Mixing: What does panning do to a mix?

Think about

• How can producers or audio engineers be creative by using the left and right speakers?
• What does panning do to a mix?
• How can I mix music by panning different parts of a recording?

Get Started

Do some creative mixing by panning the different parts of the following recording:  (Check how to do this below)

1. Open mix.js

2. Look for the white knobs with black dots (Impress people by calling these knobs pan pots or pan controls — or really impress people by calling them panoramic potentiometers!)

 

 

 

 

 

 3a. Listen to what happens when you move the knob (pan control) to the left or right (it might help at first if you only listen to the part of the recording that you are adjusting by clicking the “s” above the knob. It is easiest to hear what happens by using earbuds or headphones. 

You are panning the different tracks when you do this. 

3b. Experiment with listening to different combinations of the parts of the recording panned in different ways. Then, listen to all of the tracks panned in different ways.

4. What do you notice?

5. Experiment with listening to the different ways you can change the way the music sounds by adjusting the knobs. 

6. Copy and paste the URL of your produced mix! You will need this later.

 Share What you Learned

Copy and paste the url of your mix.js mix with the knobs set to the way you want to pan your music.

Describe how you panned your music and why you made some of the decisions. 

Go Further!

(optional) Learn more about panning by watching this video.

(optional) Check out some of these tips for panning like pros!