You put a sound source in the virtual stereo field and then you hear what that does to the mix. You move things around with your mouse (or trackpad) to see how they is affected by their distance, position, and width. Your computer keyboard provides precise control as well.
To begin, drag the source circle onto the stage. Nudge it around with the arrow keys, or hold Shift and press an arrow key for a bigger jump. This will affect how far back or forward the sound are positioned relative to listener.
How to Use Spatial Audio Tools
Dragging the source circle up or down adjust the distance from the listener. This reduces higher frequencies as if they’re being absorbed by the air. It also applies distance attenuation.
Pan the sound across the speakers by moving the source circle left and right, To sound the placement for a brief moment, press Space or Enter.
In the Source wardrobe panel, adjust character of the sound. Here you can choose Flute, Reed or Brass which correspond to a sine waveform, a triangle waveform and a sawtooth waveform respectively. This will alter tone of the source.
From the dropdown select a concert pitch for your source. You have a choice here of C3 to C4. When you change the pitch it will also changes the frequency of the generator and therefore the note that you are hearing.
The Source footprint slider controls how wide or narrow the sound is going through. If you make it wider it splits the source into two very slightly detuned voices, one at each end of the source. This will help the sound fill more of the stereo field but be aware that it may cause issues if summed to mono.
Overall volume of the output is controlled by the Room level slider. The frequency cutoff, virtual distance in meters, and pan balance in decibels are shown as readouts under the stage.
Try out some of the mixes in mono on the compatibility desk by clicking Fold the room to one speaker to simulate what they would of sounded like played back in mono. Mono stability scores is displayed on the meter. If the score is good, then the source will survive being folded well. Using a single-risk placement create a broad, distant source that is highly likely to fail in mono. Practice reducing its footprint with this challenge until you reach a 78 percent or better stability score.
Trace a figure-eight through the room to explore the automated movements. Seat the source: Stop the automated movement and freeze the source in place. To return to center mark, reset the source back to default settings in the middle of the stage.
Keyboard Shortcuts: To get at these options quickly, use the keyboard shortcuts. 8 = Figure-Eight Orbit; 0 = Center Source again; M = Mono Monitoring On/Off; 9 = Scatter (dangerous placement); R = Commit Rescue Attempt (when narrowed width). Escape = Exit from current mode and seat source.
For example, try comparing a narrow close source with a wide distant one. What happens to the low-pass filter? Are there phase issues if the footprint becomes too wide? Fold down to mono during placement to ensure your work holds up at final mixdown.
It can be an easy way into understanding spatial audio. Naturaly it can help you recieve better results. The moddern ways of mixing is different than before.