Quote:
Originally Posted by richie43
What do you mean by this? I THINK I know, but in case I don't (and if it helps others), could you explain this please?
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Just ignore the parts you already know...
When panned center using 0dB, the signal is going to be louder than if panned to one side because we lose the volume from one of the speakers that we had when the signal was dead center. That's not usually a big deal, as we'll immediately adjust the fader when we hear that difference (assuming we wanted to pan and keep the same relative volume).
However, if we set the pan law to something that is suitable, we don't usually need to make that post-pan volume readjustment, it happened during the act of panning due to the pan law used. I tend to enable it per track when I need it. Say I have a instrument who's level is perfect and all I want to do is move it in the field, I'd rather not have the perceived volume change because it was already just where I wanted it.
Now... if we are automating a pan, we likely want some pan law regardless if we are just wanting something to move around the field without volume changes. Since we are automating, we can't make the manual post adjustment because the pan position is literally a moving target after the file is rendered. Pan law attempts to fix this by compensating for that volume change as the pan is occurring.
Pretty easy to test, slowly pan from far left to far right with zero dB, it should get louder as it passes the center. Change it to something like -3dB, it should stay closer to the same volume for the entire trip.