DAWs have pan knobs for both mono and stereo tracks. For mono tracks, all pan knobs work the same way. We twist the knob to the left, the sound comes from the left speaker; we twist it to the right, sound comes from the right speaker. Of course, it is also possible to position a sound somewhere between the centre and the left speaker or the right speaker.

When it comes to stereo tracks, however, it's a different story... Some DAWs provide stereo pan control, whereas others offer stereo balance adjustment. So, what's the difference between stereo pan and stereo balance?

Stereo Pan

The "real" stereo pan control gives us the capability to place the left and the right channels of the stereo track to any position we want in the stereo panorama, independent from one another.

To be able to do real stereo panning, we need to have two pan pots in the stereo track; one for the left and the other for the right channel.

Some DAWs, such as Pro Tools, give us this capability as a default. To the left is a screenshot from Pro Tools. The stereo track has two pan controls and these controls are independent of one another.

In the example to the right, we can pan the left channel of the stereo track almost hard left (89 out of 100) and the right channel to a point between the centre and the right speaker (48 out of 100).

As another example to the left, we can pan the left and right channels to 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions, respectively (37 out of 100 in each direction).

The real stereo pan control gives us a lot of flexibility. We can take two similar instruments, two synths. In this example to the left, we have panned the first synth's left and right channels to 8 o'clock and 11 o'clock positions, and then pan the second synth's left and right channels to 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock positions.

We can even flip the positions of the left and right channels!

Stereo Balance

In some DAWs, by default, there is only one pan control for stereo tracks. This pan control is used for stereo balance adjustment, not for "real" stereo panning.

There is this important point that we should know about stereo balance. Unlike stereo pan, stereo balance control does not change the positions of the left and right channels in the stereo panorama. It just changes the level of the channels.

For instance, with stereo balance control, when we twist the pan pot to the left, the level of the right channel is attenuated. If we turn it all the way to the left, the left channel plays back as normal but the right channel is cut. If we do the opposite, if we twist the pan pot fully to the right, the right channel plays back but the left channel is cut.

Just As a Quick Recap...

In "real" stereo pan control, the levels of the left and right channels do not change; only their positions in the stereo panorama change.

In stereo balance adjustment, the levels of the left and right channels (and consequently their relationship to each other, level-wise) change; their positions in the stereo panorama do not change.

A Final Word, About Their Usage

Both stereo pan control and stereo balance adjustment have their uses so it would not be correct to suggest that one is better than the other. However, personally, I think that the "real" stereo pan control offers much more flexibility in the mix.

Not all DAWs have stereo pan control by default but some of them (such as Logic Pro, Studio One, and Cubase, for example) offer it either as an option or via a stock plug-in.