Logic Pro // Balance vs. Stereo Pan EXPLAINED

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

In this video I demonstrate and explain the difference between balance and stereo pan in Logic Pro. You can also check out my Advanced Mixing in Logic Pro course at MacProVideo here: macprovideo.com/course/logic-pro-advanced-mixing

[@neddam666]

man congratulations and thanks a lot you have no idea how much i was looking for this video, for years i was confused about panning and you just nailed it for me with your great explanation, believe it or not you just changed the world, the course of human kind.

[@ValeriyKolyada]

this is exactly what I could not achieve for a long time, Every time I moved the tool around the panorama, it got lost somewhere, Became less dense and readable, You showed a very interesting solution, It did not occur to me to right-click on the panorama icon . Very grateful , Thank you

[@APaclin]

Saving some time, peoples. Balance is making L and R quieter or louder, stereo pan moves both signals in panorama.

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

Yes, you’ve accurately defined it. But if everyone had 100% comprehension of topics just by reading a definition, there would be no use for tutorials like mine.

[@matl7048]

Yeah I personally found the video more comprehensive and only after having watched the vid do I understand your definition

[@KevinStCroix]

I appreciated the definition and mth got a video play. Win win.

[@marike1100]

Yes but nobody really learns Logic without putting in the time. And this gentleman’s tips and tricks are well worth the time it takes to watch.

[@OfficialStevenCravis]

Alex’s definition, combined with MTHG’s video are both highly appreciated.

[@yobhsiFehT]

This is one of the simplest, best tips I’ve ever seen for Logic 😐 Thank you!

[@kemek3000]

As a teacher myself, I really appreciate the way you explain things. Thanks for your videos.

[@MattGarwood777]

I learned that there is such a thing as stereo pan today. Thanks, yo!!!

[@route30production]

I can't tell you how many of your videos have help me out when using Logic. I truly thank you for all of your videos.

[@bradleyduer]

I recently recorded a doubled acoustic guitar part to pan one far left and one far right. I have the left guitar in balance pan mode and the right guitar in stereo pan mode. It gave it a unique width that I couldn't get any other way.

[@thecruddybug4437]

Thanks for this video. I came across Stereo Pan by accident maybe a year ago and it totally blew my mind, immediately make everything wider or more focused, depending on what I needed, and much easier to make space in busy mixes. Sometimes I use it on drums too if the stereo information is too wide, like with cymbals etc. I also record guitar in stereo from an amp-sim, so I like using stereo pan for that. But I didn't realize that balance in stereo mode was basically muting the opposite channel! Now I feel dumb, but also smarter.

[@waynehood6736]

The proof of concept using the drum & bass track was a great idea and very informative :)

[@vishu8735]

It was very helpful, I learned a lot and will be able to apply these settings while mixing. Thanks buddy

[@jeronebattick5110]

Needed this, thank you. It’s one of those videos you didn’t know you needed to see until you see it

[@89Trashmaster]

Thanks for the explanation, so than my Mackie ProFXv3 is wrong labeled. Stereo Channel, PAN to the right, but then I loose my signal on the left side.

[@ChordFreak]

WOW!!! Finally an explanation I understand. Now I think that my "pan"-knob on my Synth actually is a "balance"-knob. Because...you could have used synthesizer sound. Then you clearly hear the loss of information/frequencies when balancing. Obviously those sounds are sampled into the machine in the way that low frequencies are right and the higher left. At least so it sounds if I use the "pan" on the Synth.

[@onelittleatlas5645]

I can't believe I didn't know this, thanks!! I use a lot of synths through stereo pedals and using they're left / right outputs so just to reassure if I want all that info but have the left and right panned with stereo panning it'll send over all that info. So its almost summing them into mono and placed on the far left or right, whichever you use? Then I guess using eq, reverb etc I could make it further away or closer in that channel. Stereos something Id love to get better at as I make highly detailed tracks, even small textures of a few seconds, lots of ear candy! 😃

[@FloBorge]

Clearest and simplest explanation. Thank you!

[@djmmjd3]

I love Logic. But this is one of the top 4-5 quirks that should be changeable for us pros. At least allow the global preferences to be set as Panning by default. It's so counterintuitive and must be confusing for beginners.

