Logic Pro 9 Pan laws

[Rafa]

Hey all,
I'm having a hard time understanding the differences between the pan laws. I was comparing the "-3db" with the "-3db compensated" and the latter sounds a lot better. But at the same time tracks start clipping like hell when they are panned with this pan law, so what's the point? What's it for exactly?

thanks
Rafa

 

[Peter Ostry]

General explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_law

Normally, -3 dB compensated is what you want.

And in Logic, if you use the uncompensated pan law, the volum drops for 3 dB at each channelstrip-hop in your chain.

But if you clip with full panning, I would say your overall mixing level is too high. You should bring the mixing levels down and turn up your monitors instead.

 

[Rafa]

Basically what i was doing, was trimming the channels that clipped with a gain plug. Is that what you mean?

Another question, what does "compensated" mean? Is it a gradual 3db decrease through the pan pot?

 

[Peter Ostry]

Basically what i was doing, was trimming the channels that clipped with a gain plug. Is that what you mean?

No, I meant that it is better to mix with lower levels and deal with the overall level afterwards. This has not necessarily to to with the pan law, it is just a general suggestion.

Another question, what does "compensated" mean? Is it a gradual 3db decrease through the pan pot?

-3 dB pan law:
The mid signal is 3 dB quieter than the fully panned level. Which means, the channel will have -3 dB at unity gain. If you use this, each channelstrip will have 3 dB less than it's predecessor.

-3 dB compensated pan law:
The fully panned signal is 3 dB louder than the mid signal. This means, the level will not get generally reduced but will increase if you pan.

Most people find the compensated pan law easier to work with. If it isn't good for you in the particular situation then yes, reducing the level with a Gain Plugin is a solution.

 

[georgelegeriii]

A short observation: the whole pan law thing came in with recording consoles, and can be explained like this:

when we pan something to left or right, we are decreasing out put levels the closer to each edge of the pan pot, for example, if we pan completely left, we loose the other side of our signal, so our overall level is now -3 compared to when the track is centered.

If we have a -3 compensated, out level increases up to 3 db to compensate for the level loss for the panning.

One thing to be careful about: if you do a mix with one pan law, do not change to the other... your mix will be completely different. In fact, you might want to try changing them and listen to hear the difference. It is the best way I can think about to get a practical example of exactly what this does.

George Leger III