(True) Panning
true panning would be if you actually took the audio signal from one side and really did move it over to the other side ...
Balance
is when you adjust, raise or lowwer volume levels on the left side or right side of a two channel track. your not moving anything around your just raising or lowering volume of one side or the other of that track.
what is a MONO track
its actually a two channel track that has the exact same audio signal on its left side channel as it has on its right side channel. since both left and right side are identicle(clones of each other) the overall sound is therefore mono. You cant tell that there are two channels, since they both sound Identical it sounds like just one mono signal(but its really two ).
what is a STEREO track
like the mono track above a stereo track also has two audio channels, But the big difference is that the channels on a stereo track each carry a different audio signal. They are not two identical audio signals like the mono track has. In a stereo track the right side audio signal is a different signal than the left side audio signal, so the sound that you hear in this situation is refered to as stereo sound.
Panning vs Balance vs Mono....(panning a mono signal)
almost all panning that we do is done using volume manipulation to give the illusion that the audio sound is moving from one side to the other, its not really (true) panning since nothing is really being moved at all.
All that is done in most panning is that a two channel MONO track is being manipulated using a volume balance, to raise and lower the volume of one side or the other so that it sounds like the mono signal is moving form one side to the other, but its not moving at all, we just percieve it as movement when we hear this volume manipulation happening to a mono track.
Therefore because you need two identical audio channels to be on the track all panning we do is done using a two channel MONO track...its basically using a form of Balence control to create the illusion of moving or Panning the mono signal form one side to the other.
(True) Panning vs Panning vs Stereo....(panning a stereo signal)
If you wanted to actually move the audio signal from the left side of a stereo two channel track over to the right side of that stereo two channel track. you could not do this with just normal panning that uses volume manipulation. The panning that acts like a Balance and uses volume manipulation to simulate movement on a mono track wont work the same way for a stereo track that has two different audio signals on each channel. This type of panning that uses volume manipulation will not create the illusion of movement or panning when used on a stereo track, it will only act like a volume balance and just shut off the volume of one of your channels and not move that channel at all..
So what you need in this case is something or a way to do (TRUE)Panning, to actually be able to move the audio signal on one channel of a stereo track over to the other channel of that stereo track. And since most recording software programs only use mono type panning the manipulation of volume levels to simulate movement/panning of a mono signal you will have to probably look outside for add on programs or vst programs or pluggin programs to help you acomplish (TRUE)Panning on your stereo two channel track........( I call it TRUE panning for lack of a better word, probably just referring to it as stereo panning would suffice)
Stereo Panning.......(the old school way )
there is a way to (True)pan a pair of stereo audio signals using just your recording software as it is. To do this you need to have your stereo audio signals separated, and have each one sent to its very own separate track. That way each of those signals can then be treated as a MONO signal in its very own two channel mono track. So now that you have one of the signals as a mono signal in its own track you can use the normal Pan thats in your recording software program (the volume manipulation type pan fader that behaves like a balace) to pan it just like you would any other mono signal in the usual way. you do the same to the other half of the original stereo signal and you end up with two separate tracks that each have their own pan fader, now you can use those two pan faders to start moving and position (panning) each of those two signals that came from the original stereo source.
Tip - You could have recorded your original stereo source onto two separate mono tracks right from the beginning, or if you had originally recorded your stereo source onto just one two channel track as a stereo track, then you can use your recording softwares features to separate that track into two separate mono tracks, one that has one signal form your stereo source and the other that has the other signal from your stereo source.....
Just remember all tracks have two channels that you can record audio signals onto, if you record two Identical audio signals onto a tracks two channels then that track is what most of us call a mono track. But if you record two Different audio signals onto to the two channels of a track then that track will be what most of us refer to as a stereo track...so all tracks have two channels...(thanks Till)
(I think that about sums up the difference between Balance and Pan in very basic genneral terms...as far as i understand it anyway)
Post Source:
By suprosuperman via Cockos Reaper Forum
Pan vs Balance vs Mono vs Stereo
