Audio Panning: An Introduction

Imagine seeing an artist who only paints in the middle 25% of their canvas. You might think to yourself that they’re wasting space. Well, if you’re not using panning when recording or doing live sound, then you’re wasting space.

One of the common themes all good music shares is that the mix is perfectly balanced, which creates a sense of space. With the correct panning, you can change how wide a song sounds to the listener.

Why is panning important

We said that panning can create a sense of space. So how does this happen, and why is it important?

If you don’t pan your instruments, all the sound will come straight down the middle of your mix. This becomes problematic because it can make the mix sound busy. And a busy mix means that is can be tricky to hear the individual instruments.

But how do we know what to pan, and where?

There are some basic guidelines that you can follow to get a feel for panning. It is important to note that these really are just guidelines. You are in control of your tone, and you need to be happy with how everything sounds at the end of the day.

A great example of this is Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Vocals, according to “best practise” should be in the middle of the mix. But in the call and answer section of Bohemian Rhapsody, the vocals pan from left to right. Listen to this video with headphones, but keep one of the headphones off one of your ears, and you’ll see how extreme the panning really is.

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The basic principles of panning

If we look at a mixing desk, we will find the pan knob (You can see these on the image above). 

Down the middle | 12 O'clock

The middle point of your mix should be focused on the focal point of the music. In modern music (for the most part), the focal point is the vocals and the bass heavy side of the rhythm section. 

Vocals

Kick Drum

Snare Drum

Bass Guitar

2 O'clock and 10 O'clock

Your mid-range instruments tend to cut through the mix well if they’ve been panned to be just off-centre. 

Hi Hats

Electric Guitiar

Piano

3 O'clock and 9 O'clock

Depending on the composition of the band, you can decide how wide you want your mix to be. Panning one tom to the left, and one tom to the right will help balance your mix. 

Toms

Acoustic Guitar

Overhead Microphones

4 O'clock and 8 O'clock

Generally, you wouldn’t pan further than this. Too much panning can, after all, make your mix overpowering, which can be distracting to the listener. 

Piano (The second piano in a stereo piano mix)

String Instrments

Brass Instruments

Now you know what the basic principles of panning are. If you want to read more about panning, check out this article for 10 Tips for Better Mixes Through Panning. 

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