Should I hard pan my guitars?
Put simply, panning the guitars hard left and hard right introduces more balance, and it also ensures that the two parts are clearly distinct from each other. Panning instruments wide gives the mix a very wide and broad feel.
How much do you pan guitars?
You generally don't pan all the way to each side ("hard left/right panning") because it sounds unnatural (especially on headphones), but up to 80% should work. If you're using more than two tracks, it would be best not to pan them the same amount.
How do you pan different instruments?
So here are the rules of pan (so you know what to break, if you want)...
- Always pan the lead vocal center. ...
- Always pan the bass center. ...
- Balance the channels equally. ...
- If you have two similar-sounding instruments, pan one left and the other right. ...
- A stereo pair of microphones should be panned hard left and hard right.