Panning in stereo recordings.

[Ausf-A]

How is is the effect of panning reproduced in a two channel, stereo recording? I have recorded with bands many times in 24 and 48 track studios and seen the control of panning for individual tracks. But I can not work out how the engineer's input is reproduced by the technology used in hi fi.

[rojash]

I'm not really clear what you are asking. The technology of HiFi and that of recording are essentially the same thing.

Usually, when recording, the engineer will only set the panning to the foldback or monitor mix. The panning for the final recording is usually done at the mix-down stage, so the producer and engineer (and sometimes the band) will decide only at that point exactly where on the "sound stage" they want each instrument to be placed.

If you mean that you don't understand what panning is, it just means sending more of the instrument to one channel of the stereo mix than the other. So if you want the bass to appear slightly left of centre stage, you send (say) 60% of the originally recorded bass track to the left channel of the stereo mix , and 40% to the right.

It's just like the balance control on a HiFi, except that at this stage in the process, you can control each of the separately recorded tracks individually.

[Ausf-A]

@ rojash, thanks for the informative answer. I understand how panning is set on the mixing desk, and the different mixes, especially for drums and guitars. What I couldn't grasp was the nature of the channel level, varying the dB in left and right. We used to argue with the drummer over where his kit should be panned, i.e. as a live set up from the audience or drummer's perspective. I am also a fan of hard right/left panning for rhythm guitars. Do you have any preferences?

[rojash]

Yeah, having played in "traditional" rock bands for 35 years, I like it when you can shut your eyes and picture the instruments where you would expect to see them on stage.

So centre for drums, just off-centre for bass, bit further out for rythm (probably on the other side), and so on.

When recording, I want the foldback to sound like it would if I was on stage. For the final mix, I want it to sound like it would if I was in the auditorium.