Using the Pan Control to Create the Illusion of a Stereo Piano

In most cases, pianos are recorded in stereo. However, if you don’t have enough tracks to record a solo piano (or one that lives primarily in the foreground) in stereo, here’s a quick trick to create the illusion of stereo in a mono track. Usually stereo piano follows the standard of bass on the left, treble on the right. To create the illusion of stereo on a mono track, simply adjust the pan control to move from left to right as the player’s hand does. Panning movement should not be in dramatic strokes from hard left to hard right, otherwise it would feel unnatural. Also, you want to avoid a ping-pong effect. Subtlety works best here. Think of middle C on the piano as center pan and move left or right accordingly. If the piano is just comping chords in either the right hand or left hand, pan left or right accordingly.