[@dm_hater8388]

Yes I much prefer stereo too, wish it were default

[@tclexi]

Very!

[@housemusicrecords6111]

Hello, what a good video this is. I want to know how I can use it in a mixbus or in a single battery bus, for example, thank you

[@SunilMungur]

this video woke me up to the fact that my left speaker came unplugged! also i learned stuff! thx!

[@happysinha]

Master class on pan 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@BakerSynth]

Very well taught. I was really just looking for real life examples when to use each. You covered that too. Now I can mix like Bruce Sweden.

[@imagingsound_]

Perfect explanation, thanks.

[@ChasMusic]

Thank you for the demo. I was aware of the feature, but not of the actual effect it had on the sounds. Your demo made it very clear. I notice that when I switch from Balance to Stereo Pan and try to automate, the Pan automation track only seems to show one parameter, the pan position. I would expect to have two automation parameters, either the left pan and the right pan extents, or else the pan midpoint and the pan width. That is, a Stereo Pan that is showing a pan knob of -3 might have a green edge that is taking up about 90% of the circumference of the pan knob (the extents of the pan are far from the center point) or might have a green edge that is taking up about 10% of the circumference (the extents of the pan are very close to the center point). I just tried both and they sound very different from one another, one very broad and one very narrow but both centered very close to the center. But if there's only one pan parameter that's automatable, then it doesn't seem possible to automate a transition from one to the other (narrow to wide with same center).

[@ClintonWaller]

Thank you for explaining this, did not really understand the differences between Stereo Pan, Balance, and Balance Pan until watching your video. Wish you could have talked a bit about Binaural, but I get why you did not.

[@zmmayer]

Great video! Thank you so much. As always, so clear and well explained!

[@jaysundj]

I still see a lot of top music producers not panning properly. Stereo pan pushes the ENTIRE sound, while balance just cuts out whatever side is not being panned.

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

Sometimes I do it too. On purpose. Sometimes I'll find that the phase interactions and cancelation is not too great sounding when panning stereo material, like synths, especially things with a lot of reverb printed into the sound source. But yeah, using balance mode for stereo recordings is almost always a no-no.

[@jaysundj]

@@MusicTechHelpGuy Do you have a video on phasing or plan to do one soon? I find that when i make a lot of synth-heavy tracks, they sound great until bounced. Then I hear this weird phasing noises underneath my synths when playing back. Would love to know how to avoid this

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

@@jaysundj That's definitely a weird one. Especially if you're not hearing it in the Logic project, and only in the bounce. Are you sure it isn't an aliasing/foldover issue? Have you tried working at a higher sample rate? Like 48 kHz or even 88.2 or 96 kHz. Sometimes synths are the culprit for a lot of foldover noise.

[@jaysundj]

@@MusicTechHelpGuy I dont know what an aliasing or foldover issue is lol but I will try some high sample rates. Interestingly enough, I noticed the same mistake issue in a track of a well-recognised producer, however he managed to clear up most of the sounds so you could barely hear it.

[@TheSlickoify]

​@@jaysundj You could try routing the master bus to an audio channel and record the track in realtime. There might be a difference. I know technically it should sound the same but sometimes some plug-in goes crazy especially when bouncing offline. I've had some weird stuff happening over the years so I avoid the bounce function whenever I can.

[@p1nball3]

an additional point would be the sonic differences when adding a mono signal to a stereo channel and using stereo pan compared to balanced pan

[@borisvillar]

Thanks makes a huge difference in my mix

[@mekzema1]

wow i was just looking for this was a bit confused thanks for upload

[@jcalla28]

Really well explained, thanks!

[@jessicaauermusic]

Great explanation

[@Meekismwisdom]

Would be dope if Logic updated and allowed panning for the l+r channel as you explained protools has !

[@macpaul]

Do it! Convert the joint stereo file to split stereo (copy/convert) this will convert the file to two files with L & R at the end of the name. rename one file by removing the last letter to be able to handle them seperately. now load them back in and put them in two mono channels. A little bit of a mess i know, but the only way in Logic.

[@ConnorTostevin1]

@@macpaul Great idea! also if you have the Fab Filter EQ you can easily do this in one plugin but either way works fine

[@ivancastromusic]

@@ConnorTostevin1 How do you do this with Fab filter eq?

