Hi, I have just recently started making my own songs. and ive made one song so far and a couple beats for my friend. i have just recenly figured out how to pan and i was wondering when i should do it? what insterments? that kind of stuff.. thanks in advance. Tyler

I think it's mostly a matter of taste; although it might be more effective on different instruments. I'm a noob, so don't take my word for it.

ok.. well i read somewhere that most people will keep the bass, drums, and lead instruments center and pan the rest but i dont quit understand what instruments will be not that important.

It's all really your choice. There's not a certain "set" rules for panning, though I guess there are some common uses. For example, if you have two guitars, rhythm and lead, you could pan the lead to the right and the rhythm to the left, and keep pretty much everything else centered, and so on. Usually, you want to pan the instruments you want to stick out. At least, that's what I think, IMHO.

ok thank you.

There's no wrong or right way of approaching panning, you mostly have to use your ears for what sounds right.

I usually keep key percussion instruments dead center (snare, kick drum) and I pan out the crashes/hihats/rides/other cymbals. I mostly keep lead instruments in the center as well; and I pan out supporting rhythm sounds away from the center accordingly. You do want to give each instrument it's own separate space in the stereo spectrum, if at all possible. Keeping something dead center will draw more attention to it.

Just my 2 cents!

Just be careful; I've noticed that heavily pulsing (phasing?) audio really hurts my ears... I'm not sure if it's the same with everybody.

As was said, use panning to help separate instruments/voices in a mix so that they occupy their own little space in the stereo field. There's no real rules regarding panning, but there are some generally accepted practices. For one, it's usually hard to effectively pan some of the low and heavy instruments like the kick drum and bass. Because of this, and also because those usually provide the rhythmic foundation for your track, you'll usually keep them centered. You typically also want to keep your lead instruments and lead vocals close to center also, since it helps direct the listeners attention more towards them. Some other little tidbits I've learned is that you'll generally find it easier to pan things further from center if they're relative less dense than other things in the mix (think of like a guitar that only plays a chunk of a chord every quarter note on the upbeat, or a brass flourish that occurs only every now and then). Also, in addition to panning, use EQ to help carve out sections in the frequency spectrum to allow for parts to sit better in the overall mix. Making good use of EQ and panning will greatly help bring definition and clarity to each part by giving them their own individual space to fill in the track, as well as help avoid your mix from sounding too muddy or overly-busy.