Panning - Sending two mono tracks to a stereo bus

[adam79]

When sending two mono tracks to stereo bus, let's say bus 1-2.. if I send one track to bus 1 and the other to bus 2, the pan knob disappears from the mono track. If I send each mono track to bus 1-2 the pan knob remains. Why does this happen? Does the mono track lose it's pan setting when sent to a mono bus, in this example bus 1? And if so, where does it get placed? Is it placed back to center, no matter how I had it originally panned? Thanks.

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by adam79

When sending two mono tracks to stereo bus, let's say bus 1-2.. if I send one track to bus 1 and the other to bus 2, the pan knob disappears from the mono track. If I send each mono track to bus 1-2 the pan knob remains. Why does this happen? Does the mono track lose it's pan setting when sent to a mono bus, in this example bus 1? And if so, where does it get placed? Is it placed back to center, no matter how I had it originally panned? Thanks.

When sending to a single buss, there logically can be no panning. Panning a mono track is placing it into a stereo field. This can only happen if the destination is stereo.

[adam79]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

When sending to a single buss, there logically can be no panning. Panning a mono track is placing it into a stereo field. This can only happen if the destination is stereo.

Alright, but if a mono track has the ability of being panned, why does it lose that ability when being sent to a mono bus? In the example I mentioned, when sending two mono tracks to a stereo bus, i.e. bus 1-2, via two mono buses, bus 1 and bus 2, how does the panning work on the stereo aux channel (bus 1-2)? As in setting the pan on the stereo bus.. what information gets sent left and right? Hopefully I explained that correctly!

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by adam79

Alright, but if a mono track has the ability of being panned, why does it lose that ability when being sent to a mono bus? In the example I mentioned, when sending two mono tracks to a stereo bus, i.e. bus 1-2, via two mono buses, bus 1 and bus 2, how does the panning work on the stereo aux channel (bus 1-2)? As in setting the pan on the stereo bus.. what information gets sent left and right? Hopefully I explained that correctly!

As I said, it's about the destination. If the destination is mono, then there's no ability to pan since you need two busses to pan.

I think you need to get some training on the basics of engineering and signal flow etc.

In the meantime, check a video like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAiQPojMKz4

[amagras]

A stereo bus if nothing more than two mono buses when you send a mono track to only one half of the stereo bus you are basically sending a mono track to another mono track, which means there's nothing stereo to be panned as Drew already said. The reason you can pan the original mono track in the first place is because it is being sent to both halves of the stereo output of your session exactly like you do when you send it to both channels of any other stereo bus.

[adam79]

Originally Posted by amagras

A stereo bus if nothing more than two mono buses when you send a mono track to only one half of the stereo bus you are basically sending a mono track to another mono track, which means there's nothing stereo to be panned as Drew already said. The reason you can pan the original mono track in the first place is because it is being sent to both halves of the stereo output of your session exactly like you do when you send it to both channels of any other stereo bus.

Right, I understand that.

When I send both mono tracks to a stereo bus (let's say bus 1-2), via a mono bus for each track, the track sent via bus 1 is sent to the left channel, while the other, bus 2, is sent to the right. This is because when soloing the track being sent to bus 1 you only hear the left side, and vice versa.

When panning one mono track hard left and the other hard right, and then sending both mono tracks to bus 1-2, bus 1-2's panning behaves differently. When soloing just one of the mono tracks and hard panning both of bus 1-2's pan knobs, say hard right, there is still some remaining sound in the left channel, at a much lower volume. Why is this?