Hi Brian,
The mix on the first post I used out-of-the-box plug-ins that shipped with Logic 8. On the second mix, I zeroed out my pans and inserted the VSL PowerPan plug in. I used one of two formulas for each instrument to try for the same LR placement. If the instrument was left of center I took my pan value X and plugged into the formula ((X/64)-1)/2 to obtain the percentage placement. VSL use 1-100% versus Logic using -64 to 0 and 0 - +64. If the instrument was right of center, I used ((X/64)+1)/2. I then adjusted the width of each track by listening to it's placement compared to instrument placements in audio records that I enjoy.
I also used the VSL Equalizer on every track and where applicable, used the one of the presets that shipped with the product. I had to do some experimenting to decide which sound I liked the best. In both mixes I used only a single Altiverb Todd-AO reverb utililizing two bus sends on each group bus (one wet and one dry) to control instrument debth. That didn't change from mix 1 to mix 2. I did replace the Logic EQ on the Reverb Bus with the VSL Master Equalizer and adjusted the settings to match what I had in my original. The biggest changes were in my MAIN output bus where I used the VSL Master EQ (using presets that came with it), the VSL Exciter to provide a more Hollywood sound, which I didn't have on the original mix, and the VSL Limiter (again using presets shipped with the product).
After setting up the plug-ins, I did find that I had to adjust track volume automation mainly on the percussion and violins to achieve the desired blend. Apples to apples comparison was my original intent but some tweeking was required. I do believe that a better mix was achived using the VSL plug-ins and I contribute much of that to the presets that came with the product. Hope this answered you questions......