The Control Pan Craves: Power And Dominance

In audio, panning is the process of positioning sounds at particular locations in the stereo image of a mix. Panning allows audio tracks to be placed somewhere between the left and right loudspeakers in the stereo sound field. This is achieved by reducing the level of a track in one channel, making it appear louder in the opposite channel. Panning can be used to control how narrow or wide an instrument sounds, and to spread instruments out across the stereo image.

Positioning audio tracks between left and right speakers

The positioning of audio tracks between left and right speakers is crucial for achieving the desired sound quality and creating an immersive audio experience. Here are some essential tips for positioning audio tracks between left and right speakers:

Initial Placement

Begin by determining your listening position, which is typically at the centre of the room. Form an equilateral triangle with the speakers positioned at two corners and your listening position at the third corner. This setup ensures that you are an equal distance from each speaker, creating an ideal listening environment.

Speaker Separation

Maintain adequate separation between the left and right speakers. For bookshelf speakers, aim for about 4 feet of separation, while for floor-standing speakers, aim for 8 feet. Inadequate separation can cause sounds to blend and become muddy, while excessive separation can create a gap in the stereo image.

Speaker Height

Position the speakers so that the tweeters, or the small drivers responsible for high-frequency treble, are at the same height as your ears. This ensures that the audio is directed precisely at the listener.

Wall Proximity

Move the speakers away from nearby walls to minimise sound reflections that can negatively impact playback clarity. A distance of 2 to 3 feet from the nearest wall is recommended to reduce sound reflections.

Speaker Angle (Toe-In)

Angle the speakers inward so they are pointed directly at the listener or slightly behind the listener's head. This ensures the sound is focused on the listening area. If you want a wider soundstage, adjust the toe-in angle accordingly.

Room Arrangement

Arrange the room symmetrically, ensuring no objects obstruct the path between the speakers and the listener's ears. This helps minimise sound reflections and ensures a clear audio path.

Speaker Stands

Consider using speaker stands to achieve the optimal listening height. Alternatively, place the speakers on furniture, ensuring the speaker cones are flush with or protruding from the front edge to prevent sound reflections.

By following these guidelines, you can effectively position audio tracks between left and right speakers, enhancing your audio experience and creating a captivating soundscape.

Making an instrument sound like it's coming from a specific point

In Greek mythology, Pan is the spirit of wild, irrepressible life essence. He is the God of the Wild, shepherds, flocks, hunters, folk music, and satyrs. He is depicted as having a man's head and upper torso, and a goat's horns, legs, and hindquarters.

Pan is associated with panic, which is derived from his name. He is said to have the power to create panic by making so much noise that armies think they are being attacked, causing them to descend into a blind panic and kill each other.

Now, to make an instrument sound like it's coming from a specific point, you can manipulate the following:

• Reverberation: The amount of reverberation or "reverb" in a sound can indicate its distance. A "near" instrument will have a higher ratio of dry (original) sound compared to its reverberant sound. More distant sounds will have a lower amplitude and will favour the reverberant component. You can use artificial reverb effects or natural reverb from microphones in the room to achieve this.
• Amplitude: The volume or amplitude of a sound can also indicate its distance. A louder sound is perceived as closer, while a quieter sound seems farther away.
• Frequency Attenuation: As sound travels through the air, it loses energy, with high frequencies being attenuated (quieter) more quickly than low frequencies. When we hear a familiar sound with reduced high frequencies, we perceive it as being farther away.
• Reflections and Distortion: In enclosed spaces, sounds reflect off surfaces and become distorted. When a sound source is close, it is usually louder than these reflections. When it is farther away, the reflections become more audible in comparison. The louder these reflections are, the farther away the original sound source will seem.
• Time Delay: Time delay can be used to create the effect of an instrument being farther back in the mix. This requires separate tracks for each instrument.
• Proximity Effect: This effect describes how recording closer to a directional microphone can boost bass frequencies, creating the impression of closeness.
• EQ and Transients: Adjusting the gain, bottom end, and transients (attack) of a sound can also influence its perceived distance.

By manipulating these factors, you can create the illusion of an instrument being closer or farther away, as well as achieving height differences when using a combination of binaural rendering and an ambisonic mix bus.

