Panner

01 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

Establish the route before choosing the position

Pan distributes a signal within an existing channel system. Its position does not select the bus for you.

The Mixer has separate channel strips for tracks and busses. Before panning, establish what is on the source track, the destination bus format and where that bus goes next. A stereo bus remains stereo even if you open a spatial Panner view.

Check parallel paths as well. A Bus Send has its own On, Pre, Send Level and Pan controls; the direct-output and send results can differ. A reverb return or another bus can broaden the final scene after the source pan has already been chosen.

1. 1. Read the source

   Match clip mapping, track format and actual channel content. Two file channels are not necessarily a finished stereo pair.

2. 2. Confirm the bus

   Check Bus Outputs and the receiving format. For stereo practice, use a clear route into one stereo bus.

3. 3. Place the sound

   Set the Panner position and check the meters on the intended output path.

4. 4. Audition the entire path

   Restore sends and mix context. Compare the expected movement with actual monitoring.

Reference: Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / routing and pan automation · Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / 2D Panner

02 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

Open the 2D Panner and read its state

In the channel strip Pan section, the indicator lets you drag the position. Double-clicking opens the larger Panner window; the manual also describes a single click on the indicator for panning bypass. In the open window, Pan Enable controls whether panning is active. Bypass and resetting saved coordinates are different actions.

The control set depends on the source-audio mapping. The documented 2D view includes Left/Right, Front/Back, Rotate, Spread, Divergence and Boom. Read these in the context of the selected source; a label or a view switch alone does not prove that every channel of the desired format has already been routed.

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Panner · Resolve 21 interface

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Compare the Panner field with your project’s track and bus formats. Available controls depend on source mapping. To check LFE, open Boom and trace its actual path; placement in the field does not establish that send’s level.

Open original ↗

Reference: Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / 2D Panner

03 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

A mono source and a stereo pair raise different questions

A mono signal has one original waveform. Distributing it to L/R means choosing how much of that waveform reaches each output. A stereo pair already contains two components and a relationship between them; its position and width need to be judged together with the content of both channels.

The term balance often describes changing the ratio of existing L/R channels. That differs from distributing one mono feed to two sides. A native Panner’s exact algorithm cannot be determined from the word Pan or a centered knob alone; the numeric law in this lesson is defined only for the authored mono example.

Reference: Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / 2D Panner · Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / routing and pan automation · W3C — Web Audio / StereoPannerNode mono-input algorithm

04 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

Left/Right and Front/Back: positions within the format

Left/Right changes distribution between the left and right sides according to the speaker configuration. Front/Back addresses the front and rear of a surround format. If the final path is stereo, moving a control does not create separate rear channels in the file.

Establish a static position first, then audition it across a longer passage. For speech, evaluate clarity in context; for a specific sound effect, evaluate its relationship to the action. Choose hard pan when the scene calls for it, rather than simply because a pictured source reaches the edge of the frame.

Reference: Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / 2D Panner · W3C — Web Audio / StereoPannerNode mono-input algorithm

05 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

Spread and Divergence change different relationships

Spread describes the distance between sources in multichannel material. The Resolve 21 manual gives a scale from 1, labeled PNT, to 99, labeled FULL. Reducing Spread brings the component placement closer to a point; it does not promise a particular level, correlation or ready-made mono downmix.

Divergence spreads an individual feed into adjacent loudspeakers, making its placement less concentrated. The 2D interface represents the amount with growing green lines; its 2D button changes these indicators into circles. Change one parameter at a time to understand why the scene changes.

Reference: Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / 2D Panner

06 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

Rotate and Boom: rotating the scene and feeding LFE

Rotate moves the source or multiple sources around the listener position in the field. With a wide recording, this is a decision about the placement of the component group. After rotation, recheck the front, rear and picture relationship, especially if Spread was changed first.

Boom controls the send level to the LFE part of the mix. In the documented 2D block, On enables this output and Pre makes it pre-fader. Avoid treating an LFE send as a universal “more bass” control: first establish the required LFE path in the brief, bus and monitoring.

Reference: Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / 2D Panner · Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / routing and pan automation

07 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

Lab: one signal, two coefficients

Make the algorithm explicit and inspect simple mono-to-stereo rules.

