Panning Issue with AC Guitar Buss

[musikman1]

Hi,  My usual routing for most projects is routing each instrument to its matched sub buss, so all drum tracks route to the drum buss, all the acoustic guitar tracks all route to the acoustic Gtr buss, etc....and each buss is routed to the Master buss/channel

I recently recorded 2 Acoustic guitar tracks (mono), and want to pan them one left and the other right.   The AC Gtr buss pan knob is set to center.  This is usually how I set it up and it usually works fine if I want to pan the individual tracks left or right. 

This time when I tried to pan full 100% left on the first AC gtr track the track meter shows only full signal on the left and no signal on the right(as it should),  but I noticed it didn't sound panned, it just sounds like the volume gets lower and I'm still hearing signal through the right side too.  The meter on the AC Gtr Buss, however, does show both L & R sides getting full signal, even with the individual track panned hard left.  This has never happened to me before, there must be some logical explanation, I just haven't hit on it yet. 

If I try routing that same individual AC Guitar track direct to the Master instead of the AC Guitar buss, it pans fine that way, it's only messed up when I route it to the AC Gtr buss. 

All my other instrument tracks in the same project that are routed to subs pan fine.   I do have effects in the AC Gtr buss, will check those, but I haven't had an issue with FX in subs before, we'll see.

Edited March 10, 2022 by musikman1

[musikman1]

UPDATE: Ok, narrowing things down... I just tried turning off the FX in the FX bin in the AC Guitar Buss, and the panning now works fine.  This is still kinda unusual though because I've never had this issue before, even with FX stacked in the Buss channel.  After reading another similar thread I had checked the interleave switch and that was fine.

I know some FX have the ability to be added as either stereo or mono, and some even have a mono/stereo setting. 

UPDATE:  I have 3 FX in that buss channel, and I started turning them off one at a time with the AC Guitar track panned hard left, and I've narrowed it down to one particular reverb FX causing the issue, not sure why yet though, but it is the last one in the chain, so...

Edited March 10, 2022 by musikman1

[martsave martin s]

could it be a mono verb?

 

[John Vere]

This is why you should put certain effects like reverb  on the buss. 
There’s lots of options on how you approach adding effects and stereo imagery in your mix. You just need to grasp the signal flow and understand it completely. 

Edited March 10, 2022 by John Vere

[musikman1]

It was the reverb. This plug can be inserted as either Stereo, Mono, or Mono/Stereo.  I had it in there as Mono/Stereo, figuring I'd be fine, which I was, until I tried panning the tracks. I removed it and re-inserted it as a Stereo plug and all is well now, works fine.  It kinda threw me cuz I usually don't use this particular plug very often, so from now on I'll know to add it as a Stereo plug whenever possible.  Live and learn!

12 hours ago, John Vere said:

This is why you should put certain effects like reverb  on the buss. 

John, I do have the effects on the AC Guitar sub buss, which is how I usually do it....did you mean I should add reverb FX to the Master buss instead?  You just said "buss", please clarify. Thanks!

Edited March 11, 2022 by musikman1

[John Vere]

There’s no right or wrong way and for reverb I prefer to create a reverb buss and then use sends from tracks to share the same reverb. Long time ago I was taught to use one global reverb to eliminate creating mud in a mix. It puts your music in a “space” like the difference between a concert hall or a small room. The article explained how peoples hearing can become confused if we listen to unnatural sounds. 
But for guitars I often put shared effects on the guitar bus. Traditionally only  Mastering effects should go on the master buss. 

[musikman1]

Thanks for clarifying John. Yeah I use different reverbs for different things, so the reverb buss would work if I was to just use one blanket setting for everything.  For years I didn't pay much attention to setting things up correctly because my projects were simpler. When I started creating more complex projects with multiple tracks for each instrument, I watched a couple of CW videos on YT on how to set up the projects and busses properly, etc....because things became more complex after awhile.  I try to keep things as simple as possible, enough to stay organized so things don't get out of hand. Seems to be working well at the moment.