About 99% of the time the dialog, VO, etc. is dead center in a stereo mix or the center speaker in a surround mix.
Other sounds will be panned as deemed artistically appropriate. (Believe it or not some docs use quite a bit of sound FX and Foley.) The key is to keep the dialog, VO, etc. understandable. Among the many "tricks" is to EQ things so that they don't conflict with the frequency range of the spoken voice. It's not unusual to "carve a hole" with EQ into the ambiences, sound FX and score so that there is space for the voices. In addition to the instrument choices and, of course, the volume of the score, it is also not unusual for the instrumentation of the score to be panned so that doesn't cause any conflicts . In addition to all of this I frequently listen in mono to assure that the dialog, VO, etc. is clear and understandable.
I'm sure that others will chime in with additional thoughts and corrections. |