Ok, so here is a question I have been wondering about for some time but was too embarrassed to ask;

I understand the concept of a stereo mix with all the individual instruments panned across a soundstage to give the impression of real physical placement.

I also understand (I think) the concept of an individual stereo track - an instrument or voice recorded by two mikes simultaneously and placed somewhere in the physical soundstage between those two mikes.

What I don't understand is what happens when you place a stereo track into a stereo mix? For instance if the individual stero track is panned towards the right of its own soundstage and then you place it into a stereo mix and pan that track hard left do you hear nothing or does it sound slightly less to the left than a mono track that is also panned hard left?

I also don't understand what the benefits are of having individual tracks recorded in stereo (but I am sure that there are some benefits).

The BIAB Realtracks export creates stereo WAV files which I then import into Cubase for mixing. Because I don't really understand the answer to to the questions above I always export the Realtrack WAVs panned dead centre which seems to allow me to place them anywhere in the stereo mix within Cubase with no problems.

Whilst this works OK I don't know if I am missing any creative possibilities.

Can anyone enlighten me?

If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor.