Hard Panning Troubles

Yo, everybody. Right now, I'm working on a song that had these thick multivoice choruses. I have two recording of myself singing the same part, both panned 100%... but they're nearly identical, which pretty much cancels the effects of hard panning. What would you guys do in a case like this? How would you change your mixing choice?

Guess there's not really another option. I'm trying a different panning situtation now where the my double lead is left and double main harmonies are right surrounded by some other harmonies. I'll have to keep playing with it...

Complementary EQ.

A small delay of around 20ms or so works wonders, as does complementary EQ, ie make the EQ curve of one side the opposite of the other. Or try some gentle flanging or phasing on one side. Or a little distortion. It's all about creating side information.

The fact you have gone to the trouble of recording the same part twice then the result of hard panning them is still present and worth doing. No matter how identical you think the two parts are they are still differenet and hard panning them will still have the effect of creating a stereo image across the panning spectrum. And it is much more intersting that throwing one away and only using one of them.

 
^^This
Maybe it lacks interest because the parts are identical musically.  Once you add some harmonies and space those voices across the stereo field, it should get more interesting.  Add some complimentary reverb to blend the voices together.  

I have started recording 3 unique vocal takes for lead vocal.... one is down the center and the other 2 are panned hard opposite. These panned tracks are much lower in volume....
 
I agree with Jeff up above. No matter how hard you try to make them exact, there will always be enough difference to give a really wide stereo image. That's the beauty of double tracking.
 
Depending on if you simply want to thicken the vocal as I do or create a multi-voice part.... you would need to set the volume levels of the panned tracks accordingly. For thickening, I set the panned tracks between -18db to -22 db where they are barely audible.
 
For the situation you are describing..... using thick multi-vocal choruses.... go ahead and record all the tracks you plan to use in the chorus, then, after all is recorded, set up the panning and the volume using the lead vox track as the reference.
 
I often have 8 to 10 tracks of vocals in songs where there are chorus harmonies. I record them all before I start to set up the mix on them. Often, I have everything mute except the acoustic guitar and the lead vox. When working harmonies in 3 parts, It's necessary to have the 2nd harmony playing as well so I don't double the note in unison or octave. 
 
Work it one step at a time and don't worry about the mix until everything is recorded properly. It also helps too, to have the vocal parts melodyned or pitch corrected. Some harmony, if it's not tuned, can sound like cats mating in the backyard at 2am..... so use pitch correction, especially the more tracks you have.... if those tracks are up at volume. Sometimes the slightly out of tune vox on a BGV track actually enhances the character of the parts. so decide before you pitch fix everything.... at least consider the lead vox track.

One thing that has helped me in experimenting with the best "difference" between tracks with regard to small differences in timing is to set my project timing resolution to a very high setting ..something like 1/32 or 1/64 and then by using the nudge feature in Sonar I can move things on one track and immediately hear the effect..if I don't like it I simply nudge a bit more. In this way you can get to the best sound between tracks without the timing being too much or little.

Starise
One thing that has helped me in experimenting with the best "difference" between tracks with regard to small differences in timing is to set my project timing resolution to a very high setting ..something like 1/32 or 1/64 and then by using the nudge feature in Sonar I can move things on one track and immediately hear the effect..if I don't like it I simply nudge a bit more. In this way you can get to the best sound between tracks without the timing being too much or little.

 Dont you have problems with comb filtering ?

In fact I tried using the CW Multivoice Chorus, but that thing is odd to work with and gives just really weird, non-thickening FX. I have in the past actually hard panned each, put some pitch shifter on one sides and drop it probably 3-7 cents. I guess A just don't tend to be as vocally accurate as I was here! There clearly are a lot of techniques for making this thing work