When you hear things, you hear 360 degrees around you. You can hear distance and position. Before Stereo Sound everything was heard in mono, through one speaker. This is not a realistic way for humans to hear things, it is a "flat" way of hearing.
With Stereo Sound you can hear front, and right and left front.
Surround Sound adds right and left back for 5.surround, and proper left and right for 7.surround.
Using speakers to create a similar listening experience to real life is called the stereo field.
Certain part of a track; be it movie soundtrack or song, are played more through one speaker than the other(rest), this creates the illusion of position.
By using higher and lower volumes you create the illusion of distance.
In Music, working with left and right speaker channels is very important.
This is called panning, or pan for short.
By panning an instrument more to one side than the other, you create both separation from the other tracks and the illusion of position for that instrument.
When creating music the ability to move elements of the song from side to side, can help create depth and color.
For example I have a dance track I created. I use one main synth loop for the majority of the track. By using Pitch shifting and effects I made the one loop sound different, while keeping the same rhythm.
On some of the instances of the loop, I went in and used the Pan envelope tool in acid music studio, to bounce parts of the loop from one side to the other.
Like this: dunt(left), dunt-dunt(right), dun-dunt-ti-dunt(left), dunt-dunt-dunt(rght), duh-dunt(right).
I hope that makes sense to you.
By using the ability to play tracks more; or fully, out of one speaker you make your tracks more interesting.
More importantly you allow each element of a song to stand out. This is called creating separation. Listen to any old Mono track, then listen to a stereo remaster and you will hear what I mean. If you leave all the elements panned centered, it created a muddied up, cluttered sound. By using the stereo field to separate the elements of a song, you let each element shine through.
In movies the stereo field is used to create the illusion of being within the movie. By putting noises through the speakers in relation to where they would be coming from in the movie, it makes you feel like you're hearing what the characters are hearing.
Using Volume to create the illusion of distance is fairly simple. Louder things "are closer", quieter things "are further away". By using increasing amounts of the reverb effect, you can also create even more distance, by creating the illusion of echoing.
For example, I like to create odd, creepy songs.
I use a gradual increase in volume to create the illusion of things getting closer to you while you listen. By using Pan, I can make it sound like the thing is coming at you from one side.
So the next time you listen to a song you really love, pay attention to which speaker parts of the song are coming from and how they use volume of elements within the song.
The ability to work with the stereo field and the Volume of elements within a song are your most important tools for creating music.
