Hi Eugene. Thank you again for taking the time, but I have to ask, did the picture 2nd picture come out as you expected as it appears to only part render on my screen? Anyway, you can see these images in the link I have provided. I have re-added the picture — Dave Rook. The visual of the 3D is truley excellent. I only considered it 2D before or at most a very shallow 3D but it makes sense. With a rock band on stage, typically the drummer is further back, the vocalist further forward!
DaveRook Glad that helps. This approach could be really helpful sometimes. Especially when trying to keep clarity in complex mixes.. Thank you so much for this answer. It's good and clear but the visual I got from Eugene really helped and made it super clear. DaveRook - Yeah, I agree, Eugene's visual is a great answer.
Signals can be directed in two directions, Left and Right Panning helps to direct signals either left or right Thus getting more of the signal's left part or right part respectively.
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Related Hot Network Questions. Question feed. Accept all cookies Customize settings. Spectral panning is used to evoke a sense of a signal coming from the left or right side and is created by attenuating the high-frequency range of one of the channels.
By attenuating the high-frequency range, the signal emulates how the shape of the head blocks sound. Essentially, when a sound source is placed on one side of the head, both ears will still hear the sound; however, one ear will hear it more clearly than the other.
The ear closer to the sound source will hear it with its original frequency response, but the other ear will hear the sound with an attenuated high-frequency range. This can be emulated by attenuating the high-frequency range on one side , in turn making it seem like the signal is coming from the other side of the head. If you are interested in stereo image processing, check out another blog post and video that covers this topic in great detail:.
Spectral panning can be combined with traditional panning to create a more realistic and believable effect. Additionally, spectral panning can be combined with very subtle delay-based panning to make the effect even more realistic.
If we consider that the head has a specific diameter, and a distance exists between the ears, then it has to be said with certainty that a sound played on left ear side of the head will arrive at the left ear sooner than it arrives at the right ear and vice versa. If we know the speed of sound, and the size of the head or rather, the distance from one ear to the other, we can get an approximation of the delay that exists from one ear to the other.
If this distance is By dividing 1 second by this number, we find what each sample takes up. In a session with a 48kHz sampling rate, each sample is roughly 21 microseconds more accurately This means that the delay between the left and right ear in our example could be emulated by delaying the right channel by roughly 30 samples.
Although this may sound convoluted or more complex than most other audio effects, I guarantee you that combining spectral and level panning, as well as delaying the corresponding channel by 30 samples in a 48kHz sampling rate session will lead to some amazing results.
Lastly, if your session is in a 96kHz sampling rate the delay in samples would be roughly 60 ; if your session is in a If you want to learn more about psychoacoustic effects, check out our video and blog post on the topic:. Delay panning can be used in a number of ways — from the precedence or Haas effect, to phase cancelation that expands the image into the degree stereo field, delay panning is a versatile tool.
To use delay panning, simply delay the left or right channel by a small amount. The method described is just about the same. But instead of delaying one channel only enough to emulate the distance between the ears, we can use more delay to create some truly useful phase cancellations and to create the Haas or precedence effect.
In short, small timing issues between two otherwise identical signals cause phase cancellation and interference. This interference results in a very unique form of panning, in which the signal is spread beyond the degree stereo field, and into the degree stereo field. The Precedence or Haas Effect is the phenomenon in which two identical signals are played, with one delayed slightly. The two separate signals are perceived as one; however, the one that arrives at the ears first determines the perceived direction or location of the sound source.
With that said, you can use the delay settings a little bit more loosely if you want to create this effect. Phase based panning is very similar to delay based panning in that delay is used to cause phase cancellation and widen the image; however, signal settings cause the signal to spread more towards the left or right channel. Using phase panning needs to be done carefully and intentionally. As the delay between two identical signals increases, one might expect the signal to get wider and wider; however, the stereo width seems to jump between being oriented more towards the left, right, or center.
