Panning during record

[rio452001]

I have Cubase VST, version 5.0 (I think-- got it about 3 years ago).

I'm currently recording live drums into 4 mono tracks (kick, snare & 2 over).

Does it matter how I place the pan settings during record? I.e., should I keep each track centred, or panned one way or the other?

Without getting into all the details, I record kick & snare through 1 mixer, and the overheads through another. I send each output of the 2 mixers (a total of 4 tracks) hard left and hard right into inputs 1 and 2 on Cubase.

When recording, does it matter where I set the pan controls for each of the 4 tracks on Cubase? I.e., should the pan controls be centred, or placed one way or the other?

When mixing, I put kick & snare in centre, and spread the overheads just a little more (i.e., sending each slightly to left and right).

But does it matter during record?

Now while you're reading this, I've got another question: I've got a Mindprint DI box that I intended to use to input 2 more microphone channels into my soundcard (a Delta 66) through an SPDIF connection (i.e., analog in and then SPDIF out). I get a periodic, randomly patterned static sound through the 2 channels (input 3 on Cubase) going through the DI-- it's enough to send the meters jumping. Any suggestions on what might be causing it, and how to fix that?

[Farview]

The pan controls in cubase don't do anything while you are recording, only when you are listening.