Q: pan and stereo

William, what are you going to pan? For example, if you have recorded your guitar, it wll obviously be in mono, and on the levels monitor of the track you will see only one "jumping" level. If you pan this type of signal, the whole one will go left or right.

If your signal is stereo, when you will be paning one of the channels will become muted, and you will hear "part" of the signal.

If you want to pan stereo track without loosing the signal, firstly you'll have to convert your stereo track to mono (merge two layers) and then you will be able to pan.

Tolstov_A wrote:

 

If you want to pan stereo track without loosing the signal, firstly you'll have to convert your stereo track to mono (merge two layers) and then you will be able to pan.

Can you please delete that statement? With all due respect, and I appreciate that you try to help, but the statement is complete nonsense and if beginners read that, they get the wrong information. There is already enough "I read it on the internet, and therefore it is true" out there.

What I think you meant was the following:

You have to convert the Interleaved Stereo file to two Split-Mono files. You split, not merge!

Let's say you have a stereo Audio File. It has two channels, the left and the right channel. You convert that to two mono Audio Files. One Audio File will get the left channel and the other mono Audio FIle gets the right channel. Now you put the left mono Audio FIle and the right Audio File on separate Tracks in GarageBand and pan them individually. However, the two Pan Knobs are not linked, so you don't get a true Stereo Pan Control.

William Frankeberger wrote:

 

1.  If I PAN L, does that take the ENTIRE STEREO — both channels?  Or does it just pan the left channel and the right channel is now missing?

 

2.  How do I manipulate (like... how to pan) stereo???  The L & R channels are LOCKED together!   Please, if you have an answer, be sure it is for GarageBand.  For instance, someone said to disable Universal Track Mode.  WHAT?  WHAT are you talking about?  I find no such thing in GarageBand!

The Pan Knob in GarageBand (and Logic Pro) works differently on a Mono Track and Stereo Track.

Mono:

A Mono Track has a single signal, one channel. The Pan Knob lets you "distribute" that one channel to the 2 channels of the the Output Track (that is always a stereo Track), placing the mono signal (from the Track) between the left and right channel of that Output Track, depending on that position of the Track's Pan Knob.

Stereo:

A Stereo Track has two signals, two channels (L, R). The left channel is routed to the left channel of the Output Track and the right channel is routed to the right channel of the Output Track. Please note, that the left channel  of the Track will never go to the right channel of the Output Track and the right channel of the Track will never go to the left channel of the Output Track.

On a Stereo Track, the Pan Knob functions as a so-called "Stereo Balancer". You have to think of two hidden volume faders inside the Pan Knob. One fader control the left signal and one fader controls the right signal of the Track.

• Moving the Pan Knob to the right, will lower the fader for the left channel of the Track going to the left channel of the Output Track. Turning the Pan Knob all the way to the right will silence the left channel of the Track.
• Moving the Pan Knob to the left, will lower the fader for the right channel of the Track going to the right channel of the Output Track. Turning all the way to the left will silence the right channel of the Track.

Here is a diagram from an Article I wrote on LogicProGEM.com, the concept also applies to GarageBand

http://logicprogem.com/LogicProGEM/Blog/Entries/2015/6/6_Pan_Control__The_Most_M isunderstood_Knob_in_Logic.html

Universal Track Mode was concept in the old Logic Pro version. Completely obsolete now and absolutely not relevant for GarageBand whatsoever. Wrong advice (Be careful what you read on the internet).

In general, there is no easy solution in GarageBand for truly stereo-panning. Logic Pro has a separate Plugin (Direction Mixer), and other DAWs, like Pro Tools, just provide two Pan Knobs on a stereo Tracks.

Hope that helps

Edgar Rothermich - LogicProGEM.com

(Author of the "Graphically Enhanced Manuals")

http://DingDingMusic.com/Manuals/

'I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.'.

You nailed it. That is exactly what happens and I could't have explained it better.

And to answer you follow-up question: Yes.

You will find different procedures on the internet how to deal with stereo/mono exports in GarageBand. Here is a little trick that you can use in your case:

Step 1:

Let's say you have a stereo Region in GarageBand (blue Region on the second screenshot below)

• Put that Track to Solo and select that Region
• Turn the Pan on that Track all the way to the left and "Share ➤ Export Song to Disk..."
• In the next Dialog Window, select Aiff, Export checkbox and give the file a name with the indication the it is "Left Channel". Save it, for example, to the Desktop.
• Repeat the same step, but before exporting, turn the Pan Knob all the way to the right and name the exported file as "Right Channel" or something.
• Please note that GarageBand still created stereo files when bouncing ("interleaved stereo files" to be specific), there is just silence on one side depending on the Pan Position.

Step 2:

Create two new Audio Tracks in GarageBand and drag the two exported files back on those two Tracks. As you can see on the next screenshot, the two brown Audio Regions are stereo, but one side is silence (flat line).

Step 3:

Now here comes the Trick.

• Select one Track with the imported Region.
• Open the Smart Controls Window and click on the i-Button to show its Inspector
• Click on the Disclosure Triangle to show the controls for Recording Settings
• Next to the Input label is button with either a single circle (mono) or double circle (stereo). It toggles the Input Format for that Track between Mono and Stereo. But here is the lesser-known fact. This Input Format Button also affects the playback of any Region on that Track.
• Set the Button to Mono (single circle) and any stereo Audio Region will be played back in mono (both channels summed together).
• In our case, it plays back the Region as a mono signal through the Track. Because the Track becomes a Mono Track, that means that the Pan Knob functions as a standard Pan Pot (and not a Stereo Balancer) that lets you freely position that mono signal between left and right.
• Now Select the other Track with the imported right-channel Audio Region and also set its Input Format to mono.
• Now both Tracks are mono Tracks (one with the original left channel and one with the original right channel) that you can freely pan.

OK, that might a lot of information to take in, but once you wrap your head around it, it is actually pretty simple and best of all, it makes sense.

Hope that helps

Edgar Rothermich - LogicProGEM.com

(Author of the "Graphically Enhanced Manuals")

http://DingDingMusic.com/Manuals/

'I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.'

William Frankeberger wrote:

 

Wow, complicated.  What if I simply duplicate the stereo track (so I have two tracks of the same symphony, both in stereo), then pan L on the top track, and L on the bottom?  And leave it at that?  The disadvantage would be... ?

No, not complicated at all, just new, maybe.

Your approach with the duplicate stereo Track doesn't work, because once you have a stereo Track, the Pan Knob does not (I repeat DOES NOT) change any position in the stereo field. It only changes the level of the left or right channel.

If your double bass is coming from the far right on the stereo track, then moving the Pan Knob will not move them any closer to the center. Only if you "isolate" that right channel, put it on a mono Track, then you actually move their position on the stereo field with Pan Knob.

About the terminology

• Pan Pot: The word "panorama" is in the word, because you actually control (place) the signal (mono channel) along the left-right stereo field, the panorama
• Stereo Balancer: On a stereo Track, there is no "pan" happening whatsoever. Every source that you locate along the stereo image (panorama) stays where it is. You just change the balance between the left and right channel by changing the volume of the left or right channel.

More clear or more confused?