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Panning explained

Gh0stwrit3r · July 12, 2019

Panning is in it most simple explanation nothing more or less than positioning instruments in a room: left, centre and right. In this video I’ll lay out the principles of this concept in more detail. And I give you some quick wins – tips – how to get the most out of the panning concept.

This is the third video in the series of ‘How to write orchestral music for film, tv and games’. If you haven’t seen the other episodes, you should definitely watch them too. They are about dynamics and balancing.

Don’t forget to hit that like button if you appreciate this video. And sub to my channel if you’re interested in how to write music for film, tv and games. Or have an interest in sounddesign and sound recording.

Panning is positioning instruments in a room

Imagine that you’re in a room. In front of you is a flute player. He plays some beautiful melody lines. You’ll hear the flute sound in the middle of the room. Why? Cause the player stands right in front of you.

But when the player walks to the left side of the room, you’ll hear the sound of the flute more dominantly coming from the left side of the room. Even so, when the player walks to the right side of the room, you’ll hear the sound of the flute more dominantly from the right side of the room.

That is the concept of panning.

Why apply panning?

When you’re using only one instrument, panning is not a big of a deal. You can position the instrument everywhere in the room. But imagine you put an entire orchestra in the room. All those players won’t fit in the middle!

Let say, we have three instruments playing at the same time. A flute, violin and a trumpet. When they are all in the middle, they’ll fight for the first position in front of you. And the trumpet will win. Believe me. That instrument has the biggest projection power.

So the trumpet pushes the violin and flute to the background. And the violin pushes the flute even more to the background, cause that instrument plays louder. Probably you won’t hear the flute at all.

Now when you apply panning, you can position the trumpet to the right side of the room. The violin to the left side and keep the flute in the middle. Now they all have an unique position in the room and will sit better/fine in your composition and mix.

Tips and tricks

In the video I share some valuable tips and tricks about the concept of panning. You should definitely check it out! This section starts around 4 minutes and 7 seconds.

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Filed Under: Tips and tricks to write realistic orchestral music for film Tagged With: gh0stwrit3r, gh0stwrit3rMusic, how to make orchestral music, how to make orchestral music in logic, how to make orchestral music in logic pro x, how to write orchestral music, how to write orchestral music as a beginner, how to write orchestral music for media, logic pro x orchestral template, logic pro x orchestral tutorial, media composer, midi mockup, midi mockup orchestration, orchestral music tutorial, orchestral tutorial, orchestration, programming orchestral music

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If you support me on Patreon for only 1 dollar (ex. VAT) a month, you’ll get access to the orchestral sketches. And of course you can download my music tracks for personal listening too! I guess a no-brainer … lots of detailed information and joy for the price of a cup of coffee!

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Awakening Walkthrough ⋆ How to write orchestral music for film says:
    August 9, 2019 at 12:29 pm

    […] this video I go in depth. I’ll talk about the concepts of dynamics, balancing, panning and EQ clean up. Very important basic concepts. Concepts that you need to apply to create realistic […]

    Reply
  2. EQ Clean Up ⋆ How to write orchestral music for film says:
    August 24, 2019 at 9:32 am

    […] diving into the concepts of dynamics, balancing and panning, this week I want to spend some time on […]

    Reply
  3. Panning ⋆ Masterclass Realistic Orchestral Mockups says:
    January 18, 2020 at 10:22 am

    […] this post and video will help you out. Still having questions after this? Feel free to ask them in the […]

    Reply
  4. Depth & Width in Orchestral Mixes ⋆ Precedence 2CAudio says:
    January 12, 2021 at 4:53 pm

    […] Panning Explained […]

    Reply

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