Mod tracking guitars

[bunnym4dness]

Hello everyone,
I know most people will double or quad track their guitars, these are the most popular ways of doing it.
The way I like to do it is dual track and hard pan my guitars and on top of that, a single dual amp tracking take, but here is where I have my doubt: one can track two amps in stereo mode or panning each side individually.
The results are quite different between the two.
Is one way better than the other in terms of mixing or phase issues?

Thanks!!!!

 

[mjbphotos]

There is no 'best way' or 'most people' in recording guitars! It all depends on the players, the type of music and many other factors. If you are happy with your results, then that's all that matters.
If you want others' opinions, head over to the MP3 Clinic section of these forums. Participate - listen to others' mixes, and comment; post one of your mixes

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Are you hearing phasing issues with either technique?

Generally, with guitars, you're not going to get significant phasing. I think physics-wise to do that you'd need a very clean tone and lots of held notes. The sort of arrangement where you're not likely to be stacking up a lot of takes anyway.

 

[Ujn Hunter]

This all depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Usually when tracking one guitar through two amps, it isn't for "double tracking" purposes (because it's not double tracking), it's for tonal purposes in that one amp sounds different from the other amp and they usually are chosen to compliment each other... Perhaps the low/mids of one amp mixed with the higher end of another amp fills out the frequency spectrum better than just using one amp. Panning them left/right isn't going to make it sound like you've "double tracked". You need the slight timing/pitch variations of two actual guitar tracks for that to happen. I personally like to double track and pan (not always hard, more like 76-96% while also using something like Boz Mongoose to keep the low end of each track in the Center) left/right while sometimes also using 2 amps (though mostly double tracking another set of guitar parts with a different guitar and/or amp) and panning those as well for a fuller sound... not the same as "quad tracking" as the parts would be slightly different and not the same exact guitar part 4 times. But yeah, this is all genre dependent and also depends on what you're trying to do...

 

[Papanate]

Guitars can be anything - there are no set rules per se - but strong guitars require a lot of attention - wispy guitars need a lot of care.

 

[bunnym4dness]

Thank you for the answers guys, I pretty much always record this way; single mono left and single mono right, (dual tracked), left being the AMT with the Radar and right the Flyrig PL1, both at roughly 90%.
And then, where I really struggle is when I record the third take with both amps/pedals, each panes in the opposite side.
In Ableton’s input settings, as in all daws, I get the option of getting each channel in mono or in stereo pairs. When tracking in mono, I will assign one channel for each amp/pedal input and group them. When in stereo, I’ll assign one channel for the stereo input.
I don’t understand why the stereo track and the 2 grouped mono channels sound so different, in essence they should be the same, two panned mono tracks = stereo. But the feel is so different and I can’t achieve ‘that’ stereo effect with two mono tracks no matter how I pan them.

I know it’s confusing haha but after so long trying so many ways of tracking guitars, this is the way that convinces me the most, but I can’t get past this little issue with the stereo or dual mono thing for the 3rd take.

Thank you again for your answers guys!!!!

 

[mjbphotos]

In Ableton’s input settings, as in all daws, I get the option of getting each channel in mono or in stereo pairs. When tracking in mono, I will assign one channel for each amp/pedal input and group them. When in stereo, I’ll assign one channel for the stereo input.

I'm not understanding what you are doing. You are using apps, not outboard gear, I guess? How are you getting the guitar sound into your computer? Are you running stand-alone apps, or the apps as plug-ins in your DAW?
You mention 'stereo input' - I assume you do not have a stereo-output guitar (each pickup running a separate circuit), so maybe you mean the stereo output of the app you are using? If that's the case the stereo panning for that app (one amp on each side) is going to be at 100%, right? You said you are panning the mono tracks at 90% so that would account for some different sound. And you can certainly have phasey issues with 2 electric tracks made with the same guitar and using different settings that both have any kind of phase fx (chorus, flange, phasor, etc). Also remember that if you do use any of this type of fx, the timing of the effect is never exactly the same from track to track.

 

[bunnym4dness]

I'm not understanding what you are doing. You are using apps, not outboard gear, I guess? How are you getting the guitar sound into your computer? Are you running stand-alone apps, or the apps as plug-ins in your DAW?
You mention 'stereo input' - I assume you do not have a stereo-output guitar (each pickup running a separate circuit), so maybe you mean the stereo output of the app you are using? If that's the case the stereo panning for that app (one amp on each side) is going to be at 100%, right? You said you are panning the mono tracks at 90% so that would account for some different sound. And you can certainly have phasey issues with 2 electric tracks made with the same guitar and using different settings that both have any kind of phase fx (chorus, flange, phasor, etc). Also remember that if you do use any of this type of fx, the timing of the effect is never exactly the same from track to track.

Hello, so this is the sequence:
Ibanez RG with SD JB4 -> Noise gate -> ABY pedal:
ABY output 1 -> Flyrig PL1 -> Motu ultralite input 1.
ABY output 2 -> AMT R2 -> Mooer Radar -> Motu ultralite input 2.
I’ve attached a file with Ableton’s channel configuration, where it’s gives the option to get those two guitar inputs in these two ways:
1 (mono) & 2 (mono) or 1/2 (stereo)

And here is where I’m constantly stuck I don’t know which way is the best from a mixing standpoint. I hope it’s a little more clear!
Thank you very much!!!

 

[Farview]

If you do the 1 mono & 2 mono, you can pan the channels anywhere you decide to during the mix. If you do the 1/2 stereo, the two signals are permanently panned wide...which is the same as the two mono tracks panned wide.

 

[bunnym4dness]

If you do the 1 mono & 2 mono, you can pan the channels anywhere you decide to during the mix. If you do the 1/2 stereo, the two signals are permanently panned wide...which is the same as the two mono tracks panned wide.

Thanks for the input, but for some reason the stereo and the two signals panned wide don’t sound the same

 

[Farview]

There is something goofy in the configuration then. There should be no difference between a stereo file and two mono tracks panned wide.

If you record only one channel to a stereo track, what happens. You should only get sound on one side. If anything else happens, there is a routing/configuration issue.

A stereo track is nothing more than two channels locked together in one file.