Any tips on layering guitars??

[EvanHilz]

I'm doing guitars on a 10 song album and want to get seperate guitar sounds for each song. We found a good setup and recorded all the parts changing the amp sounds and doubled and tripled up certain parts to thinken it up. but now i'm thinking of bringing the amp in a more dead room and doing even more layering.. how do you guys go about this?

[rayc]

Do it - if you don't like the results don't use them.

[TelePaul]

I think the easiest way to get a fuller sound is to switch guitas, pickups, amps and effects. Experiment with panning (don't just go with hard left/right), compression and reverb.

[MadAudio]

Originally Posted by TelePaul

I think the easiest way to get a fuller sound is to switch guitas, pickups, amps and effects. Experiment with panning (don't just go with hard left/right), compression and reverb.

Agreed. Doing multiple takes of the same tone starts to muddy things up.

[Dani Pace]

Different guitars through different amps, EQed just enough to give each it's own space. Just changing the amp settings isn't enough to give you that full sound that layering several guitars will.

[ghetto3jon]

and check all the guitars in mono to ensure that each one adds something to the frequency spectrum.

[DrewPeterson7]

Going for complimentary tones is also generally a good idea. some of the heaviest guitar tones I've ever heard have come from two tones that sound like crap on their own, but fit together perfectly.

I won't try to give you specific EQ settings, because so much of that depends on your gear. Rather, the tip I'd give would be to evaluate every layer in the context of the mix, not on its' own. If you have four layers of sounds that rule when solo'd, odds are it'll turn to mud.

Also, especially for heavy guitars, if you're doing a ton of tracks you might want to use less gain that you'd expect.

[jndietz]

Make sure nothing is out of phase...

[Matt Castore]

So i have yet another question about guitar layering:

i want to record a song that has between 50-100 simultaneous and (mostly) identical guitar tracks. relatively clean tone, slow droning stuff. i know i should be switching guitars/amps/mics/preamps as much as possible, but is there any other trick to doing this properly? i did a test run with about 20 tracks, but i used the same guitar/amp setup the whole time, so the end result had a crazy bad eq sound to it and would not mix well with the rest of the song. any tips? thanks

[Dogbreath]

Originally Posted by Matt Castore

i want to record a song that has between 50-100 simultaneous guitar tracks.

dayum!

[greyharmonix]

Originally Posted by Matt Castore

So i have yet another question about guitar layering:

i want to record a song that has between 50-100 simultaneous and (mostly) identical guitar tracks. relatively clean tone, slow droning stuff. i know i should be switching guitars/amps/mics/preamps as much as possible, but is there any other trick to doing this properly? i did a test run with about 20 tracks, but i used the same guitar/amp setup the whole time, so the end result had a crazy bad eq sound to it and would not mix well with the rest of the song. any tips? thanks

dude that is a rediculous amount of layering. after a certain amount of layered tracks doesn't it lose it's affect and just become "mud"

[marshallpk89]

Originally Posted by EvanHilz

I'm doing guitars on a 10 song album and want to get seperate guitar sounds for each song. We found a good setup and recorded all the parts changing the amp sounds and doubled and tripled up certain parts to thinken it up. but now i'm thinking of bringing the amp in a more dead room and doing even more layering.. how do you guys go about this?

try playing the same chords with different voicings, higher capoed, ect, it isnt exactly doubled but it gets a really full sound

[Dani Pace]

Originally Posted by Matt Castore

So i have yet another question about guitar layering:

i want to record a song that has between 50-100 simultaneous and (mostly) identical guitar tracks. relatively clean tone, slow droning stuff. i know i should be switching guitars/amps/mics/preamps as much as possible, but is there any other trick to doing this properly? i did a test run with about 20 tracks, but i used the same guitar/amp setup the whole time, so the end result had a crazy bad eq sound to it and would not mix well with the rest of the song. any tips? thanks

Ever heard the words "Enough is too much" ? I think it applies in this case. When you keep adding tracks (of the same thing) you finally get to the point where it no longer serves any purpose. When adding more tracks no longer improves the sound you have done too many. When you pass the point where each new track adds something distinctive to the whole you only create muddyness. Use your most valuable tool (your ears) to determine the point where adding more tracks no longer adds to the quality of the sound and stop there. Just because your software may allow you to record limitless tracks does not mean you should keep adding and adding and adding...

