Panning

Question

Good mornin'
Okay, this is a question about panning. I am trying to produce some relatively severe panning effects with a guitar and I am using automation to pan from hard left to hard right. It does not sound right. I am still getting way to much signal in the opposite side. For example, even though I am panned hard left I still get signal in the right speaker, both on monitor and head phones. There is some audible shift but it seems more like a volume alteration than a pan.
I have read some for past questions regarding this. My set up is as follows, logic outputs to my Presonus Firestudio, L+R mains go to small monitors, they are hooked up properly. I also route signal to two PA speakers, via left and right inputs to on stereo channel on a mixer. Is my panning problem in my set up or is the case where I need to use the " directional mixer plug-in" which, to be honest I have not even noticed before. Is it a true plugin available through the plug-in menu?
Thanks for any help you can give. I would really like to get this panning issue resolved.

Answer 1

Your answer is in your original post and it lies with the use of the Directional Mixer plug-in, which, if I recall correctly, is available in the "Helper" section of the plug-ins.
The reason it sounds like a volume shift to you is because that is indeed what it is. On a stereo track in Logic, the pan knob is actually magically transformed into a balance knob. Strange but true. Mono, totally fine. Stereo, not so much. Slap that directional mixer plug-in on there and use that and you'll notice the golden difference.
There are also third-party plugs that work well for this, too, such as Free G from Sonalksis, but Logic's built-in Directional Mixer plug should do you just fine!