First of all I apologize for the newbie questions even though I've been trying to learn many many years, but still got questions it seems


Ok so,

I hear people say make room for the Vocal(which is mono) by panning the guitars left and right for example

but from my understanding...even if the vocal is in the "Center" its still in both on left and right speakers as its mono and present on both speakers

the guitars will also be L+R hen they are panned left and right......

so how does that make room for the vocals

 

It is not really center or side, it's the "image", the stereo image. It has to do with psycho-acoustic effect which give the impression of "phantom" center when there are information/signal differences within the L and R channels. The differences between those two will cancel each other out in the center of stereo "image", while the difference will stay at the side of each.

Im pretty sure you know about this already. Panning is lowering/increase volume of left or right channel (panned side is increased) which will create the difference between those two channels (L and R) that will ultimately create "difference" and creating an image of the sound is more to the side (which is panned).

With the differences created with panning those elements (guitars, perc etc.), vocals that aren't panned at all will have (almost) same wave/sound/information for both L and R channels so the only minimal cancellation happens (probably the reverbs that are set wide) and it will appear dead center in the (stereo) image, and the wide reverb will subtly appear on the sides thus giving a wide stereo "image" for all the elements to breathe. Amazing isn't it ?

Atleast that is how I understand it.

 

Last edited: Apr 9, 2021

You're right, a centerd signal is played through both speakers.

If you copy a mono signal and pan them hard left and right, the signal is still centered, because there's no difference in them. Final proof, if you lower these panned signals by 3dB, play the centered signal along with them (as a third track) and phase invert it, they cancel each other out perfectly. Means, there's neither a sonic nor a technical difference between a single centered signal and two same signals panned hard (apart from the 3dB, ofc).

The trick is not to use one guitar track, copy it and pan it hard left and right, but to use two different guitar tracks and pan them hard. Then they're also perceived as left and right because of the differences in the signals, while the vocals are still centered.

 

Last edited: Apr 10, 2021