Immersive Audio Panners Explained — with Gert Keunen

In this episode I sit down again with Gert Keunen — author of the immersive-audio essential Stereo Was a Nice Try and a working producer and conservatory educator — to go deep on one of the most misunderstood corners of immersive production: panning plugins. After our earlier conversation about his book, it was clear Gert has hands-on experience with a huge range of immersive tools, so I brought him back to weigh in from the professional engineering side while I keep things grounded in usability and workflow. We start by clearing up a question I get constantly — the difference between binaural "stereo-plus" panners and true 3D immersive panners — and then work through a handful of the plugins that genuinely stand out right now.

Along the way we cover flexible, channel-based panners built for cinema and post, creative movement- and rhythm-driven tools, phone-controlled positioning, DAW-integrated options, and the practical stuff that actually decides what ends up in your session: pricing, educational discounts, CPU load, and how each one fits (or doesn't fit) a real production workflow. This is Part 1 of a two-part series — panners now, immersive upmixers next — and yes, we each name a personal favorite at the end. Subscribe so you don't miss Part 2, and let me know in the comments how you approach immersive panning.