guitar tracks

[Bloodsoaked]

If I am going to record two guitar players, two tracks each. I am going to pan mine all the way left and his all the way right. There will be one lead track panned in the middle.

When I am recording my two tracks should I record them both with the exact settings or should I switch it up a bit? Basicly, should the my two tracks and his two tracks be be recorded the same or a bit different or completely different? Thank you...

 

[ssscientist]

The farthest you'll probably want to take the pans is 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. Any more than that and it starts to sound funny --- like the guitar players were in different counties when they tracked their parts.

Depending on what you're trying to do --- a simple thicking or some chorus-y fx --- you can either track the guitar parts with exactly the same tone or with as wild a swing as suits you. There are no rules exept 'if it sounds good, it is good'.

 

[metalhead28]

I would want to ultimately have the same sound on the right and the left. So dial in one sound and record one take of each of your guitars. Then dial in a different sound to do the second tracks.

 

[metalhead28]

Alot of people are dead set against hard panning for guitars. I think for metal hard panning sounds the best. At least when you are recording an identical rhythm on each side. Plus it really helps everything in the middle stand out more.

 

[Bloodsoaked]

I would want to ultimately have the same sound on the right and the left. So dial in one sound and record one take of each of your guitars. Then dial in a different sound to do the second tracks.

So you would want both the left and right to sound the same? Should each guitar player record one for the left and one for the right? Or me all left and him all right?

 

[Bloodsoaked]

The farthest you'll probably want to take the pans is 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. Any more than that and it starts to sound funny --- like the guitar players were in different counties when they tracked their parts.

Really? Just 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock? What if there is a break in the song where only one guitar player is playing, don't you want to hear that one guitar in say the left speaker and then when the 2nd guitar kicks in you want to hear both evenly?

 

[ericlingus]

hey bloodsoaked here is a clip I just recorded. What do you think? What I would do is have you and him on the left and then you and him on the right. Here is my new clip if you wanna hear it. I'd appreciate your opinion since we both record extreme metal and both starting out. It would be nice to help each other out.
http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?fid=3001

 

[Bloodsoaked]

Alot of people are dead set against hard panning for guitars. I think for metal hard panning sounds the best. At least when you are recording an identical rhythm on each side. Plus it really helps everything in the middle stand out more.

What if you have a really chunky part being played by one guitar and the other guitar is playing a harmony that is more of a lead, how would you pan that? It is also played like that at different parts of the song.

 

[metalhead28]

Okay, for me it breaks down like this.

What you record doesn't necessarily reflect what or how you play it live.
For rhythms, you want to have the same thing on each side. So if you've got one guitarist playing a heavy rhythm and the other playing a lead line the rhythm part should be played twice and panned left and right. Then the lead part should be played and probably panned to the center. If there is a harmony to it you might record that and pan the harmonies left and right but not necesarily all the way like the main rhythms. I think you've got to have balance for a heavy metal track. That means the same thing on each side so sometimes one guitarist will record a track for both sides. I would record leads with a completely different tone so they would all be recorded seperately. And I always pan leads to the center so they stand out more.

 

[Bloodsoaked]

hey bloodsoaked here is a clip I just recorded. What do you think? What I would do is have you and him on the left and then you and him on the right. Here is my new clip if you wanna hear it. I'd appreciate your opinion since we both record extreme metal and both starting out. It would be nice to help each other out.
http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?fid=3001

I really liked it dude!!! How did you have the guitars panned?

 

[Bloodsoaked]

Okay, for me it breaks down like this.

What you record doesn't necessarily reflect what or how you play it live.
For rhythms, you want to have the same thing on each side. So if you've got one guitarist playing a heavy rhythm and the other playing a lead line the rhythm part should be played twice and panned left and right. Then the lead part should be played and probably panned to the center. If there is a harmony to it you might record that and pan the harmonies left and right but not necesarily all the way like the main rhythms. I think you've got to have balance for a heavy metal track. That means the same thing on each side so sometimes one guitarist will record a track for both sides. I would record leads with a completely different tone so they would all be recorded seperately. And I always pan leads to the center so they stand out more.

Well, I am going to be doing some recording this weekend and will be trying different things. I will let you know how it turns out. Thank you for all the info.

 

[ericlingus]

thanks man. I have four different guitar parts. One panned 50 right, another 40 right, and two panned 40 left. The two panned left are the same tone. The two on the right are slightly differnt from another but different moreso than the other two.

 

[legionserial]

Alot of people are dead set against hard panning for guitars. I think for metal hard panning sounds the best. At least when you are recording an identical rhythm on each side. Plus it really helps everything in the middle stand out more.

Agreed. I've tried not hard panning and it just doesn't seem wide enough. Sometimes I'll have like 1 track on each side panned hard left, and another 2 quieter tracks with some heavy EQing panned about 80% each side, just to thicken the sound a bit.

I only bothered with that like once tho...never saw a reason for it with any of my other projects. The rest are all 2 panned hard left, 2 panned hard right.

With lead, usually panned in the middle, sometimes I run the lead into a stereo group track and stick a stereo expander on it. Sometimes I double the lead and pan each one very slightly, not too much (this doesn't always work. Depends how tightly I can play at the time). Sometimes I don't bother doing any lead at all . I guess it all depends what sound your going for...

 

[ez_willis]

Alot of people are dead set against hard panning for guitars. I think for metal hard panning sounds the best. .

I pan my guitars hard left and right. It's neat how there are no rules with this stuff.

 

[peopleperson]

Alot of people are dead set against hard panning for guitars. I think for metal hard panning sounds the best. At least when you are recording an identical rhythm on each side. Plus it really helps everything in the middle stand out more.

Agreed. One word....Meshuggah