[@ConnorTostevin1]

​@@ivancastromusic I think i replied to a post thats gone now, or the wrong person, because you can't do any split panning like pro tools in fab filter but i'm sure you already know, you can make seperate bands for the left and right, stereo, mono in fab filter. So i think i replied (or meant to reply) to something else to do with that... 🤔

[@MusicTechExplained]

Nice video as usual. I understand that you want to keep the topic simples and easy to understand but I wished you would at least mention the two Pan related topics that are super important with the Pan Knob so people are at least aware of that (and hopefully look it up in your extended video series). One thing is the Stereo Width feature of the Stereo Pan. You actually did it in the video but didn't mention it. The other feature is Pan Law. It is more complex to wrap your head around it especially for beginners, but at least point them to the "Project Setting>Audio>General" to keep an eye on that.

[@jfmax2000]

Extremely Usefully and Indispensable Info Here.. Thank You Sir ☺😎👊💯💯

[@vishesh4525]

Best video by u 🔥🔥🔥

[@christopherrusch]

it would appear that you’ve saved my life

[@BorisDiRocco]

well done, thanks great tuutorial

[@resinsoft]

so, under the stereo pan mode in logic pro, what is the difference between these two situations: A: both white handles are in the bottom left and right respectively, B: both white handles are in the top middle joined together

[@azurekaenbeats9127]

Very nice, ty for the tutorial mthg

[@johnhamers4571]

If I was thinking that I know something 'bout Logic Pro X, I realize there's still a lot to learn. Unbelievable that I didn't knew such a important thing like this 🤞🏼🦴✌🏼

[@OfficialStevenCravis]

Is Direction Mixer, with Pan knob center, an equal substitute for Stereo Pan, or something completely different?

[@amenaza1119]

Thanks musictechhelpguy, 👍🏾 📝 🎵

[@AndrewThiriot]

Thank you! Any idea why Stereo Pan is the default for stereo channels in Logic?

[@OfficialStevenCravis]

Does Logic have a setting or preferences option to have stereo pan be default?

[@mynameismudd1518]

You can make a template and save it after making the change. At least that's the only way I'm aware of...

[@theboatswains-yt]

Never even know about this, thanks man!!!

[@tonyadams6985]

Thanks! I didn't know this!

[@ajadrew]

You've cleared that up for me, thanks! 😊 👍

[@tornottoproductions3926]

Super informative as always, thank you!

[@hendrikbisschoff]

Hi! Do you have a video showing how you make your tutorial videos with Logic? How to do audio routing with the screen recording etc...

[@mattierichandthefellas5977]

this is super helpful!! Thank you help guy!!!

[@SYPCWAK]

Thanks for the tips and video

[@drorguy3754]

Thanks, well explained!

[@burning_KFC]

Thanks! It's helped me a lot!

[@sidetrackbeatz5431]

Thank you sir 🐅

[@screamingswifts]

Damn good explanation - thank you :)

[@OfficialStevenCravis]

How will stereo pan factor in or not with Dolby Atmos environment?

[@dny1548]

Hi thanks for your video! I understand the difference between 2 but I would like to know when would u choose one over the other and is stereo balancing enough if stereo panning is not available in my software/daw?

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

I go with stereo panning anytime I want to preserve the information from both left and right channels; especially with stereo recordings where I'm recording with 2 mics. If I used a balancer on a stereo recording and panned hard left or right, I would lose much of the opposing channel's information. So MOST of the time I'm using stereo panning. However, there are some situations like when I use guitar amp sims and the output is stereo, I often like the slight phase coloration I get from using a balancer instead. So it's kind of a "try it and see if you like it" situation. But most of the time I'm using stereo panning.

[@dny1548]

@@MusicTechHelpGuy hi thank u so much for ur reply! So in my case my DAW is MPC2 which I don't think have a stereo panning just balancing. Do u recommend me getting 3rd party pan plug-ins?

