when is bass off-centre/chorused acceptable?

[Stomper]

Even when recording bands very rarely do they pan kick or bass. Love you hydro, but panning kicks in electronic music is a big no no... You should know that.

Meh... Rules like this in music is a big no no. Unless you are going for a pristine "perfect" mix i guess... But i find the most interesting mixes to not be mixed "perfectly". all depends on what you are going for... for me i have been finding different panning techniques very interesting and wouldn't disregard stuff like this. if you are talking about the low end energy of your kick sure you'll probably have most critical impact if its centered. but i don't think its a rule that it must be perfectly centered... even on an old analogue desk you wouldn't be able to make it "perfectly" on center. pan that sh!t just a bit.

its not about rules nor perfect mix.
its about the purpose of the kick and the bass in the mix.

if you pan your kick you will energy in the song. if you pan or chorus the low end of the bass you will lose energy.
if the purpose of the mix is that the song will be drived by the low end you cannot pan the elements of the low end or you will lose the purpose of the mix.

[Stomper]

Even when recording bands very rarely do they pan kick or bass. Love you hydro, but panning kicks in electronic music is a big no no... You should know that.

Meh... Rules like this in music is a big no no. Unless you are going for a pristine "perfect" mix i guess... But i find the most interesting mixes to not be mixed "perfectly". all depends on what you are going for... for me i have been finding different panning techniques very interesting and wouldn't disregard stuff like this. if you are talking about the low end energy of your kick sure you'll probably have most critical impact if its centered. but i don't think its a rule that it must be perfectly centered... even on an old analogue desk you wouldn't be able to make it "perfectly" on center. pan that sh!t just a bit.

its not about rules nor perfect mix.
its about the purpose of the kick and the bass in the mix.

if you pan your kick you will energy in the song. if you pan or chorus the low end of the bass you will lose energy.
if the purpose of the mix is that the song will be drived by the low end you cannot pan the elements of the low end or you will lose the purpose of the mix.

[s.k.]

in the OP'S example both the kick and bass are mono. there is a stereo element but it's around (200Hz if i'm not mistaken just by listening), so this creates the illusion that the bass is stereo, because they occur at the same notes.

here's an example where the kick is stereo - http://soundcloud.com/bassculture/03-do ... various-01

i too think sometimes a stereo kick can yield interesting results, but it definitely is not a technique to overdo. btw, panning something to the left or right does not make it stereo. stereo is achieved when you have phase difference in the L/R channels, not only amplitude difference.

villalobos' recent tracks all feature stereo (or panned) bass, but this always happens at 100 or above Hz, never below. the kick is mostly mono. half hawaii also had problems with mastering because of this on one of their releases (i think on the hello?repeat one) - stereo bass.

edit - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE-JCvaqncg
here's a track where its done really nice (imo) - the kick appears to be stereo but actually only its higher frequencies are, the lows are mono. still, it sounds very spacey, somehow leaving more space in the center for other stuff... apart from youtube compression, this is what i call a killer mix.

[Ingemar]

steeeeeeeeeeeeeviooooo where are youuu??


personally I have experimented with bass panning (and most oftenly with chorus on the bassline, but that is so dependent on what bass and what chorus I use to have a pleasing effect). What I usually end up in is some sort of mono bass foundation, because otherwise I experience the mix as unbalanced, as if one headphone weighs more than the other if that makes sense. Would be a cool off-kelter effect to master the use of though..

[AK]

Why would you even want your bass 'off-centre'?

I guess it comes down to taste in regard to chorus type efx, I have experimented with that kind of thing before but have never been totally happy with the result. If you want to try a chorus or something, try putting a HP filter on the returns and keep the weight of the bass centred. IMO, that is a better feel than having the weight chorused.

Panning stuff is a great way to creat space in your stereo image. Even a slight pan to the right like 12.4 could be a huge difference and won't fck up your impact of a kick.

Don't pan your kick. Only time you might do this is when mixing a band. The middle/high frequencies can be panned for stereo image widening.

Even when recording bands very rarely do they pan kick or bass. Love you hydro, but panning kicks in electronic music is a big no no... You should know that.

Not for me mate. There's plenty of ways to create space in a mix, but I'll be avoiding that one. Each to their own, not for me though!

[hydrogen]

edit - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE-JCvaqncg
here's a track where its done really nice (imo) - the kick appears to be stereo but actually only its higher frequencies are, the lows are mono. still, it sounds very spacey, somehow leaving more space in the center for other stuff... apart from youtube compression, this is what i call a killer mix.

thanks for posting this...really what I was talking about. but even more extreme example! sounds awesome.

[deccard]

dont forget that below (about) 80hz the human ear cant localize the source of sounds. you know all those kids with the subwoofer in the trunk?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC3iK_sTUjs

[Daeronb]

tnx alot for all your input guys.
The monofilter helps alot with stereoizing the upper freqs of the kick and bass, im experimenting with them right now