Use the Binaural Panner knob in Logic Pro

The Binaural Panner knob is available when Surround is selected in Logic Pro > Preferences > Advanced.

By setting the channel strip’s panning mode to Binaural, you can use the Binaural Panner knob to position the signals on the panning plane. The signal that results from using the Binaural Panner knob is best suited for headphone playback. You can, however, process the Binaural output using the Binaural Post-Processing plug-in, which allows you to play back the binaural panning effect through loudspeakers.

You set the channel strip panning mode to Binaural as described in Select a panning mode for a channel strip.

You can control the panning effect directly on the channel strip by using the Binaural Panner knob to position the panning pucks on the panning plane. You can also access the Binaural panning pucks and even more Binaural panning parameters in the Binaural window. These are the window’s main elements:

Angle, Elevation, Distance: Information fields that adjust automatically when changes are made to the puck positions.
Spread: Information field that adjusts automatically when changes are made to the puck positions. You can also interact directly with it by dragging its numerical value. (Making changes here also affects the left and right puck positions.)
Panning plane: Area for positioning the signals—using the pucks—in the stereo image.
Pucks: Used for positioning the signals on the panning plane—pan and direction.
Mode pop-up menu: Determines the virtual shape of the panning plane, which can be planar or spherical.
Mode image: Represents the resulting position of the audio signal in the panning plane. In Planar mode you can adjust the Vertical Offset, Tilt Amount, and Tilt Direction by clicking the green dot and dragging the pointer.
Vertical Offset, Tilt Amount, Tilt Direction: Information fields that are present only when Planar mode is selected. They adjust automatically when changes are made to the Mode image.
Doppler button: Turns on or off the Doppler effect—a change in the pitch of a signal perceived by a person who is moving relative to the source of the signal.
Size field and slider: Determines the size of the plane or sphere, expressed as the radius of the circular plane.
Extended parameters: Click the disclosure arrow to reveal additional parameters for headphone playback and Planar mode.

Adjust a channel strip’s Binaural Panner knob

You can make basic adjustments to the binaural panning field using the channel strip Binaural knob.

In Logic Pro, do the following:

Drag the center puck in the panning plane to adjust the position of the signal.
Option-click in the panning plane to reset the center puck to center front position and the spread to 90˚.
Drag the spread in the panning field to adjust its pan position.

Open the Binaural Panner window

In Logic Pro, command-click the channel strip’s Binaural knob, then choose Binaural from the pop-up menu.
The Binaural Panner control replaces the Pan knob.
Double-click the Binaural Panner control to open the Binaural Panner.

Control the binaural panning position

In Logic Pro, drag the left or right puck (panning pucks) to make the stereo image wider or narrower.
The pucks also work on a second axis—up and down—relative to the third puck.
Drag the third puck (the direction puck) to determine the forward and backward direction.
As you adjust the direction puck, the two panning pucks move accordingly. The Angle, Elevation, Distance, and Spread values also change.
Select the Mode (virtual shape) of the panning plane:
- If set to Planar, the panning results are shown on a flat circular plane.
- If set to Spherical, the results are placed on a virtual sphere. If it helps, imagine the sphere as a virtual head. When the direction puck is placed in the top half of the circular plane, the sound is in front of the listener. As the direction puck is moved toward the lower half of the plane, the sound passes up, and over your head, and ends up behind the listener.
Set the size of the plane or sphere by doing one of the following:
- Drag the Size slider.
- Double-click the Size field, then enter a new value.
- Option-click the Size field to reset it to its default value (1.50m).
Click the Doppler button to turn on or off the Doppler effect.
Select the Diffuse-Field Compensation checkbox in the Extended Parameters area to ensure a neutral sound for headphone playback, utilizing diffuse-field compensation.
Note: When using multiple Binaural Panners on several channel strips, turn this option off and route the output of the Binaural Panners to an aux channel strip, in which you insert the Binaural Post-Processing plug-in. The Binaural Post-Processing plug-in allows you to apply diffuse-field compensation to all Binaural Panner outputs at once, saving CPU power.
If in Planar mode, drag the Mode image to control the vertical offset and tilt of the circular plane.

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