Panning Stereo Tracks Left and Right

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Phyl

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I'm using GigaStudio (hosted on a separate computer) to play a stereo violin sample. The sample is brought into my tracking computer using SPDIF. I record the violin sound to a stereo track within SONAR.

When I try to pan the signal to the left, I hear little discernable movement in the stereo field. When I try to pan the signal to the right, the sound goes away entirely. I get this result whether I use the panning control in GigaStudio or the control inside SONAR.

What must I do in order to pan a stereo signal hard left or right the way you would a mono track? Do I somehow have to record the stereo signal coming into SONAR as a mono track? How do I do this?

Furthermore, how does the pan control work for a stereo track? I think I'm missing something incredibly obvious.
 
You are missing something pretty obvious . . .


as it would appear that your stereo track is already panned all the way left. It sounds like the reason you're not getting any audio when you pan it right is because there is no audio in the right channel to pan to. Got it?

In order to get control of it as if it were a mono track, you'll have to convert it to a mono track, either by mixing it down, or separating the left track from the right, etc. Or you could record it as a mono track, and I can't tell you how to do that unless I know what you're using in terms of cables and connections.
 
Just look at the wave file you created in Sonar. Does one side have wave form activity and the other is a flat line? Then you did not get into Sonar in stereo.

Or, if the file looks OK then check that you don't have the mono button set on your stereo track.

Another thing, make sure your not sending your signal out some aux bus and screwing up the stereo field somehow.

The list goes on but check these first.
 
As I said, I get the same result when panning within GigaStudio, so ChessRock is probably right, the signal was probably recorded this way.

I'm using Garritan Orchestral Lite as a sound library. I initially thought that instruments were recorded according to their normal position on the stage, i.e. violins and violas left, cellos and double basses right. I recorded a double bass and got the same results mentioned previously, all the signal appears in the left channel.

I tried using the stero/mono switch within SONAR, but as I suspected, it had no effect since the track was recorded as stereo.

I think Chess is right, I need to figure out how to record a stereo signal coming in my SPDIF input to a mono track.

Looking at the track in SONAR is confusing because the track view shows a signal in the left and right channels, and they are of equal strength.
 
Sounds to me like it is panned left in your soundcard mixer or somewhere. If Sonar track view shows it's there it has to be there, doesn't it?
Larrye

PS. I bet you go duhhhh when you figure it out.
 
Highlight and Solo the track in Sonar. Then from the menus above select Edit -> Bounce to Track.

In the dialogue box that pops up you'll see a drop down menu for Format. Choose "Mix to Separate Left and Right tracks."

This will split your stereo tracks into two mono tracks. You can then check if one is silent or not. Either way, you should be able to use one of the tracks for panning purposes (probably the left) and delete the other.

What you may have had is a stereo track where the instrument was panned just slightly to the left. That would give you the same thing in both tracks, but slightly stronger in the left. Of course, that wouldn't explain why it goes silent when you pan right.

Either way, the above should fix the problem for you. No need to record it in mono.
 
Phyl said:

PS. I bet you go duhhhh when you figure it out.

It wouldn't be the first time :)
Click to expand...

Finally figured it out.

The monitor outputs from my DAW go to an external mixer that drive the monitors, this way I can use the monitors to listen to external CD players, etc.

I have the left monitor channel going to mixer channel one, right channel going to mixer channel two. The pan pot on each channel was set dead center.

No wonder I couldn't get any stereo spread.

Duh...
 
"When faced with the inexplicable, having ruled out the impossible, that which remains, no matter how implausible, must be the answer..."

Great rule for debugging things audio and otherwise. Haven't we all done it!

Or... "Contradictions don't exist - if you find a contradiction, check your premises, one of them is wrong."

I think I've been reading too much Ayn Rand... except I haven't for about twenty years. Those two thoughts stayed with me and have been extremely useful in figuring out why things weren't working.
 
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