Achieving a balanced stereo mix after panning an orchestra?

It is a good question and depends on the style you are writing in and the desired effect.

If you are writing in a traditional style and this is simply a passage for Vln I, horn, and flutes, then maybe don't worry too much about it. If you specifically want a wider sound, then your options are...

• If you are keeping with traditional orchestral seating, then maybe double the Vln line with instruments that naturally sit on the right side. For example, you can double the Vln line with Cellos an octave below, or Violas an octave below (or in unison depending on the range). This will fill out the string sound a bit more from left to right.
• If you don't care about traditional orchestral seating and sound, some libraries (like HZ strings) have very wide sections so that you can use Vlns either on the left, the right, or full left-right spread. Or, you can dynamically pan instrument sections for different parts of the music to fill out the space, but again this will not give the sense of traditional static orchestral seating. Up to you.

oepion said:

I've panned all the sections as required

Click to expand...

Your track seems to require a different panning. So that's what you should do. Pan the horns to the right. There is no rule that they have to be seated on the left. In many cases they are seated on the right. Check some examples here:

https://andrewhugill.com/OrchestraManual/seating.html

Sometimes the second violins are seated on the right too. Just research what orchestral seatings are common - there are many - and then go with the option that is best for your track.

Thanks @Tom_D and @muk for your advice. I don't really need to follow the traditional seating style and I hadn't realised there were actually so many variations of it that are deemed "acceptable". Doubling the violins line with instruments on the right is a bit difficult as they're playing ostinatos with the celli and basses providing the root / guiding tones of the chords but I'm gonna move my horns to the right instead of leaving them to the left as they're fighting a bit with the violins, that should make a big difference already! I thought this would be blasphemous to the trained ear but now I feel more comfortable doing it. Cheers!

Here are some things you might want to consider when it comes to panning stereo instruments, (some of which you may already be aware of....)

Pan pots were originally designed for panning mono signals, not stereo signals. In other words, when you pan a mono signal you're actually positioning the instrument in the stereo field, whereas when you pan a stereo track you're really just altering the balance of the left and right signals. Basically, when you start panning a stereo track you should think of a pan pot as a 'balancer'...

With acoustic stereo instruments that have a natural depth of field, this means that panning and depth are entangled, so panning orchestral instruments using a pan knob also alters its original perception of depth. (Depending on what you're trying to achieve this may not necessarily be a bad thing, with orchestral instruments however it's not ideal)...

Panning also shrinks that instruments spread in the stereo field. You should try a few other things 1st before resorting to using the pan pot on a stereo track. Here are some other options to try 1st...

1A. You can flip the stereo image of an instrument. I.e. if an instrument is panned left, flipping the image will move it to the right without shrinking the spread of the stereo image or altering the depth. This often does a fine job...

1B. One of the replies above talks about doubling instruments that naturally sit on the opposite side, here's another option related to that... You can double up an instrument using the same instrument from another library, then flipping the stereo image of the doubled copy. This will fill out both sides of the mix, instead of 'moving' it to the other side.

2. If panning is necessary there are two panning options you should try 1st...

2A. A panner that rotates the image instead of altering the balance of left and right. These types of panners progressively mono the instrument the more you pan them. Although this also 'shrinks' the stereo spread, depth information is retained if you're only making small adjustments... It also tends to sound more focused and precise than using a pan knob to alter the balance between L/R. Two examples of this kind of panner are: VSL's Powerpan plugin, and the *free* A1StereoControl.

2B. JD Factory PanBox. This is the way to go IMO, because it has an option that lefts you pan the mid channel. This means that the stereo spread isn't affected at all, and depth generally tends to stay intact...

Thanks @jcrosby for taking the time to explain all that. Actually a lot of it is new to me so it was very useful. It also made me realise I do have some balancer plugins, not the ones you have mentioned but they should be able to do the job too, I haven't even tried some of them since buying them so now I have a good excuse to do so. Cheers!