The live stream mix on it’s own can sound one-dimensional and lifeless. It’s almost like you took the room mix and stripped it of all its energy.
Good news is, there are three things you can do to overcome this: reverb, panning, and ambient mics.
So, let’s talk about using panning in your live stream mix because it’s going to make a big difference.
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Panning is when you move the sound from left to right. You likely don’t use this much in the room mix, but it definitely comes in handy with the live stream mix.
The reason is, most people will be listening with stereo speakers or headphones. So, panning the guitar towards the right when they are on the right side of the stage will help make it feel like they are actually in the room.
Before I show you how to pan, let me tell you the things you never want to pan.
First and most important is the lead vocal. And since the lead vocal changes throughout the service, I like to keep all of the vocals dead center so I don’t accidentally leave one panned to the left or right when they are now the lead vocal.
You also never want to pan your bass guitar, kick drum or snare.
Everything else, you can have some fun with. But I believe the best strategy is to mimic what you see visually. For us, the keyboard is panned to the left and the electric and acoustic guitar are panned to the right.
But keep in mind, you don't want to pan all the way one way or the other. And in most cases you don’t want to go more than half way.
It’s also fun to pan your toms so they go from left to right. Tom one would be about half way to the left. Tom two about center. And tom three half way to the right. This makes the tom fills sound really interesting.
So, let me walk you through how to pan in your live stream bus.
For example, you pan the electric guitar a bit to the right if they are on the right side of the stage.
Have some fun with this because panning is going to make a huge difference in your live stream mix!
But keep in mind, the live stream mix is a reflection of what’s going on in your auditorium, so you’ll want to make sure your room mix is the best it can be.
That’s what Church Sound Made Simple is all about.
