yet readily identified.

G.
 
Possibilities:

*If a single track with no processing does not sound centered when panned center, the problem is with your monitoring system.

*If you are mixing into a compressor on the 2-bus, maybe you are not running the compressor in its "connected" mode and it is processing left independant of right. In this case, if a guitar is louder on one side the compressor will hit the mix unevenly and pull center material to one side.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
If the vocals are off-center just a little bit, it won't kill anybody there's nothing in the U.S. Bill of Rights or in any holy book that says that vocals need to be dead center.
Click to expand...

I believe it's been added to the new 2,000 page health care bill floating through Congress.
Something about off-center lead vocals causing a chronic L/R hearing imbalance....therefore, all new gear will have a gyroscope that centers the lead vocals no matter where you pan them.
For those manufacturers who do not comply, there will be a monetary penalty levied against them which will go toward the new “Public Option”.
Existing gear must be retrofitted or phased out over a 5-year period and replaced with new gear using an audio version of the government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program.

:p

;)

:D
 
Is the vocal track going straight to the main outputs or some group bus? If it's going to a bus your imbalance maybe on the bus rather than elsewhere. Regardless, I would isolate the vocal track by soloing it (or muting everything else) and then unmuting other tracks one by one.
 
Thanks everyone for the quick and helpful replies!

I copied the lead vocal (single track) over to a new, completely dry track, soloed it, and the problem went away. I added everything but the original lead vox and it was fine...it had to be a problem with my bus. I had already checked my vocal bus, but I found a mono VST compressor that I had on the master bus, and now I feel dumb. Fixed though.

Good thing we have gyroscopes for this kind of thing now. I got a tax credit for getting a hybrid one :D
 
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