Panning Already-Panned Audio Regions. Pan Compensation?

Question

Level 2

396 points

Panning Already-Panned Audio Regions. Pan Compensation?

Hello all. I've been chopping up audio in LP8 and ran into a problem: When I try to pan an interleaved stereo audio region to the right, for example, but the audio file is bounced so that the amplitude information is all panned to the left, I get no level on the track meter.

I'm pretty sure that in LP7 when I would do this some level of pan compensation would allow me to still hear audio panned to the right even though the original stereo audio file only has audio panned all the way to the left. Am I missing something completely? I checked in the project settings and my pan compensation is sent to -3dB compensated but I'm pretty sure that setting only pertains to loudness when things are panned center.

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks

2.2GHz MacBook Pro 2GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.4.10), LP 8

Posted on Nov 7, 2007 12:50 PM

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Answer 1

noeqplease

Level 4

3,589 points

Nov 7, 2007 1:32 PM in response to rhythmproject

Hi,

Let me try to understand...

You have a Stereo audio file, in which only ONE side contains audio, and the other is silent?

Then, when you play it on a new Stereo track, you cannot pan the way you want?

Well, this is how the panning slider works in Logic, for Stereo audio tracks:

It balances, or in other words makes one side louder and the other softer. it does not actually pan both audio files together.

Imagine two MONO audio tracks. One is panned hard left ALWAYS, and one is panned hard right ALWAYS.

The left one has sound, and the right one is silent. You turn up the fader on the right one, the one that is silent, and no matter how loud you make it, it is still silent. Because the audio file has nothing in it. You turn up the fader on the left one that has sound, and you get the sound. This is called balancing, as in balancing between two audio sources.

In simpler terms, Logic only turns up or down the level of each individual mono track, and does NOT actually pan both tracks simultaneously.

That is why it is called "balancing" when in Logic you pan a Stereo sound file, and you call "panning", when in Logic you pan a mono file.

What you should do, is make the Stereo audio file into a "split mono" file, and only use the side that has sound, on a MONO track. then you'll be able to pan the sound anyway you want. throw out the silent file...

I hope this clears it for you.

Cheers

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Answer 2

rhythmproject Author

Level 2

396 points

Nov 7, 2007 5:40 PM in response to noeqplease

Yes that's very helpful! Thanks for your patience and clarity.

My follow up question, though, is that in LP7 if one was to do what I explained previously would you not all of a sudden get audio coming out of the other channel? What I mean is did LP7 actually ADD signal to the other side when panning on a stereo audio track instead of just "balancing" signals as if you were manipulating volume automation on two separate mono files?

Hope that question makes sense...

thanks again

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Answer 3

rhythmproject Author

Level 2

396 points

Nov 8, 2007 8:45 AM in response to rhythmproject

I think I need to redefine my question. The audio file I'm dealing with is an INTERLEAVED stereo audio file, not a SPLIT CHANNEL stereo audio file. In this case, is it even possible to split the interleaved into two mono files?

Thanks again!

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Answer 4

noeqplease

Level 4

3,589 points

Nov 8, 2007 2:11 PM in response to rhythmproject

Hi,

Yes, you have to split the interleaved stereo file into two mono files. You can do this in the audio window.

Cheers

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