With that in mind, certain settings can be used to orient the signal more toward the left and right. When performing phase panning, use a spectrograph to observe the direction the signal is leaning toward. You get the picture. Panning choices are of course highly subjective but there is a basic formula of sorts that most modern mixes will adhere to:.
Kicks, snares, basses and lead vocals tend to be panned dead center because these are usually elements that you want to appear solid in your mix.
You want these elements to hit the listener straight on and it doesn't get more straight on than dead center. The rest of the elements or instruments is where it gets more subjective and where you can also get more creative with your panning, although there are still some tried and true methods you can use:.
Some mixing engineers and producers like to stick to only three pan positions. They set every channel to center, hard left or hard right and nothing in between. Drums, apart from snare and kick, are usually panned as they would appear on a drum kit , either from the drummers point of view, with the hi-hat and left overhead off to the left and toms and right overheads spread out to the right of the spectrum, or from the audience's point of view with everything switched around.
This type of panning isn't as common in EDM, dance or electronic genres as it is in rock and some pop. Guitars, keys, synths and backing vocals are usually best off-center , either hard left or right or somewhere in between. These elements along with some of your drums and your effects are what you'll use to create width in your mix.
It pays to spend time getting familiar with the different instruments and sounds in your mix and experimenting with different pan relationships because each mix is different and how you pan will play a vital role in the result you get with your final mix.
Audio panning can of course be used more creatively with the application of automation and effects like auto-panners which you can start delving into when you get the basics of static panning down. There are also other applications of panning which come into play when you you design sounds in soft synths or apply widening tricks like the Haas effect. These applications fall beyond the scope of this basic introduction so for now just get the basics down and delve into more hardcore panning techniques when the time is right.
It's a bit of an old one, but it remains a great way to help you visualize what you're aiming for when you position sounds during mix down.
Your pan pot, which is short for panoramic potentiometer, allows you to distribute mono or stereo sound sources between your left and right studio monitors. A pan pot takes the incoming signal and splits it into a left and right channel.
It then assigns a dedicated volume control to each channel which allows it to determine individually the amount of signal going to the left and right buses. A pan pot set to zero 0 or center C will divide the signal equally between the left and right channel. A pan pot set completely to the left will send the signal entirely to the left channel and vice-versa. You'll often hear these positions referred to as hard left or hard right. You can of course as well set the pot or slider anywhere in between hard left and hard right.
This of course translates, in practical mixing terms, to the ability to change the left to right position that a sound seems to originate from in the stereo image as perceived by your listener. Panning is however used in many more ways in music. It can be also be used to create a stereo effect from mono sounds with production techniques which utilize psychoacoustic production tricks like the Precedence a. Haas effect. Spend some time in each mix just to explore different panning combinations.
What happens if you switch the left and right synth parts? How about bringing them both closer to the center? Does the snare work better dead-center or just off-center? Try out different combinations to discover what serves the song best.
Spend time with your pan pot as suggested in point 1 above but move fast and with a bit of aggression when you pan. Two instruments that fight for the same space can be moved to different spaces.
Problem solved, no need for EQ! Audio panning may not always be the best solution for frequency clashes, but it's a good option to consider.
Once you have your positions roughly sorted it becomes much easier to set levels and dial in EQ, processing and other effects. Pay attention to this when you design your own synth patches too. Lower octave oscillators tend to work better in mono or closer to center where higher octave sounds can more easily sit further left and right in your mix.
Think upside down pyramid:. This means you can chuck a filter on only the mid or only the side signals and control each individually. One tried-and-tested trick is to balance out an instrument or sound in the one speaker with a delay of the same slightly modulated sound in the opposite position.
Play around with longer delay times and other instruments too. LCR Left-Center-Right audio panning is a technique where you always pan either left, right or dead center.
It hugely simplifies things but may be a bit extreme in some cases. You could add just a slight bit more complexity to the LCR technique if you panned to a position between left and center and also between right and center.
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