Thick Guitar

[scottn5388]

Hello All,

When I want a thick punchy guitar tone I usually double my guitar part. Play it twice, pan one hard left and the other hard right. I've got this song I’m working on and it has a fairly tricky guitar part. When I double it...the discrepancies between the two really stand out in a few places. What are some other options to get that same thick, panned sound? I've heard some people talk about using delay on the track...but I've never really tried it and I don't know how I should go about it.

I'm playing through a J-Station and recording it into SONAR XL 2. I have some Cakewalk plug-ins, and the Waves Plug-In package, which has a few delay plug-ins. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

-Scott

[Cyrokk]

here's a few things to think about when recording guitars:

-panning hard left and hard right is good, provided the tone is thick enough to be heard over other instruments. Otherwise, it can get lost and sound muddy. For a more wall to wall sound of guitars, try panning at 9 and 3 as opposed to hard left and hard right.

-if at all possible, record using a tube amp miked though a mic pre..what often works for me is to stick an sm57 perpendicular to the right edge of the amp and point it inwards towards the center of the cone. This filters out some of the unnecessary gain that comes naturally with distorted guitars. I also prefer to keep the amp on a stand for better sound dispersion.

-the guitar is a midrange instrument. Try to lean towards a more midrange sound, leaving the bass frequencies to be covered by the bass guitar. Too much bass in the guitar will just kill a mix. Rhythm guitars will be barely audible through the wash of a too bassy mix, and the bass guitar will be non-existent.

-back off the gain. An excellent rule of thumb (thanks to pipelineaudio for pointing this out) is that the guitar should ring clean with no distortion when the strings are lightly strummed. Heavy attack comes from the picking wrist and not the amp.

-stay away from adapter cords when using effects or amp modellers to further reduce the chances of noise. Use batteries whenever possible

-although copying guitar tracks, having a slight delay and panning is a common method of doubling guitar parts, it is much better sounding if you physically play each part yourself. You end up picking up slight harmonic and technical changes that enhance the quality of your tracks and help strengthen the rhythm parts

-make sure your guitar is in tune EXACTLY to the other tracks. Out of tune is not only crappy sounding, but actually isnt as loud and powerful as guitars locked in perfect unison or harmony (I learned this from my days in marching band).. Record a tuning note (I prefer a clean bass tone) before the song starts and make sure you tune exactly to it..

-rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.. a tight rhythm part requires tight playing..

[scottn5388]

Hey, Thanks for your reply. I don't really have enough money right now to buy a nice tube amp, but I will try some of the other things you mentioned. I guess if I want that nicer doubled tone, I will have to practice that song some more. Thanks for your help.

-Scott

[Gidge]

use the J-Station to record the track in stereo to 2 separate tracks with some time based effect (reverb,delay,chorus,etc).....pan the tracks hard left and right......

[frist44]

I did exactly what gidge said for some acoustic tracks and listening on a big stereo field it tends to surround. It'll make a simple acoustic song with some vox that much bigger. Plus, with the tracks panned hard left and right, it gives a huge place smack in the middle for the vocals to sit nicely.

Brandon

[keilson]

true, adding a delay effect can make it sound bigger. But compare it to playing the tracks twice, and it sounds so much better. There is something missing when you add the effect.

[Armistice]

Depending on whether what you're playing has natural breaks in it, you could try comping together a couple of tracks from multiple not-quite-perfect takes.

I've occasionally just sat down and recorded 6 takes, stacked up on virtual tracks, none of which are exactly perfect, and then gone through them and edited together a "perfect" left and right take from what I have.

Mind you, other occasions I've spent far more time doing this than it would have taken to learn to play the damn thing properly, so it's not always the answer!

If you do do it, make sure you change nothing by way of settings (obvious) or mic position (not so easy if you have to play and record at the same time) or you'll notice the difference as you move from section to section.

Works for me!

Cheers