panning

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albert
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:41 am

panning

Post by albert »

Hello guys. I am a newbie, also to mixcraft. It's more of an hobby and we use it for our own made music.
Great to have found this forum. It helped me a lot uptill now.

Now I am a bit confused about panning and I hope you can help me out. English is not my native language so I am not sure if I understand all that I already found on ths forum in the right way. I also hope that I can explain what my questions are in the right way.

First of all I understand that if, I for instance record the guitar, that it's a mono signal. Most of the time this wil be put left on the track if i arm the track for recording as left to. It will be panned center. I can then pan it where I want. Either left or right. I can double the track and put one to the right and the other to the left. Am I right about that?

My second question is, What happens if I did not armed the track to the left but to stereo. What consequences does this have for panning.

My third question is about a submix and panning. I am making a submix and put in the mono recorded two guitars.
If the submix is panned centre and the guitars left and right does this have the same outcome as the panning above. So two seperate channels panned right and left in the submix. Or does the central submix panning have any influence on the left and right side panned guitars in the submix

What would happen if the guitars in the submix would have been recorded stereo armed.

And the last question is what happens if I have the mono recorded two guitars panned in a submix. and would pan the submix to a side to. Would that widen the mix even further. Does this happen?

Hope I made myself clear. I find it difficult to pan things right but maybe that is because the tracks I am using are not recorded in the proper way with armed at stereo. Hope to find out so I can make a better mix.

Thanks for your help.
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Mark Bliss
Posts: 7313
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2012 3:59 pm
Location: Out there

Re: panning

Post by Mark Bliss »

First, it is best not to think of recording mono or stereo in the way you are. It is better to think of recording "channels" in my opinion.
The way it works: recording a mono signal, Mixcraft presents that as a signal in the middle by default. You can ignore the dual waveform as presented, it is still mono, simply split into two channels to present audibly as mono.
Because it works that way, if you select stereo, the audio is presented as one channel, on one side. This is normally to be avoided. it is best to record mono as mono.

Follow up questions.
First, dont confuse "panning" with "balance" -theres a difference.
In the example of a home or car audio sysrem- "balance" on a stereo signal turns one channel up and the other down.
In the daw environment "panning" works more like moving the audio image to one side or the other, and in the example of a stereo signal, moves the L/R image channel to channel.
Thats the way I describe it, hope it makes sense.....

So in your example of a submix- track panning controls what goes into the submix.
Submix panning controls how those tracks are summed and output from the submix.

Hope that helps?

Some last tips for better results. Listen to the mix in context. Soloing any track or set of tracks, and trying to judge the over all result may cause confusion and frustration.
Panning can effect perceived levels in a mix too. Usually the more aggressively you pan, the more noticeable an element is. You may have to re-adjust levels.

Experiment. Move stuff around. Practice. Repeat. 8)
Stay in tune, Mark

My SOUNDCLOUD Page
albert
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:41 am

Re: panning

Post by albert »

Thank you Mark, that is very helpfull.
So with panning within the submix and afterwards the submix it self does not mean you get a wider stereo image?
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Mark Bliss
Posts: 7313
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2012 3:59 pm
Location: Out there

Re: panning

Post by Mark Bliss »

No, panning the submix would simply shift its summed contents, as a whole- to the left or right channel of the pair going into the main bus (or wherever you might hqve your submix routed.

To "widen" the stereo field, you would need to move your side content further out to both sides so to speak.
And while there are various ways to do that after the fact, the best way is to go back to the tracks in your mix, and pan them more aggressively.

More tips.
It is common to pan relative to frequency content.
Try keeping content with bass and low mids in or near the center.
Pan the mids and upper mids to taste, moderately at first.
Try being more aggressive with some upper mid to high frequency content.

Vocals, or content that is the focus of attention, usually at or near center.
Ear candy, accents the sides.

Thats usually a good starting point. From there, many develop their own style or sense of what seems right to them.

Lastly (for now)
Beware the "stereo enhancers" and widening plug ins. While there are some sophisticated solutions that can be useful, most end up doing more damage than good. If you are inclined to experiment wth these, dont over-do it. You might get away with subtle enhancement, but the result nearly always adds a mysterious "phasey wash" to the mix that you may find annoying later.

Keep it clean and simple.
More processing is usually a mistake.....
Stay in tune, Mark

My SOUNDCLOUD Page
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