[legionserial]

Originally Posted by Matt Castore

i want to record a song that has between 50-100 simultaneous and (mostly) identical guitar tracks.

Why do you want to do that? What are you hoping to accomplish?

You said you had problems with 20 layers. 100 is only going to multiply the problem by 5 when you have 100 things all competing for the same frequency space.

[Matt Castore]

i'm not doing that many layers just to get the sound to be "full", i'm doing it so that the sound goes beyond sounding like guitars. a special effect.

[mcmetal]

Originally Posted by Matt Castore

i'm not doing that many layers just to get the sound to be "full", i'm doing it so that the sound goes beyond sounding like guitars. a special effect.

If your looking to go beyond guitar then go with a ukalalee.Seriously it's ridiculous to layer that many guitars especially when you're saying that they're mostly identical tracks.If they're identical than why do you need so many?

If it's effects you want you can apply them to different instruments during different parts of the mix.My old band did this on a demo.We did an instrumental fade out to end the song and applied flange to the drums.It turned out to be a nice effect.It would have too overbearing if had been applied to the guitar since we would have lost the crunch and punch we wanted.On the drums it sat well in the mix & didn't take anything away from the other instruments.Just think of the whole picture.

[Matt Castore]

Originally Posted by mcmetal

If they're identical than why do you need so many?

because i like how it sounds. i just need a way to get it to mesh with the part before it, EQ wise. and so you know, this is a guitar-only drone type thing, i'm not putting 50 layers of guitar over a rock song with drums and bass and vocals etc.

i really don't know why you're all so offended by this idea. open your minds!

[RAMI]

Originally Posted by Matt Castore

open your minds!

Sometimes you can open your mind to the point that your brains fall out.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by Matt Castore

because i like how it sounds.

Where have you heard 50 layered guitar tracks before?

G.

[NinthHour]

screw the naysayers, go for it, i once interned at a studio where the lead engineer showed me a project with 48 guitar tracks, not saying they were identical, as this will only give you more perceived loudness but if you wanna try it try it, the problem you will face is that the tracks WILL fight each other in the mix and it WILL be a pain in the ass especialy if you havn't alot of experience with mixes of that complexity but this is recording and there really arent any hard and fast rules in my opinion if you wanna try it try it and if you like the result then bravo if not, screw it you didnt pay 50 bucks an hour to experiment in someone elses studio now did ya?

[iownrocknroll]

just to bring in the 50+ layered guitars..........
i've seen some fall out boy and killers PT sessions where there were 40+ TRACKS of guitar playing at the same time.

that said, these are normally summs, so 10 mics, 5 takes.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by NinthHour

screw the naysayers, go for it

Translation: No need to ask questions on these forums, because only those answers that you find agreeable are the correct ones. What you need are a bunch of yes-men, not people who actually know the subject.

Originally Posted by NinthHour

this is recording and there really arent any hard and fast rules

Wouldn't that be nice? If only that were true.

Originally Posted by NinthHour

screw it you didnt pay 50 bucks an hour to experiment in someone elses studio now did ya?

Translation: Your own time is worthless.

G.

[Matt Castore]

Originally Posted by SouthSIDE Glen

Where have you heard 50 layered guitar tracks before?

G.

Glenn Branca

and i'm asking questions on this forum to see if anyone has any helpful advice, not "that's ridiculous, don't do it".

[89gtsleeper]

This has officially become the thread from hell. It has 666 views at the moment!!! Hells yeah!!!

[NL5]

Originally Posted by Matt Castore

Glenn Branca

and i'm asking questions on this forum to see if anyone has any helpful advice, not "that's ridiculous, don't do it".

Well, I listened to some of his stuff on Myspace, and it sounds like a muddy mess. Should be pretty easy to get that sound.

I think that if you actually listened to what people are telling you, you would realize that they are giving you advice - you're just not hearing it.......