Controlling the width of stereo instruments

Stereo imaging is the process of positioning sounds within the stereo field to create the perception of locality. A well-balanced stereo image will sound rich and full throughout the entire frequency spectrum.

The width of the stereo image is the perceived distance between sounds in the left and right speakers. It is the easiest dimension to manipulate and is controlled using the pan knobs on each track.

To control the width of stereo instruments, you can use panning techniques. Panning allows you to place instruments from left to right, effectively determining the left and right walls of your mix.

Traditionally, the kick, snare, bass, and vocal tracks are panned directly to the centre as they are the focal point of the mix. It is also important to keep bass-heavy tracks in the centre as it is difficult to detect where bass frequencies are coming from.

You can also use the "LCR" panning technique, which involves panning instruments to the left, centre, or right channels, providing plenty of space between instruments and helping to create a wide-sounding mix.

Another technique to control the width of stereo instruments is to use stereo enhancement plug-ins, such as the "GROW" module in the ANIMATE plugin, which makes it easy to increase the width of selected frequencies.

Additionally, you can duplicate a track and pan them hard left and right, and then apply time-based processing like a delay to one of the tracks to create a psychoacoustic effect that causes the listener to perceive two different signals, making the track sound significantly wider. This is known as the Haas Effect or the precedence effect.

When controlling the width of stereo instruments, it is important to consider the height and depth dimensions as well, ensuring your mix is balanced in terms of individual instruments and the overall frequency spectrum.

Binaural hearing and how humans hear sound

Binaural hearing is the process of using both ears to perceive sound. Binaural hearing is critical for effective communication, enabling us to map sounds in space, differentiate soft sounds from loud sounds, determine the proximity of a sound source, and separate a voice from background noise.

Sounds are distinguished by three characteristics: frequency (pitch), intensity (loudness), and time. When two sounds of equal frequency and intensity are presented in front of or behind someone with normal hearing, they arrive at the ears simultaneously and are indistinguishable. However, even the slightest change in frequency, intensity, or time (such as a delay) can be detected by our ears, and our brain swiftly processes this information.

Time and loudness play a crucial role in binaural hearing to localize the source of sounds. For instance, a loud sound coming from one side helps estimate the distance to the source. Binaural hearing also enables us to hear sounds from a greater distance, which is essential for safety when hearing alarms or sirens.

Binaural hearing offers several advantages over monaural hearing (hearing with a single ear). It improves sound localization, frequency selectivity, and discrimination ability, especially in noisy and reverberant environments. Binaural hearing also enhances speech recognition in noise, the head shadow effect, binaural squelch effect, and binaural summation.

In individuals with unilateral hearing loss, binaural hearing can be achieved through cochlear implants or hearing aids. Research shows that binaural hearing systems significantly improve sound localization, spatial acuity, and speech understanding, particularly in challenging listening environments.

Now, let's shift our focus to the Greek god Pan, who is known for his connection to wild and untamed nature. Pan is often associated with the phrase "panic," which derives from his ability to create panic and fear among armies that dared to venture into his domain.

Using a pan pot to control audio levels

Panning in audio refers to the process of positioning sounds at particular locations in the stereo image of a mix. This is achieved through the use of pan pots, which are short for "panoramic potentiometers" or "panning potentiometers".

A pan pot is an analog control that determines how much of an audio signal is sent to the left and right channels, allowing you to control the audio levels and create a stereo image. When the pan pot is centred, the signal is sent equally to both the left and right channels, creating a "phantom centre" where the sound appears to be coming from a non-existent speaker between the two actual speakers. By adjusting the pan pot, you can make the sound appear to be coming from a specific point between the two speakers.

For example, if you pan a track to the right, the signal coming from the left speaker will get quieter, and vice versa. This creates the perception that the sound is located to the right or left, depending on the direction of the pan. Panning a stereo track involves controlling both the left and right sides of the signal, allowing you to adjust the location and width of the instrument in the stereo image.

Panning is a powerful tool in mixing, as it can create interest and excitement by giving the listener a realistic panoramic view of where the sounds are coming from, as if they were at a live performance.

Frequently asked questions