Pan Control & using Audio Panning in Music Production

What is Pan Control & using Audio Panning in Music Production?

Audio Panning in Music

In any audio track there is a right speaker signal and a left speaker signal. Audio Panning in music production is a vital aspect. Panning is when you alter the volume of one or the other so that the sound is more prominent on one side or another. It is the distribution method by which distribute sound across the stereo or surround spectrum to create balance or a special effect.

In audio and music production, audio panning is a process by which the position of audio. It creates interest, width and a sense of space in a stereo mix. It is the basic concept to turn the pan pot to the left and that track comes out of the left speaker. This audio panning technique to time-aligning plug-ins.

Panning Instruments in a Mix:

Traditional band-style mixing, Starting on an instrument-by-instrument level and expanding into headier concepts. Traditionally in music production several instruments kept in different position to  Pan the instruments.

Lets take an example of few instruments like Drum, Guitar and vocal.

Mic should be kept near the center as to not disrupt the balance of the track.

Drum which is a bass heavy instrument, it should be set around the center. To create naturalistic, acoustic drums is needed or close positioned mic. It is quite difficult to negate the inclinations of the overheads and not sound immediately different from them.

Guitars Mic should be kept near the center as to not disrupt the balance of the track. To pan them all the way left and all the way right.  Either hard left or right or somewhere in between.

Background vocals To stack of background a fictional technique called Salmon’s Run can be used. For background vocals, the decision not to pan them can be even more valid.

Use Panning in DAW to mix your sound.

Now a days with technology , you can use panning for mixing the sound. Today Most of the DAW has an automating function for using panning. So get to know the function in your DAW and find the panning automation that works best for your sound.

You should remember like all other effect in mixing, panning also mix in a creative way. So experiment with panning your mix and find what works best. For example – suppose you have two sound tracks in your DAW, you can make one track in left ear and 2nd track in your right ear or even you can create the illusion of movement by changing the ‘pan’ from one side to another.

Panning in DAW

There are many panning mixer vst plugin available in market today to mix your sound in DAW.