[@nicholasriley4729]

Holy heck I can’t believe I didn’t know this

[@Chasingvibes2103]

So it doesn’t matter as much when I bounce VST strings per se? As both channels are equal although I would lost volume? I wonder if when I record electric guitar I can bounce down to mono and double as I usually record it and play with effects before bouncing and then it becomes a stereo track. I want to keep it in mono. I have so much to learn

[@rizzakbeats]

Great Video, thanks a lot 🌊

[@cinemaguerrilla]

goood explanations

[@cabijista1]

Is there a logic preference/setting to make stereo pan default on all stereo tracks?

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

Wouldn't that be helpful! At the moment, no, it is not able to do that.

[@sliver0fwhatsy0urs]

thank you

[@Deedrio]

👁️👄👁️ had no idea about this. Thanks

[@DRSDONEIT]

In your newer videos I don’t see you using stereo pan in your projects is there a reason for this?

[@ElCapitanGames]

I always record stereo channels in dual mono and hard pan them myself. So they don’t have to be hard panned. They can we less wide this way. Is the wrong?

[@tdz69]

thanks for this. Just have a question. When I use stereo pan, I still don't get the same volumes. When I hard stereo pan to the left it is loud. when I hard stereo pan to the right the volume is way lower. Maybe I missed this in the video but not sure why this is happening.

[@olivergodfrey]

Thanks 🙏

[@GigiUK]

Yeah, but how do you drop the volume of one side of a stereo recording when using stereo pan? Doing it the way you explained mixes both at 100%, wherever they are panned together. What about if I want to have the left channel at 40% and the right channel at 100%, and then use stereo pan? Or would I have to use a completely different strip?

[@texiofficial]

Hello, Do you know why if I right click on the pan there is not the same thing thst you have? I mean, I can't pan left and right.

[@gerryk9]

thanks for the info. another great video. My problem is this... i recorded acoustic guitar. 1mic, in mono. I recorded it again the same way in another track with the intention of hard panning them left and right. When I do this, they both play in the middle on my studio monitors. With my headphones they do playback panned left and right. No answers on my internet search, and no help from Apple. I have new mini M1 with big sur. this hasnt always been happening, only this past week or so. Any ideas?

[@satch72]

thank you thank you thank you

[@carltonxcarlton]

Can you talk about the scripter and how to get it to record? I get a lot of orchestral work and I want to use the harpeggiator preset. I can preview it, but when I go to record it or even hear it with the track; it doesn’t seem to work.

[@JuanLopezmusica]

im trying to make some tracks for one of my students group, sending tracks to R and click to L, but im having little level of volume from click on the R, what can I do? my tracks are not muting hard pan

[@TerreleRose]

is there a reason why when i right click i don't see the options?

[@computerboii8782]

if i record my vocal tracks in mono will it not allow me to use the stereo pan? because at the moment when i right click on the pan knob it doesn’t give me the option to use stereo pan only pan & binaural :/

[@ctsguitar]

Can anyone please help with this: Sometimes I can group Mono tracks together into a Stereo Summing Stack and be able to hard pan them left or right separately without any problems. Sometimes however it doesn’t work and it just reduces the volume rather than pan! Can anybody explain why? I’ve yet to figure out why sometimes it works and sometimes it randomly doesn’t!

[@viscousprash]

Thanks for this! I must ask, does it make a difference for sample libraries? I do open a Kontakt stereo channel and then say play a violin from Spitfire. In that case, if I want the violin to sit at 10 ‘o clock (left) should I be using stereo pan instead of balance?

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

If the samples were recording using a stereo pair (which I'm assuming they are), then yes, using stereo pan is better, because it will preserve the stereo information.

[@viscousprash]

@@MusicTechHelpGuy I see, thank you

[@AashishJhaMusic]

Thanks

[@DingusMcBrungus]

7:56 this is what I came to the video for, how to control the channels like that but he just glosses over it and doesn't even tell you how lol On to the next tutorial vid, at least I got some good info for why I always prefer the sound of stereo pan over balance

[@elpkhan]

Many kids don’t understand the “ reason for panning “ because they have not been brought up with real music - bands and orchestra . The drums are panned according to the placement of a real drum kit . When you listen to live drums the sound doesn’t emanate from dead center ! The kick and snare are dead center however the toms and cymbals are are variations of left and right . That’s how we here real music . The musicians set up across the stage are always heard with variations of left and right ... not mono

[@dafingaz]

Nice!

