My piano sounds like it's panned right, but it's centered!

[Bobcat]

This is very strange. I first thought that my drums (of which some are panned left) might take some room and that the piano (which is a wide stereo) might not have the space there. See what I mean? So it doesn't go as much on the left as it could and therefore sounds like if it was panned right. But then I checked it solo and it still sounds like it's panned a bit on the right. Thought it was maybe my ears, but no... took the headphones the other way round. What the hell is that?

It is a channel with:

- Channel EQ
- Compression
- Autofilter

It uses an in-built Reverb (from the plug-in of the piano itself).

Plus, it sends to two busses which have:

- Chorus
- Channel EQ

and:

- Reverb (again!)
- Channel EQ

I thought it was maybe the chorus so I removed it to see. And guess what? Nothing.

I'm listening now again and it's not really like it's panned right - it's more like my ear wants to go in the right corner of the headphone and it makes the piano sound like it was on the right. I don't know why it wants to go on the right, it's like there is something there which attracts my ear.

Also, it doesn't sound like it's going on the right, but more like if it was COMING from the right.

I've made a picture.

It's not like this:



But it's more like this:



And it should be like this:



Anyone know what the heck that is? Or is that just in my mind? Especially in the mix I hear it very clearly and it's very annoying...

[L_Houdini]

real quick evaluation, go through that signal flow u just described above, solo the track and bypass each effect one by one see if they make a difference. by piano, you mean vst/au, sample, or live recording? if it's through a vst/au, check those parameters as well. the chorusing could be the issue. post a sample if you want, I'll give it a hear, but come back after you tried what I just wrote.

[tharealphaze]

sometimes this happens to me when there is a lot of noise going on on one side, and i will only hear certain instruments on the other side.

[Bobcat]

Yeah I already tried bypassing all effects, also in the VST itself (so yes - it's a VST by the way). I thought aswell that it was maybe because there's some other noise on the left (drums), but even when I mute them it still sounds like that.

I've uploaded it here yesterday for another thread: Example by Manoel M on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Well maybe I'm so obsessed with it that I actually think it sounds like it's at the right, but in reality, it doesn't.

[moses]

You can also pass the signal through an M/S converter and listen to the S signal only. If centered, your piano should not appear in this signal, only reverb noise (in case its a stereo reverb). If it appears in the S signal, you can be sure that the piano is panned somehow.

[Foggy]

Do some pianos have a little progressive panning proportional to the pitch of the note played ?
Can't remember where I got that info from ..... dusty old brain of mine !
Not sure !

[moses]

it depends, but pianos are usually recorded with several mics. All of the better piano sample-patches are stereo too

[Bobcat]

I'd say it's one of the "better" ones (Refx Nexus) so it should sound correctly.

You can also pass the signal through an M/S converter and listen to the S signal only. If centered, your piano should not appear in this signal, only reverb noise (in case its a stereo reverb). If it appears in the S signal, you can be sure that the piano is panned somehow.

Where exactly would I get such an M/S converter? Can't seem to find anything, is it available as a virtual plug-in? Because that sounds like a good idea.

[moses]

you can do side check manually. Clone your stereo track and do the following:

Track 1:

[L][R] -> pass to output

Track 2 (clone):

[L][R] -> flip sides (pan left full right and right full left) -> phase invert -> pass to output


your output will now only contain the stereo information, the "S" part of M/S.


anyway, it seems your virtual piano is stereo.

[Bobcat]

I'll have to find out how to do that first. I know I can flip the sides with the Logic gain plug-in, but I'd have to split left and right first?

Yes the piano is definitely stereo!