How Does Panning Work in Regard to Analog Summing?

[idiotstorm]

Hi there.

Now, I have no idea if this is the specific sub-forum I should be posting this, but I am interested in the topic of analog summing and can't find the information I'm looking to get anywhere on the internet.

I don't understand the panning aspect of analog summing. How is it possible to preserve the panning done within a DAW when it gets sent to a summing box that doesn't have controls for panning? When the inputs aren't sorted into stereo groups, I would assume all of the tracks would be received by the summing unit as a centered signal, and thus result in a bunch of tracks stacked on top of eachother in mono. Am I missing something?

If someone could explain to me how panning works in regard to analog summing mixers without a pan knob for each channel, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Massive Master]

Most summing mixers are simple stereo pairs. 8 stereo busses to a 16-channel unit (for example).

 

[MrWrenchey]

Most summing mixers are simple stereo pairs. 8 stereo busses to a 16-channel unit (for example).

Yup, Massive's got you covered!

Usually, people will send out things in stereo pairs. For example, in their DAW, they'd route ALL guitar tracks to a stereo Aux track (a guitar buss), then send that out to 1-2, route the drums to 3-4, etc for all stereo sources.

Then of course, to save you from wasting all your channels, things like your bass could be routed to a mono aux and sent to just 7, and then if you only have a single lead vocal, send that to 8 (that's just an example, most people might have a stereo vocal aux that contains harmonies and doubles and what-have-you panned differently.)

 

[Mo Facta]

A few summing boxes have got pan controls, most don't. The Tonelux OTB16 has got panners, but the Dangerous 2 Bus does not, only mono buttons.

It just depends which suits your workflow better.

Cheers