Basic mixing questions - Quad tracking and harmony panning

[InAbsentia_]

I've got three questions -

1) If you're doing a lead harmony, how would you mix them? Do you keep them both in the center channel or do you pan them hard left/hard right?

2) When quad tracking - do you mix down the quad tracked guitars to one track and bring them back into the project or do you keep them as four separate tracks?

3) How do you get better separation between instruments in a mix with bass, guitars, 2 lead guitars, drums and strings? It sounds like a giant soup of tones and sounds to me when I mix down which makes me cry.

Thank you so much for any help!

 

[Skinny Viking]

1) usually I tend to pan my solos anywhere from 25 - 50 L or R. The harmonies for them (if any) are usually the opposite the main but there is no set formula .. leads panned down the middle with a harmony part a little off to the side can sound great too. A lot of times it can depend on how dense and complex the music underneath is

2) 4 separate tracks bussed to a stereo aux

3) EQ and making use of the stereo spectrum with panning ... experiment and see (hear) what sounds good. These 2 concepts go a LONG way in creating the separation you want, trick is to make sure things don't get too separated cause then the mix won't be cohesive