Double Tracking Guitars...

starbuck26

starbuck26

New member
Few questions about double tracking...

I've been experimenting with it a bit, and definitely agree it gives a fuller sound. I'm wondering, though--How do you pan them? Do you pan one left and the other right?

What do you do when you have two guitars? Double track both and pan each double to where you want it in the mix? Or pan them opposite and lower the volume of opposite tracks? I shudder to think where you would put a third guitar... :confused:

Also, is there any point in double tracking a bass?
 
starbuck26 said:
Few questions about double tracking...

I've been experimenting with it a bit, and definitely agree it gives a fuller sound. I'm wondering, though--How do you pan them? Do you pan one left and the other right?

What do you do when you have two guitars? Double track both and pan each double to where you want it in the mix? Or pan them opposite and lower the volume of opposite tracks? I shudder to think where you would put a third guitar... :confused:

Also, is there any point in double tracking a bass?
Click to expand...

I tend to record two rhythm guitars on two amps and two guitars (if I can) and pan one 70 left and the other 70 right. If I want a solo or something I can pan it a little to the right or left - the tempation is to put it dead centre but offsetting it slightly can work really well.
 
I usually go with a few different panning schemes, depending on how I want it to sound. If there is a vocal, I try to avoid putting too much in the centre just so it doesn't compete with the vocal. Look at it like a scupture... and try to keep it balanced... so try some muddy tones pan them exactly the opposite of each other, do some with lots of high end punch pan those exactly opposite of each other... Sometimes I'll pan the thinner guitars further from the centre and do the beefier ones somewhere around 10 and 2. One thing that's fun to do in some circumstances, is to have the guitarist play the root notes of all the chords an octave up, and mix that with all the guitars somewhere in the middle (lots of delay or reverb can be nice for this) that can thicken it up, and make the guitar part more coherent...

I'll ususally use a minimum of 4 guitar tracks at a time. Just pan one set fairly hard (not all the way though) and one set not so much. Just make sure that you keep some sort of balance in tone or it'll feel like the mix is stronger on one side, even if it technically isn't.
 
I follow no rules when it comes to guitar tracking. Last night I tracked a metal band and we had 10 guitar tracks, most were hard panned, some were slightly panned and others were left dead center. I honestly just let what sounded good lead me when I was mixing. As far as bass goes, sometimes I'll double track(one with a mic'd amp, one di'd) but only if the bass player is really tight. I never pan the bass tracks. Remember, this is just how I do things, and while it may be worth a try it also may not work for you. Experimentation is the key.
 
It depends on what you want to do. -75 +75 gives it a really big sound as it will take up more space in the mix. Stacking them on top of each other (same panning) makes the guitar have a fatter sound. Personally I double track with 2 mics stack the signals of one take panning them -75 then the same thing +75 with another take. The thing is that gives a fat and big sound. Sometimes you don't want a really huge guitar sound though. It depends on what the song needs.
 
This is a seaminly simple question, but one that has no right answer. It's also something I've been trying to figure out lately too. I find that double tracked rhythm guitars sound really good panned opposite (-75 and +75%, maybe), but then inevitably I end up plopping the lead guitar right in the center. And that gets boring if you do it on everything.

One thing that you can try to achieve the effect of rhythm at -50% and Lead at +50%, is to put one of the rhythm takes at -75% and the 2nd take at -25%, so they average out to about -75%. You could do the same with the lead.

I don't know - the point is you just need to try different things. Personally, I like to have the doubled parts panned at least differently, even if they are both leaning towards the same side, i.e. let one lean further.
 
There is no real wrong way to do double tracking.......but i will offer advice as to what works well for me......

Ill always track 4 guitars (all playing the same riff/thing, or with a slight variation).....or sometimes more if needed.

ill record 2 tracks with the same amp, and pan them about 100-90% left and right. Then ill record 2 more tracks, but either use a different amp (or an amp modeler) to get a different tone........and pan those about 90-70% left and right.

I try not to place an instrument directly on top of the same pan space as another instrument. A slightly off spacing (like 10%) will still keep the instruments separated, and give it a nice wide "wall of guitars" sound at the same time.

also post EQ these tracks differently, try boosting/cutting different areas on each recorded track.

for example.......

Track #1- marshall amp, pan 90% left, boosted 8k EQ, cut 800Hz EQ
Track #2- marshall amp, pan 90% right, boosted 8k EQ,cut 800Hz EQ
Track #3- Mesa amp, pan 70% left, boosted 5k EQ, cut 450Hz EQ
Track #4- mesa amp, pan 70% right, boosted 5k EQ, cut 450Hz EQ

(**note- this is not a rule of thumb, its just an example)

you can even try to move the mic in different positions on each track recording, and get even more sonic differences and results on each take.
 
TelePaul said:
I tend to record two rhythm guitars on two amps and two guitars (if I can) and pan one 70 left and the other 70 right. If I want a solo or something I can pan it a little to the right or left - the tempation is to put it dead centre but offsetting it slightly can work really well.
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Agree 100% Thats my favorite set-up. But its your choice. I mean listen to different commercial tunes and disect them. You will be surprised. Stuff is all over the place.
 
Thanks for the thoughts. I expected it would be only a taste thing, but I'm going to try all the different techniques you guys posted. I was relieved to learn that even with just one guitar in the band it is not uncommon to have 4+ guitar tracks.

Good idea to listen to commercial stuff and see how it's layered. I've been listening to a lot of Mars Volta De Loused, Chilli Peppers, and System of a Down lately, trying to figure out how Rubin does it. The Ststem of a Down for example, he used no effects and just blended LOTS of different amp setting. It sounds pretty cool...:eek:
 
One thing I've spotted a few times is doing a heavy distorted track panned one way and a lighter crunch track, with perhaps some chorus on it, panned the other. The whole two-amps thing is a great way to get a fuller sound, maybe a small combo and a stack panned across from each other. As has been mentioned, it's entirely up to what song you're trying to do and in what style, but the potential variations are all over the place.
 
starbuck26 said:
Few questions about double tracking...

I've been experimenting with it a bit, and definitely agree it gives a fuller sound. I'm wondering, though--How do you pan them? Do you pan one left and the other right?

What do you do when you have two guitars? Double track both and pan each double to where you want it in the mix? Or pan them opposite and lower the volume of opposite tracks? I shudder to think where you would put a third guitar... :confused:

Also, is there any point in double tracking a bass?
Click to expand...

Give this a read

http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/pandouble.php
 
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