The example specifies a mono-source peak, a position and one of two mathematical laws. It calculates amplitude coefficients, L/R peaks, the squared coefficient sum and a local mono average. The equal-power equation comes from the open W3C mono algorithm; a linear alternative is provided as a simple comparison.

Center reference temporarily applies 0% while retaining entered settings. This is an authored reference, not a copy of native Pan Enable. Diagram focus does not change the calculation. Switch laws at the same input and position to compare the distribution itself.

Reference: W3C — Web Audio / StereoPannerNode mono-input algorithm · Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / 2D Panner

08 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

Two laws: preserving squares or preserving the sum

For normalized position p from −1 to +1, define x = (p + 1)/2. Equal-power uses gL = cos(xπ/2), gR = sin(xπ/2), so gL² + gR² = 1 at every pan position. The linear alternative uses gL = 1 − x and gR = x, preserving a different quantity: gL + gR = 1.

A coefficient applies to amplitude. Its level is calculated as 20 log10(g). At center, each equal-power output is approximately 3.01 dB below the source; each linear output is approximately 6.02 dB below it. At an edge, the coefficients are 1 and 0; a zero output is shown as −∞, rather than being replaced by a nominal −60 dBFS.

Reference: W3C — Web Audio / StereoPannerNode mono-input algorithm · Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / 2D Panner

09 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

Check mono with a known summing rule

In the Lab, both outputs are synchronized copies of one signal with positive coefficients. For this lesson, mono = (L + R)/2. At either edge this retains half the source amplitude; at equal-power center it retains 1/√2 of the source amplitude. The center of this mono average is therefore 3.01 dB above either edge. With the linear law, the average remains half the source amplitude at every position.

A real stereo recording can contain different signals, delays and polarities. Even a simple pair L = −R becomes zero under the chosen average. Our mono source does not model that behavior. Check the actual material and agreed downmix method; investigate level changes or disappearing elements before delivery.

1. Keep an original stereo reference

   Listen on a verified L/R path and note the main elements and their balance.

2. Establish how mono is produced

   Check coefficients, routing and monitoring level. Do not assume that every Mono label means identical summing.

3. Compare the elements

   Assess speech, central effects and details of a wide recording. Account for level differences in the comparison.

Reference: W3C — Web Audio / StereoPannerNode mono-input algorithm · Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / routing and pan automation

10 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

Create movement and verify its return

Fairlight can draw track automation and record control movement during playback. Panning is among the automatable parameters. Toggle Automation enables track automation recording and playback and is required for drawing or recording it; inspect static setup and time-varying movement separately.

For an effect crossing the frame, first choose the start and end positions and audition them through the actual output. Then draw or record the transition. IntelliTrack Audio Panning to Video can create pan automation from people or objects moving in the viewer; its resulting trajectory still needs listening review and checks around edit boundaries.

1. Prepare the track and range

   Select the intended track and passage. Confirm the route and static pan before recording.

2. Create the pan change

   Draw the parameter in its lane, or record control movement with appropriate automation settings.

3. Play back without recording again

   Check before, during and after the passage. Make sure existing data does not restore an unexpected position.

Reference: Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / routing and pan automation

11 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

When the result does not match the dot

The Panner marker is only part of the signal path. Locate the stage at which the result differs from your expectation: source channels, track processing, bus assignment, send, summing or monitoring. Use a short, understandable source for diagnosis and inspect one route at a time.

Restore the working context after the local check. An isolated track can have the intended pan while the overall scene is wider because of returns, duplicates or other sources. Avoid compensating for an unknown route with increasingly extreme pan settings.

Reference: Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / 2D Panner · Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / routing and pan automation

12 / UNDERSTAND & APPLY

Lock the scene before final output

After panning, inspect the full final bus: balance, movement, edit transitions and the required channel-format versions. Include the chosen sends and returns in that review. Delivery depends on reproducing the same scene through the exported route, not just seeing the expected dot in the Mixer.

If you need rear, height or object placement, continue to Surround / Immersive. Blackmagic separately describes immersive 3D audio, spatial automation, Space View and B-Chain as a Resolve Studio workflow. Align project format, renderer and monitoring before judging movement in 3D.

Reference: Blackmagic Design — Resolve 21 Reference Manual / routing and pan automation · Blackmagic Design — Fairlight / Interactive 3D Spatial Panning

FAQ / BEFORE THE NEXT MOVE

Questions that matter in practice