bitflipper
SONAR has the annoying habit of assuming you want a stereo track by default. The key is to set the track interleave to mono before recording, and then select a mono input from your interface. It's worth the time to set up a track template that way, as that will make it easier for future recordings.
 
The problem with stereo tracks is that the concept of "panning" has no meaning for them. A stereo track is essentially two mono tracks hard-panned left and right. Even though there is still a pan control, it's really just a balance knob like you have on your stereo. It makes one side louder than the other but does not shift the stereo image.
 
If you want to keep a track in stereo but be able to "pan" it, use the Channel Tools plugin instead of the pan slider. This works like the dual-pan controls you're used to in ProTools.

  This true if you select a stereo input on your audio interface in the input drop down menu.  Select a mono input and Sonar will make it a mono track.  

Kev999
Normally if you select just the right or left channel as the input on an audio track, it will record a mono signal.

Anderton
...if you select a mono input from your interface first, SONAR is smart enough to create a mono track and automatically set the interleave to mono.

John
...Select a mono input and Sonar will make it a mono track.

That's three times.

Kev999

Kev999
Normally if you select just the right or left channel as the input on an audio track, it will record a mono signal.

Anderton
...if you select a mono input from your interface first, SONAR is smart enough to create a mono track and automatically set the interleave to mono.

John
...Select a mono input and Sonar will make it a mono track.

That's three times.

= charm?   
 
 
 
 
I'll grab my coat...

Just a quick comment, since the issue is mentioned above. If a sound is from a single source, it is truly mono, yet many will initially want "stereo." Recording mono comes into play during the mixing phase, since the concept of "stereo image" is created by giving things a "3D" feel. This is often explained similar to a stage... left-to-right is the speaker placement, vertical is frequency, and depth is loudness/reverb (bear in mind that reverb crates depth so is best used sparingly on something which should have focus).
 
Depending on genre, the stereo image then requires separation of the sounds so that they do not mask other sounds. Mono (for a true mono source) allows for panning to be effective, which was mentioned above. The "mechanics" of panning require a sound to be in mono.
 
Please forgive me if this is information you already know, but there are many "new users" who get tripped up on stereo image and get frustrated with mixing off the bat. Bottom line for panning is really to record mono sources as mono. Bitflipper has a nice post from months ago talking about mono/stereo and when to use them.

My advice would be to go to Groove 3 and get a membership for a month or two.
 
Check out
Panning explained
EQ explained
Compression explained
Then go through mixing explained. There are several of these but they are informative.

Most of these videos don't focus on Sonar but they are just DAW techniques and are universal. There are Sonar videos as well.

Okay... it's been a few months. Time for more questions. I have figured out how to record mono. Yay! Like I said before I am using a RME Babyface and I am using the right analog line in as my source. My mono recording is still coming out with a left side balance on playback. 
 
My assumption would be that a mono recorded sound with the pan set in the middle would play evenly/balanced (i.e. the same volume) in the left and right speakers regardless of which input it was recorded from. Then if I turned the pan more to the right or left I would get less in the opposite side until the volume was 100% left or right where I would get nothing on the opposite side. This isn't happening. I get way more sound on the left side. If I turn the pan all the way left it pretty much sounds the same as centered. If I turn it all the way to the right I get just a whisper out of the right side and as I turn to the right I lose volume  the left side. Losing volume the left side I expect but I don't expect the lack of volume on the right.
 
I am starting to think I have my Babyface set up wrong? I am having the same trouble as I was having with Stereo so I don't think that was the issue after all. 
 
I hope this makes sense. Does anyone else use a RME Babyface or Fireface interface? 
 
Thanks
Chris

Here is a post from last Christmas that is worth reading.
 
Quick question when recording. At the top of the Track View, if you set the drop down to "All" you can then expand the left pane and see Inputs ("I"). Are you recording only the left channel (or right if recording from the right) to mono interleave?

Not quite sure how the RME TotalMix app works, but that may need some tweaks.

I solved my issue. I checked to see if I had it interleaving mono and that I wasn't accidentally only recording one channel. Everything looked okay. I had checked my headphones before and the problem was present on multiple sets of headphones. I finally hooked up my mixer today to try it through monitors and see if I could narrow down what was happening... the mix worked perfectly through my mixer. I was totally baffled so I tried the headphones again and this time I used a different 1/4 inch from 1/8 in converter. It was actually a broken converter! I kept switching the headphones and plugging them into the same converter.
 
Thanks for putting up with my stupid. I did learn a ton of areas of Sonar in the process and am much more familiar and comfortable making stuff :).

Ponpoko
Thanks for putting up with my stupid. 

 
No one has ever made a stupid mistake around here. For example, I NEVER thought there was no output from SONAR, only to find out the master fader was down on a hardware controller. Nor did I spend 20 minutes troubleshooting all kinds of other things because I didn't realize the fader was down. Never happened