Chapter 33: Surround Panning and

Mixing

This chapter explains how to pan and mix in surround with Pro Tools.

Before you can pan a track in surround, it must be assigned to an appropriate multichannel output or bus path.

The I/O Setup dialog defines the bussing and output architecture of the Pro Tools multichannel surround mixer. If you have not already done so, it is recommended that you become familiar with main and sub-paths and the

I/O Setup dialog before starting multichannel

Pro Tools projects.

See Chapter 31, “Pro Tools Setup for Surround” for more information on multichan-

nel configurations and I/O Setup options.

For multichannel signal routing, see

Chapter 32, “Multichannel Tracks and

Signal Routing.”

Introduction to Pro Tools

Surround Panning

There are four different track panning methods available:

• In the Edit window, using the reduced-height

Panner Grid in the I/O View

• In the Mix window, using the reduced-height

Panner Grid

• In the Output window, using the full-size

Panner Grid

• Through pan automation editing

Control surfaces provide additional panning options. Refer to the documentation for your control surface for more information.

Mix and Edit Window Panner Grids

In the Mix and Edit window, multichannel Panner Grids are displayed on tracks that have multichannel track or send output assignments.

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To pan from the Mix or Edit window:

1 For Pro Tools 5.x, make sure I/O View is being shown for the Mix or Edit windows (Display >

Mix/Edit Window Shows > I/O View).

2 Begin playback.

3 Click and drag on the appropriate multichannel track’s Panner Grid in the Mix or Edit windows.

Click and drag to pan

Panning in the Track Grid

The pan cursor follows your movements as long as you hold down the mouse button. Movements are scaled so that, once you click to

“grab” the pan cursor, you do not need to limit your movements to the small Track Grid area.

Pan Cursor Color while Automating

The pan cursor is green when the track is in Automation Read mode, red in an Automation

Write mode, and yellow in Trim mode.

Output windows provide additional features and controls (and a much larger Grid). For de-

tails, see “Output Window” on page 526.

Output Window

Output windows provide panning controls

(called panners), as well as standard Pro Tools controls, for tracks of all mix formats (from 3channel LCR through 8-channel 7.1).

For information on Output window standard

controls, see “Standard Controls” on page 527.

For information on Output window panning

controls, see “Surround Panner Controls” on page 528.

Some of the features of Output windows include:

• X/Y (joystick-style) panning

• 3-Knob panning

• Full Divergence and Center Percentage control

• LFE feed

• Multichannel meters

• Pro Tools Target window support

Multiple panners can be opened simultaneously, or a single window can display the current panner.

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To open an Output window:

■

Click the Output icon in the track in the Mix or Edit window (I/O View).

Standard Controls

All Output windows provide standard Pro Tools controls for routing, path assignment and other track features. These controls are located at the top of all Output, Send, Insert, and Plug-In windows. Some controls are specific to the type of window.

Show meters

Track Selector

Path Selector

Output Selector Automation Safe

Target icon

Opening a multichannel Output window

For instructions on managing multiple Out-

put windows, see “Output Windows for

Tracks and Sends” on page 418.

Panner Control Section

For details on these standard features, see

“Standard Selector Controls in Output

Windows” on page 421.

Track Fader, Solo, Mute, and Auto

All Output windows provide track volume and mute controls. You can adjust and automate track volume, or mute, directly using these controls. The larger fader and mute button are equivalent to those in the Pro Tools Mix window.

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Surround Panner Controls

When assigned to tracks or paths with four or more channels, the Output window provides an X/Y

Grid for surround panning. The speakers associated with the panner’s multichannel format are displayed in their relative positions outside the Panner Grid.

This section identifies all the controls and features found in Pro Tools multichannel panners.

Click to show meters

LFE fader

Pan Cursor

LFE fader

X/Y Grid

Track fader and meter

Panning modes

Position

(knob panners)

Divergence

Figure 46. Output window with a 5.1-format multichannel panner

Center %

Track Automation.

Solo, and Mute

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The X/Y Grid and Pan Cursor

The X/Y Grid is where multichannel panning information is input and displayed. You can input pan information using X/Y mode, 3-Knob mode, or by entering numeric values in the Position data fields. You can also edit pan automation graphically in the Edit window.

Panning Mode Buttons

The Panning Mode buttons, located below the

X/Y Grid, provide access to panning modes and

Divergence editing. See “Panning Modes” on page 530.

X/Y Mode, Divergence Editing, and 3-Knob Mode buttons

Position Controls

The Position controls let you set the positions of the panner.

Panning Grid and pan cursor

Multichannel panners default to X/Y mode. In

X/Y mode, the track’s current pan position is represented by a green dot. This dot is the pan cursor, and its color indicates track automation status using standard Pro Tools colors:

Green The track is in Auto Read mode.

