ahh refresh my memory on doubling up a single guitar track

[enemyofthesun]

I know this has been discussed in the past but I cant find the thread anymore.

I have one guitar track that needs to be doubled up to sound similiar to two.

delay, predelay, how much, etc?

I have a lexicon mpx500, a TC M-one and Cubase 5.1 with tc works essentials to work with here. Thanks

[The Green Hornet]

Yo avoider of the SUN:

Why don't you just record the guitar on two tracks the next time?

I don't quite know what you are after with one track. I guess you could bounce that track to another. But if it's effects/delay, then you need to experiment with your unit [s] and see what you like.

Delay is pretty cool and very variable, especially with the Lexicon. But, I have some "fixed" delays on my Alesis Midiverb3 that work well too.

Hope this helps,
Green Hornet

[enemyofthesun]

to explain:

The material I want to fix up up was supposed to just be a demo for a friends band but it sounds really really good so I suggested they come in and double up the lead guitar tracks so they could release it as a cd but the lead guitarist is quitting the band to go to school out of state... and the new guitarist is not going to play the same thus the challenge to get this thing up to snuff with just one lead guitar track.

[Track Rat]

Several things you could try. One is to make a couple of copies of the track in question and put them on neighboring tracks. Slide one forward 5 to 20 msecs or to taste and pan it hard to one side. Slide the next one a bit more to taste and pan it hard the other way with you original track panned up the middle. If you still want more, add a little chorus or reverb (short decay time or it'll turn to mush) to the copied tracks as well.

[Track Rat]

Another thing you could try is re-amping it. Send just the guitar track out to a guitar amp and mic it up and record the mics (even several passes with different mics and or mic positions in the room) and mix them in with the original track panned hard with the original up the middle.

[enemyofthesun]

that re-amping sounds interesting I hadnt thought of that at all.

Sounds like it might be a good way to salvage badly tracked guitar tracks as well in a worse case scenario. You could play with the eqs and gain levels on the guitar head to get a better sound maybe.. hmmmm.

[Track Rat]

Believe it or not, it works very well with drums too. Run a snare track back thru a guitar amp that's laying on it's back, set a snare drum face down on the speakers and put a mic on the drum and put the wood to it. And now for someting completely different! If you want the Lars (Metallica) kick sound, run the kick track back out into a P.A. LOUD and mic it.

[chessrock]

Or you could just get another guitar player to double the solo . . .

. . . and then tell the band you found this "great new effect" that makes it sound like the guitar was actually doubled by another player.

"set a snare drum face down on the speakers and put a mic on the drum and put the wood to it."

Hey Track Rat, have you ever tried something like that on electric drums to make them sound "less electric?"

[Track Rat]

Absolutly.

[hokypokynose]

If you have the Beatles Anthology around, there is a section toward when they are talking about Revolver where George Martin talks about the delay times he used on John Lennon's voice and guitar.

[hokypokynose]

I looked it up and George Martin used 20ms delay for The Beatles.

[John Sayers]

Another way is to make 2 copies and pitch shift it up .008 and another down 0.008. No delay but the pitch shifting makes the ear think it's another guitar.

cheers
john

[vulcanofga]

Track Rat, I have had great results with using different time lines and panning them the way you mentioned.It is one of the best ways to thicken up guitar or vox that I have tried.

Putting the snare through an amp with the snare on top is new to me.I can't wait to try it.