Have you ever adjusted the pan position of elements in your mix in the later stages of the mixing process?
What did you notice?
More often than not, the balance has changed and what you have adjusted can sound either more prominent or buried in the mix. If, for example, you take a vocal part that had been panned hard right and pan it in the centre, you might notice that it disappears in the mix.
Why is that?
Sound behaves in different ways when it’s panned in different positions
Our pan pots don’t only position things in the stereo field for us. When pan law is applied, they also adjust the level that is being sent to each channel.
If you hard pan to the left, 100% of the signal is sent to the left speaker. Let’s say that speaker output is 75dBSPL.
If you hard pan to the right, 100% of the signal is sent to the right speaker. That speaker will also output 75dBSPL.
So, when you pan to the centre, the same identical signal is output in the left and right channels. They both output 75dBPSL, which creates a 3dB increase in perceived loudness.
An increase in level of 3dB equates to a doubling of acoustic power or sound intensity. That does not mean twice as loud. An adjustment of +10dB would be twice as loud.
A 3dB difference is generally accepted as the most minute difference in level that the average listener can hear.
You might feel that elements sound louder when they’re hard panned left or right but that’s because their position in the stereo field attracts the attention of your ears. It’s also because pan law reduces a centrally panned stereo signal by a certain number of dB.
Pan law exists to allow sounds to move smoothly across the stereo field
So, without pan law, if you panned from hard left to hard right, there would be a noticeable doubling of acoustic power as you pass through the centre. The doubling of acoustic power sounds like a 3dB difference in level that skews the listener’s perception and creates an uneven sound.
That uneven sound would mean that you would need to change your reference level between left, centre and right channels.
That’s why digital consoles and DAWs now cater for this with 4 different options.
In the Pro Tools session setup above, you can see that the ‘Pan Depth’ is set to -3.0dB. That means there will be smooth panning from left to right, as the pan knob caters for that 3dB doubling of power through the central channel and dips the level by -3.0dB as the signal passes through.
There are some options to choose from.
The -6dB option is there to cater for traditional broadcast and when output is summed to mono. That creates a 3dB swell in the centre due to the summed stereo output. In stereo, the centre channel would be perceived as 3dB lower than the left and right channels but in mono, the overall summed signal will sound even. So, broadcast desks use a -6dB attenuation and DAWs also cater for that.
Even though mono is used less and less, it’s still a valuable option to have if you need it.
A lot of modern analogue consoles split the difference at -4.5dB.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which option you pick. Your ears will adjust to find the balance.
I recommend you open up a session in your DAW that you’ve already mixed and audition the various pan depth options you have available to you. You’ll hear how the elements in the left, centre and right interact with each other. You could also then play around with the pan positions to see what sounds most appealing to your ears.
I stick to the default -3.0dB Pan Depth as set by my DAW. But if I find myself working on an analog desk and hear my panning behaving differently than expected, then I know why.
Now you will too!
Now, I’d love to know…
Did you know about pan law? What setting do you use?
Leave a comment below!
professional sounding mix every time...
no I did not know about pan law and it is very interesting…Yhankyou so much for all of your insights
You’re very welcome, Kenny!
Indeedy I did, Mr. Stephen and my ears constantly remind me of it as I sweep the pan pot, listening for the optimum placement for my track.
I am appreciative of the timely reminder, though 🙂
Good article, well written and well explained.
Thank you.
Robin K…
Thanks Robin!
I would like to use -6dB because it mantains the Mono compatibility the best, but Reaper reduces the gain every time the signal passes through another bus, so the more busses, the lower the volume the signal ends up having. If I use the Gain Compensation, the opposite happens: The more busses, the louder the signal becomes.
So I’m stuck with 0dB.
Are you really “stuck” with 0dB or is something you know and can compensate for as you mix?
Technically, I’m not 100% stuck with it, I could change the volume of each bus but that would consume a lof of time and I would need to do it several times constantly.
Now that I think about it, Reaper also allows to change the Pan Law of each track individually, maybe I should set the project at 0dB, while the individual source tracks at -6dB
Do what suits your style and year ears!
There is a lot to learn and any “How to use…” articles are much appreciated. The posts I see everywhere like “how to create the sexiest drum mix” etc are fun, but the (seemingly) dry technical explanations are really helpful. And your explanation is very clear and thorough.
Thank you, Peter. That’s very much appreciated. We all love a sexy drum mix! Thanks once again for your kind words and I’m very glad you learned something.