Red The track is in Automation Write, Touch or

Latch mode.

Yellow The track is in Automation Trim or Auto

Off mode.

Position and Center % controls

Front Displays and controls the current front Xaxis (left/right) position of the panner.

Rear Displays and controls the current rear Xaxis (left/right) position of the panner. In default X/Y Panning mode, Rear is linked to Front position and cannot be controlled independently.

F/R (Front/Rear) Displays and controls the current Y-axis position of the panner.

Center % Control

Center % controls how much of the signal is routed to the center speaker. This lets you mix a track to the front with a phantom center (0%

Center value) or to three-channel (LCR) when panning front.

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Divergence Controls

Divergence determines the width of the panned signal with respect to neighboring speakers. (For

more information, see “Divergence” on page 503.) There are three Divergence controls

Panning Modes

Pro Tools supports X/Y and 3-Knob Panning modes. Both can be automated.

X/Y Mode Joystick-style panning by dragging the pan cursor within the X/Y Speaker Grid.

3-Knob Mode Point-to-point panning, between

pairs of speakers. See “3-Knob Panning” on page 532 for more information.

Divergence controls

Front, Rear, and F/R Divergence Provide separate, automatable divergence control over front speakers, rear speakers, and between front/rear, respectively.

For examples of how divergence settings af-

fect output panning, see “Divergence and

Center Percentage” on page 533.

LFE Fader

The LFE fader is only available in “.1” surround formats (5.1, 6.1, and 7.1).

X/Y Panning

To pan in X/Y mode:

1 Click the X/Y Mode button.

X/Y mode

LFE fader

The LFE fader determines how much of the current track’s signal will be routed to the LFE channel. LFE faders in Track and Send windows can follow groups. The Pro Tools LFE channel is always full-bandwidth. For more information

on how to use the LFE fader, see “LFE Faders in

Multichannel Panners” on page 533.

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2 Drag the pan cursor, or click anywhere in the

Grid and drag to pan the track. The location of the pan cursor determines the pan position of the signal. For example, to pan something to the left rear speaker, move the pan cursor to the lower-left corner of the Grid.

It is not necessary to click exactly on the pan cursor. Clicking anywhere in the Grid will move the pan cursor relative to where you click or take over with a hardware panner.

Panning does not jump to the click position.

Grid Options and Shortcuts

Fine-Adjust Mode Hold down the Control key

(Windows) or Command key (Macintosh) for fine adjustment of all Panner controls.

Constraining to X or Y Movement Shift-drag the pan cursor dot to constrain its movement to the

X or Y direction.

Reset to Default Alt-click (Windows) or Optionclick (Macintosh) in the Panner Grid to reset all controls to their default position.

Snap To a Speaker in the Grid Click a speaker icon to force the panner to that speaker location.

Display Automation in Edit Window Control-

Start-click (Windows) or Command-Controlclick (Macintosh) a control to display that control’s playlist in the Edit window.

All pan controls can be automated, including pan position and divergence. See

Chapter 28, “Automation” for details.

X/Y Panning

To snap the pan cursor to a location in the Grid:

■

Hold down the Control key and click anywhere in the X/Y Grid.

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3-Knob Panning

Pro Tools provides 3-Knob mode as an additional way to input pan moves.

3-Knob mode lets you:

• Pan in straight lines, moving the pan cursor using the Position rotary knobs with full movement of front, rear, and front-rear position.

– and –

• Pan discretely between pairs of speakers.

3-Knob mode lets you pan discretely between speakers. For example, when panning front-left to rear-right in 3-Knob mode, audio will be heard from just those two speakers (assuming full divergence is in effect).

By comparison, in X/Y mode a diagonal pan may result in audio being heard in some or all channels.

X/Y pan position meters

3-Knob trajectory meters

X/Y mode

Panning and metering in X/Y mode

The difference is that 3-Knob mode pans discretely between the front and rear position of the panning trajectory, while X/Y mode panning takes place in the full 360° Panning Grid. Divergence and Center Percentage are variable in both Panning modes.

To enable 3-Knob Panning mode:

■

Click the 3-Knob mode icon.

3-Knob mode

Panning and metering in 3-Knob mode

3-Knob mode

The panner trajectory line appears across the

Grid, extending from the front (X-axis) to the rear (Y-axis).

To pan in 3-Knob mode:

1 Adjust the Front and Rear Position knobs to set the trajectory line.

2 Rotate the Front/Rear Position knob to pan along the trajectory. The Pan Cursor is constrained to the white trajectory line.

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To change the 3-Knob trajectory angles:

■

Drag either endpoint (Front or Rear) of the trajectory line.

– or –

■

Adjust the Front or Rear Position controls.

