Quote Originally Posted by rounser View Post
So a question on this:

Suppose you've got a track all mixed down and it may as well be in mono because nothing's panned. If I then go and start panning instruments, without adjusting anything else, will it sound exactly the same through a mono system as if I hadn't panned anything?

I assume the answer depends on the panning law involved with your mixer....in which case, what panning law (-3db? -6db?) sums from stereo to mono so that it'd be identical in the above scenario?
No it won`t sound the same.
When a signal is converted from stereo to mono, the channels are combined.
If they are equal volume in each channel then they will sound the same.
However, if they are panned (essentially the volume in one channel is reduced, then when recombined into mono, you will have a quieter sound, that may disapear in the mix.