: Recording

Pan Pot.m4v

When mono signals are mixed in stereo, as is typically done in most audio mixes, the signals can be positioned not only in the left, center, or right, but also anywhere in between. This is done by using a pan pot or pan slider. The pan pot, short for panoramic potentiometer, was invented by John Hawkins and Bill Garity, when they were creating the Fanasound system for Disney’s Fantasia in 1939. They wanted to be able to position the sound for the first ever stereo mix. Today, pan pots are useful for directing and also dynamically moving sounds fom left to right and throughout the room in surround mix. On physical consoles these surround panners are joysticks that resemble video game controllers. On virtual consoles, like digital audio workstations, surround panners can be controlled by a mouse or by a control surface with a joystick. In any case, pan pots position the sound, and also create dramatic effects as a sound moves from point-to-point in the mix.