Pan Law with External Summing Mixer

[dwaynedelario]

I am using an external summing mixer without pan control and was previously mixing with -3db compensated pan law engaged. Is there any reason to change this with an external summing bus?

[David Nahmani]

No, no reason to change. The only thing pan law changes is the behavior of the level of the track when you pan it. If you pan tracks and then compensate for the level change, pan law really doesn't matter. The only thing where pan law is going to matter is if you automate panning.

 

In either case, the fact that you choose to use an external summing bus shouldn't change anything.

[dwaynedelario]

Cool, thanks David. Just wanted to make sure because I am diving into some old mixes and want to make sure stuff translates properly. I do use pan automation frequently but hopefully it won't be an issue.

[David Nahmani]

Oh ok.. well in theory at least your old mixes should have the same pan and level results. Of course the sound should be different, and that pretty much always means you have to tweak a little thing here and there... but that's up to you and your ears!

[marcel72]

You may want to check on what the pan characteristics of your analogue mixer are, too...

 

My Soundcraft is designed to a 4.5dB (IIRC, something like that) pan law, so I use 0dB in Logic...

[David Nahmani]

You may want to check on what the pan characteristics of your analogue mixer are, too...

He's not using an analogue mixer, but a panless analog summing device.

[marcel72]

Sorry, should read more carefully...