Audacity How to PAN from LEFT to RIGHT, Create a Panning Effect that Actually Sounds Good

[@hollybigelow5337]

Thanks for the heads up! I'm playing with the Tremolo option. You are right about setting one curve at 0 and the other at 180. Depending on how you want the panning to work, you can actually start at any point in the curve as long as the degrees are 180 apart to make sure the sine curves are exact opposites of each other. So, for example, you could do -90 and 90 degrees and get the same effect. The big question is at the start do you want it equally balanced or do you want it starting 100% in one ear, or do you want it somewhere in the middle. For those who have taken Trig, just remember that sin(0) = 0, sin(90)=1, sin(-90)=-1, sin(180)=0. Basically, the sound will follow a sin curve, and if you have two sin curves moving together and exactly offsetting each other they will always add to the same amount, so the total sound will remain constant, but the sound will be moving in strength between the two ears. If they are in the "wrong" ears you could change the degrees, but you could also just change which of the two tracks is left and which is right.
Anyway, I'm sure that's way more than most people wanted to know. The point is after setting the degrees, if you want this effect to work you really need to take the Wet setting all the way up to 100%. Also, the default Frequency is 4 Hz. That's really fast. This is where you need to figure out how fast you want the sound moving back and forth, but just to give an idea at 0.004 it will take roughly 2 minutes to move from one ear to the other - which is half-way through a cycle. At 0.04 it takes closer to 12 seconds to do that. If you want to play with the frequency, I suggest doing it on a solid tone first so you can get a clear idea of what the pattern will look like time-wise and then move to the real track.
Also, I have no idea where I got them. I regularly am adding extra Audacity plug-in packages. But I did discover I have a Crossfade Tracks Effect as well as Crossfade Clips and Adjustable Fade. You may want to check those out as well.

[@hollybigelow5337]

I should point out, every single version still involves creating two copies of the track and setting one left and one right as the beginning steps.

[@jamie.miller.inspiring]

Thank you so much, between your comment and the video I managed to get the effect I was looking for with Tremolo :)

[@pirimi]

thank you SO much for this!! I've been looking for a tutorial on this and this is the first one I've seen and it's incredibly helpful!!

[@humbleraider6343]

Thank you very much! I need this.

[@Rightchickenwing]

Oh cool I didn't know about the envelope trick. Have you got any advice for panning multiple guitar tracks? I've got two rhythm guitars one left one right but wanting to do lots of layers for solos, is it just a case of doing incrementally far left, 20%, 40% in from centre etc?

[@romeoinasecretland9692]

Thanks from Mauritius....
Actually I always fade in and fade out but now I can do the left to right transition. Thnx for your Tutorial... .
Greetings
Romeo

[@joakimerbest3635]

Oh, this is so much easier... I've been manually cutting the file into like 15 pieces and panning them manually... (Only today did I realize it can lead to choppy audio.)
Thank you :) Gonna save me some time.

[@lisalegrand2186]

That happened to me!

[@gregorysolman7404]

I had come to think that one could only pan for the purposes of monitoring; selecting an area to pan left or right was not a change that could be saved. Now I can see the trick is to split the stereo track into mono tracks so that at least one instrument is not permanently left or right. When one splits the tracks they each are default center, and then can be panned individually. Thanks for explaining what the manual does not make clear!

[@d.s.randol6436]

THIS IS SO CLEVER -- awesome tutorial thank you!!! super helpful

[@Xalthir]

Sick tutorial, to the point, I appreciate it!

[@meuk336]

Why can't we simply automate the panning knob to create the same effect?

[@self_taught_cleveland_artist]

Thank you so much! I knew there must be some way to do that!

[@MM-jr5sr]

I have exporten to wav but when I listen to it with VLC and Window's medieplayer, 1 sound of a tram does not go from left to right and the seabirds are not on my right side?

[@CoasterMan13Official]

I was listening to the cars' Moving In Stereo that made me want to learn this.

[@Zombie1446]

Thanks! Really clear and helpful :)

[@FallenVixen93]

I trust anything made on my birthday

[@lisalegrand2186]

Thank you! I want my audio to alternate between left and right and meet in the middle.

[@Frickkenn]

Me too

[@nylonguitar]

Thanks! Really good stuff.

[@callme_aran]

Is there any apps on phone like this?

[@djlune]

But what if I want a selective section on my track to pan is it possible or it's just going to pan the whole track?

[@anhnhvn]

The Span effect is applied to the whole track. So you need to separate the track into 2 or more parts.

[@djlune]

@anhnhvn I think I know what you're talking about..... thats gonna take a lot work copying and pasting 😫

[@jakestone5377]

Can you use 2 🎤 while recording?

[@djsaverkill9392]

Exists any panning plug in???

[@lisalegrand2186]

I have a clip that's a few seconds long, about 10. I cut it into pieces and made each one either right or left - in increments.
I wanted the clips to meet in the middle. It worked! But it sounds choppy.

[@giovannigiorgio2262]

thank u

[@FellDestroyedMusic]

woo hoo yippee :)

[@AdrianoCesardeOliveira-l6c]

Gratitude!

[@edena.1055]

hello there, are you available for help? I need help with mixing in audacity.

[@srdread7844]

I´m ready to make some Eateot tracks