I recorded a music show and while it sounded okay, I felt something was a bit off – but couldn’t put my finger on it. The music seemed to be stereo, but it wasn’t. There was something up and I had no idea what it could be. Was it just that I was listening to the output of a different mixer after all these years…? No, it was more than that.
A few days ago, I had time to delve deeper into the settings of the channels I use for music, and as I went through the processing options to turn each one off, right at the end, the final option was the stereo balance – or panning as Rode calls it.


The default setting out of the box is to send the left signal to both left and right channels – and to do the same for the right channel – leading to an output that’s dual mono. The stereo mix is heard on both sides – left and right.
To achieve true stereo is an easy fix.
Click the square button on the channel you want to change, go Advanced Processing > panning option (L-R) > turn the left channel 100% left and the right channel 100% right. I would not use this setting for the microphone, as mics are mono – one mouth, one mic, mono. Music – stereo.
With the music set to stereo, and the mic mono, when you speak over the music you will get a better cut-through – making it easier for listeners to hear what you are saying.