I had recorded my audio seperately on DAT tape (not sure why exactly now that I'm editing) and I called in a favour to get it onto my computer. Now what I got back are seperate audio files for the left and right channel. That might give me more control in theory but for syncing and editing it doubles the work.

So my question is simple - if I put all of the L channel audio on one layer and push the L/R balance to 100% L and then put the R channel on another layer and put it at 100% R and then render one wav, am I getting what the merged sound should be?

Logic tells me yes but I just wanted to make sure before realising I have to do it over again, adding to an already massive list of mess ups and redos (it's my first live action short!). It sounds okay but I'm not a sound person so I'm just not sure...

I have Premiere and After Effects (if that's any better at audio stuff).

Thanks in advance,
Jay.

Try using an audio editor such as SoundForge or CoolEdit to do this merge.

Yes, that will generate a single stereo wav file that can be pulled back in to your project. Make sure you align the beginning of the two tracks, if they "slide" relative to each other you could start to get out of phase issues (most notably as a loss of volume). I'd keep the original wavs around just in case, but it should work fine.