Pan Knob

Panning-Effekt mit überlegenem Algorithmus

Bevor Sie dieses Plugin einsetzen, fragen Sie sich: "Sind meine Mischungen mit dem Kopfhörer schwammig, obwohl sie auf den Monitoren gut klingen?" Wenn die Antwort "ja" lautet, ist es sehr wahrscheinlich, dass die traditionellen Pan-Regler der Grund dafür sind. Variable Pan-Regler wurden erfunden, um die Einschränkungen des L-C-R (Left, Center, Right) Pannings zu überwinden, und der Pan Knob von Boz Digital wurde entwickelt, um die Einschränkungen der traditionellen Panner zu überwinden.

Pan Knob verwendet einen überlegenen Algorithmus, der tiefe Frequenzen im mittleren Frequenzbereich hält, während höhere Frequenzen an eine beliebige Stelle im Stereofeld positioniert werden. (Niedrige Frequenzen verhalten sich ohnehin omnidirektional, warum sollten sie also Ihren Mix ohne musikalischen Vorteil durcheinander bringen?) Das Ergebnis ist ein ausgewogener, harmonisch und rhythmisch interessanter Mix, der die basslastigen Instrumente nicht überbetont.

Weitere Details in englischer Sprache:

Pan Knob - Just the Facts:

• Superior panning algorithm for all listening formats
• Centers low frequencies to maintain left/right balance regardless of higher frequency positioning
• Improves mix translation
• Selectable pan laws
• Switch between balance and pan
• Pan anywhere in your signal chain

Cracking the Code

At its core, panning is an illusion created by a volume balance between two speakers (otherwise known as the phantom image), which changes depending on where your listening position is in relation to them. In headphones, where 87% of all music is currently consumed, the balance negatively changes depending on which instrument has greater low-frequency information.

A recent trend by professional mixers to overcome the psychoacoustic limitations of standard pan controls is to avoid panning altogether. Many have adopted L-C-R (left-center-right) mixing, which was all we had in the ’60s. However, Boz Digital Labs doesn’t believe in fixating on the past as a solution to modern problems. Pan Knob addresses and solves the problems inherent in traditional panners (both hardware and software) by applying some in- and out-of-the-box thinking, plus some clever coding.

If you’ve worked on an analog desk, panning is more or less hit-or-miss. It creates an unstable image, further exacerbated as listener position changes. One complicated solution was precision panning, which used the console’s oscillator to send a signal to two channels and match level meters. That way you could ensure that a harmony placed mid-right channel was psychoacoustically opposite a voice panned mid-left—provided you were using headphones or didn’t stray from the sweet spot between the speakers.

However, precision panning alone is not sufficient to solve all creative issues. For example, when panning background vocals, alto and bass parts sometimes sound better in context of the ensemble when panned wide, and other times when close to the center. The same is true for soprano and alto voices. Figuring out which sounds better is a time suck. One trick that emerged to maintain a balanced vocal blend with traditional panning, was to filter out much of the bottom end to prevent the low frequencies from dominating (as they naturally do) and pulling the ensemble to one side. Of course, that meant thinning out the vocals, which may or may not be desirable in the sonic texture overall mix. Wouldn’t it be nice to eliminate that compromise? (Funny, that’s what Boz thought too.)