Panning is the control of sound placement. In stereo recording, music is panned between the left and right speakers. Until music is heard in surround or 5.1-channel surround sound (which new home theater systems have that utilize five speakers and a subwoofer), left and right is all we have. Just as EQ carving sets how frequencies sit on top of each other, panning controls how the sounds sit from right to left in the stereo field.

For a basic test, don't pan anything; set the pan controls exactly at 0, which means equal distribution to both the left and right speakers; this is also called center pan. Now that you've set all the sounds to the center, you have created a narrow and crowded mix. The sound is most likely muddy and indistinct. It's easy to understand that no matter how well you EQ, if all the sounds sit in the same pan position, you're going to get even more fighting over sound! Now, start moving instruments around. Put the guitar to the right, the bass to the left. That simple move opens up the mix a lot!

To really pan well, try to imagine a stage in your head. Think of where the sound comes from: guitar on one side of the stage, vocals in the middle, bass on the other side. Drums are often in the center but reach right and left because they physically take up a lot of space on stage. Now try to pan your mix that way. Push the guitar and bass to opposite sides of the mix and keep the vocals in the center. Let the drum mix mirror how the drums are set up — snare and kick basically in the center, a tom to the right, a tom to the left, hi-hat cymbal on the right, and ride cymbal on the left. The amount of left and right pan that you use is up to you and your ears. Each song might have very different pan ideas that suit the song, and no two mixes will be the same.