SoundBite: Panning effects with filters
In this two and a half minute video I demonstrate pan effects using filters that cannot be achieved using normal pans alone.
Transcript
What I'm going to do today are some pan effects using filters that you can't do with normal pan controls. So here I have some music with the left and right channels split onto two tracks. Each track has a filter inserted which in this case is from the Slate digital Infinity EQ although I could have used any EQ plugin that has filters. For my first example I've used a high-pass filter that cuts low frequencies. In the left channel the filter is set to 10 hertz, which is its lowest setting and I've got a slope of 120 decibels per octave. I remember in the olden days the most we could get was 24 decibels per octave but things are different now. So what I'm going to do is in the left channel start off at 10 hertz, which is pretty much fully wide open - You'll hear the full frequency bandwidth. I'm going to continue that until a quarter of the way through, then close the filter all the way up to 2 kilohertz at the three-quarter point, and then leave it for the rest of the track. Conversely on the right channel I'm going to start off at two kilohertz then open up. So all we've got to do now is listen...
So, a nice pan effect that you couldn't achieve using just the pan controls. This time I have a low-pass filter and I'm going to be more extreme with this. So I've started off in the left channel at 30 kilohertz so the filter is wide open. I've kept it fully open until a quarter of the way through the track, then I've closed it down all the way to 10 hertz, which is as low as this filter goes. Conversely on the right channel I've started at 10 hertz which is fully closed and then I've opened the filter up all the way again. I've used a slope of 120 decibels per octave in both filters. So let's listen to it. It's going to be a bit more extreme this time...
So there we have it - Panning effects with filters that you can't get with ordinary pan controls. Thank you for listening.
David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
