Help with DI phase cancellation

  • Thread starter Thread starter Necromaniac
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Necromaniac

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So I've been battling with this issue for about a month and have read everything I can about it and nothing has helped. Here is the scenario. I'm recording my guitar D.I. out of my amp(Marshall mode 4) into a pro tools digi 002 system. I'm recording my guitars with a nice amount of distortion but not too much. I want to record 4 tracks of guitar, 2 left and 2 right. No matter what I do when I lay down one track over another it sounds like hollowed phasey crap. I have messed with EQ, delay and panning and nothing is helping. Odd thing is I can lay down 4 tracks of clean guitar just fine but when I add distortion I get problems.....any suggestions?
 
You are p-laying the track 4 times, and recording each take via the direct output from your head? No Mics?
 
NL5 said:
You are p-laying the track 4 times, and recording each take via the direct output from your head? No Mics?
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Yah, thats the really odd part. I'm not using mics so I can rule out that for an answer. Its just straight from the head to the rack system.
 
Odd.

I'm not much help then. Is it a solid state head? Running a lot of gain? How does it sound with just two tracks panned hard R/L?

Maybe someone else has some ideas.
 
Sounds to me like the distortion effect you're applying to the seperate tracks might be phasing tself,

I'd suggest either varying up on the distortion types or settings between tracks, varying the timbre of the dry guitar tracks before distortion a bit more, or compositing the distortion - e.g. applying a single distortion pass to a doubled or quadrupled guitar stem - the way you'd often composite reverb.

And you might consider that you can fatten up distortion guitar tracks without having to distort the fattening tracks so much (if at all). Some great sounds can be had by doubling or quadrupling guitars but having soaking distortion and full sustain on only one or two of those tracks. Layer too many distortions on top of each other, and it can get real muddy real quick; especially if the timbre of the original tracks is not purposely varied.

G.
 
This will sometimes happen with mic'd guitar cabinets too. The phasing is caused by the slight differences in your performance. It does happen with clean sounds, but since they aren't as compressed, you just don't notice it as much.

The more distortion, the worse this problem can get. Is there a reason you want to do 4 tracks instead of just two? (If you are doing 4 to 'thicken it up', you can see that it's not working)
 
So I tried doing 2 tracks with distortion pedal and than 2 tracks with the amp distortion. Same problem once again. Even if I only do 2 tracks I still get a problem. When I play it back in mono the guitars still sound like ass. Am I panning funny? Could it possibly be something with my pickups?
 
Any two guitar performances that are playing the same part with the same sound will cancel each other out in mono to a certain extent. The more high end you have the more the problem. Distortion box types of distortion are really bad about that. IT happens with tubes too, but since the sound isn't as saturated, you don't notice it as much.
 
hmmmmmmmm......


probably, it's just the distortion sound.

try micing the amp.
di tracked distorted gits, a very less then ideal situation.

to get that serious, "man that sure is super thin and crappy" sound
usually you have to be tracking 2 signals at the same time.
like farview said, it can happen with multiple takes, but usually not to the point of super hollow and crappy.
 
Patient - "Doctor, it hurts when I poke myself in the eye."
Doctor - "Don't poke yourself in the eye."

If adding tracks makes it sound worse then stop adding tracks. To make that trick work you need to use different guitars, amps and tunings to mix things up.
 
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