To change the current trajectory position (left-toright) and retain its current angles:

■

Drag the trajectory line (not its endpoints) to a new position.

LFE Enable

Some multichannel plug-ins, including the

DigiRack multichannel Compressor, provide

LFE Enable. This lets you enable or bypass processing of the LFE channel if present.

LFE Faders in Multichannel

Panners

The LFE fader controls how much of the track is sent to LFE. LFE faders are only available when a track is assigned to a path whose format supports LFE (5.1, 6.1, or 7.1).

To mix to the LFE channel:

■

Adjust the LFE fader in any “.1” surround format Output window.

For general information about LFE, sub channels, and related topics, see

Chapter 30, “Surround Concepts.”

LFE and Groups

Track and send LFE faders can follow Mix and

Edit Groups by enabling this feature in the Automation window of the Preferences dialog. See

“Automation Preferences” on page 456 for more

information.

LFE Enable in multichannel compressor

To process the LFE channel in a multichannel plugin:

■

Click to enable LFE Enable in supporting multichannel plug-ins. LFE Enable is highlighted when LFE processing is enabled, and unhighlighted when LFE processing is bypassed.

Divergence and Center

Percentage

The Divergence and Center Percentage controls range from 0 to 100, and can be automated.

They are especially useful for ensuring audibility and coverage in large venues, and to increase clarity of voices.

Front Divergence Controls divergence between front speakers (X-axis only).

Rear Divergence Controls divergence between the rear speakers (X-axis only).

Front/Rear Divergence Controls divergence between front and rear (the Y-axis).

Center % (Percentage) Determines whether there is a discrete center image, a completely

phantom center image, or a variable amount in between.

LFEs Follow Groups preference

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Divergence

In the Panner Grid, the current divergence values are displayed using a purple outline.

Lower divergence settings result in a progressively wider source signal. When Divergence is less than 100%, tracks will be routed to neighboring speakers to some degree, even when the pan cursor is positioned next to a single speaker.

Pan position

Divergence display meters

Divergence controls

Divergence display and controls

By default, Pro Tools surround panners are

100% or fully divergent, meaning that a signal that is panned completely to one speaker will only be audible in that speaker.

Pan position

Front

Divergence

Front Divergence at 0% for widest panning (note meters showing signal in all three front speakers)

To adjust divergence:

■

Adjust the Front, Rear, and Front/Rear Divergence controls as necessary.

To adjust divergence graphically:

1 Click the Divergence icon.

2 Drag in the Grid to resize the divergence boundaries. meters

Divergence icon

Full divergence for discrete panning to front, left

(meters show signal only in front, left)

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Center % (Percentage)

Center Percentage controls whether there is a discrete center channel for the track or a phantom center channel.

Center Percentage Example

In film and video production, the center channel often contains dialog. To enhance the clarity of dialog, it is often beneficial to keep elements such as music out of the center speaker. By reducing the Center Percentage on music tracks, music panned to the front of the soundfield can be panned to only the left and right speakers, forcing them to have a variable phantom center image.

To adjust Center Percentage:

■

Adjust the Center Percentage knob as appropriate.

As you reduce the Center Percentage value, the center speaker icon at the top of the Grid becomes less visible. At 0, the center speaker icon is completely invisible, reflecting the setting for fully phantom center.

Pan position meters

Center %

Discrete center (Center Percentage at 100)

Pan position

Center speaker less visible

Pan Playlists and Automation

Multichannel panners have an automation playlist for each position and divergence control.

Panning Does Not Follow Groups

Unlike mute and volume breakpoint editing, pan automation does not follow Edit Groups by default. To force pan automation editing to follow groups, you can hold down the Start key

(Windows) or Control (Macintosh) while editing automation breakpoints on a member track.

This feature applies to all seven types of pan controls (front, rear, and front/rear pan position, front divergence, rear divergence, front/rear divergence, and center percentage). meters

Center %

Phantom center (Center Percentage at 0)

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SurroundScope Metering

Plug-In

The SurroundScope Metering plug-in provides a

360° meter for metering multichannel paths during mixing.

5.1 Format Track Layouts

All 5.1-format meters (including those displayed in the SurroundScope meter, on tracks, and in

Output windows and their Meter Views) are always arranged in the following order:

L C R Ls Rs LFE

For more information on Pro Tools meter-

ing, see “5.1 Tracks, Formats, Mapping, and Metering” on page 511.

To use the SurroundScope Metering Plug-In:

■

On a multichannel Master Fader, click an Insert button and select the SurroundScope multichannel Meter plug-in.

SurroundScope metering plug-in

SurroundScope has no adjustable controls, but displays output levels in both a 360° Grid, and in traditional LED meters.

Refer to the Digidesign Plug-Ins Guide, for details on SurroundScope.

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