[@magnivore1603]

If I were to have a kick drum as a stereo channel and wanted it to be centered as a mono channel would I select stereo pan and bring the fader lines up to the top middle or just leave it alone?

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

You can just leave it as is, unless there is some stereo variation in the kick sample you're trying to use. If that's the case, you can use the stereo pan mode to pull in the sides, and make the kick more mono. But mostly likely, you can just leave it be.

[@magnivore1603]

@@MusicTechHelpGuy sounds good, thank you for the info! Also, would you happen to know if there’s a way to make the mixer channels bigger? The numbers on the meter are hard for me to see, making them bigger would help a lot.

[@gonzalodominguez229]

good one!!* 🖖🍀

[@FLH3official]

I'ld like to have an explanation: Why in Logic the chanels, instruments ect... are balance by default instead of stereo pan by default.

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

I wish Stereo Pan was the default as well. It think it's a leftover of the days when Stereo Pan didn't exist in Logic. It's fairly recent too, I want to say it was added in version 10.1 or something like that. Not 100% sure on that. But I know there was a time when stereo pan didn't exist in Logic, and you had to use the Direction Mixer plugin to achieve true stereo panning.

[@FLH3official]

@@MusicTechHelpGuy I guess it could be a valid explanation. Anyway, personnaly when I create a stereo instrument I save it with a stereo pan setting. At least my own patches are loading with the "right" setting (unless I realy want to have them with a balance for some special effects, obvioulsy)

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

@@FLH3official That's a great idea for your own custom patches!

[@EdokLock]

When using townsendlabs sphere, should I use stereo pan or balanced pan ? Thanks

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

That is an excellent question! As you probably already know, the Sphere mic records two channels, the front and back of the mic, and then using the Sphere plugin, it encodes the 2 channels together. So if you're using the Sphere plugin, and using the mic traditionally as a single mic source, Balance will work just fine. Because, while the channel IS stereo, the information in the L/R channels is identical. However, the Sphere also has a stereo option, where you can point it at a source in a 'front addressed' fashion, and the front and back capsules work like two microphones in stereo. If you use it this way, you'll absolutely want to use Stereo Pan.

[@EdokLock]

@@MusicTechHelpGuy thank you for the clarification, if Im not mistaken its called sphere 180 o, if I used this plugin instead of the regular one then I should switch to stereo pan. Thanks again 🌹

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

@@EdokLock Looks like the Sphere 180 plugin is for stereo recording. So yes, make sure to use Stereo Pan for that.

[@golightlyproject]

Muuuch better than buying waves stereo imaging tool....

[@NiniRockX]

Maybe someone can help me? My panning in Logic is not working. If I move the controls to the left and right, the instrument or the voice-only becomes quieter.

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

Sounds like you're wired up in mono or something? If you pan hard left and it's loud, then pan hard right and it just gets soft, that means there's something wrong with your right channel? Are you listening on headphones, speakers?

[@thomasnikzakrzewski4477]

So "mono panning" is the same as "stereo balancing" in that both drop the gain on one of the channels without summing the signals. It might have been less confusing if Logic had called the mono version "mono balancing".

[@RandyWillcox]

🤯

[@elijahaaron]

And I considered myself a master in logic 🤣

[@Rio-uv1gs]

Binaural pan on my drums set to 0.. drums hit harder.

[@absinha6209]

Good grief. I’ve been doing this wrong for how long????🤦🏾‍♂️

[@GaryCunninghamyouareenough]

🙏🏻🤟

[@dm_hater8388]

You gotta think stereo pan is FAR superior in giving you separation and clarity

[@genuinelyjag]

Is this channel narrated by Andy Barnard?

[@adamarcadegames]

Oooooooooowahhhaaoooohhh

[@coolmattmusic]

First

[@bosonbreeder]

Darn.

[@lovelymusicnow4404]

Still not working for me , super disappointing Logic makes it so difficult just to freaking pan your signals

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

What's not working? You just click on the pan knob and drag up/down to move it? Are you not able to access the other pan modes? You can right-click on the knob, or hold control and click on the knob to show those. The only thing that can be tricky is learning to use the stereo pan. You click on the knob to change the pan position, and then you click on the white part of the stereo panner and drag up/down to change the width.