Mixing Guitars

  • Thread starter Thread starter scorer758
  • Start date Start date
S

scorer758

New member
I recorded guitars on a track through a midi interface into garageband. When I record several tracks of the guitar, say the lead and the rhythm, its hard to hear both of the tracks because they seems like they are stacked on top of each other. Increasing or reducing the volumes doesn't change much because then i can only hear 1 rather than both. Is there any special technique to solving this problem? I mean i guess panning the lead and the rhythm left and right might help but I want to know if there is a certain way to help my dilemma. Thanks!
 
There is never a certain way. Ever. Just try things until you find what you like.

For me, working with Rock songs with two guitars I like to record the rhythm part twice and pan it hard Left and Right. Then record the Lead once and have it right up the middle.
Don't just copy and paste your rhythm! It will still sound like it's in the middle, record it twice.
 
I'm pretty sure you did not record the audio from guitars using a MIDI interface! Must have been an audio interface, too! Recording two guitars playing the same part? Make sure each guitar has a different sound, or have them play differently (one plays bar chords, the other open, etc.)
 
Sometimes I like to mix my 6 string with my 12 string, that can work out well. And when I record my guitars (A Goodall and a Taylor) through a MIDI interface? They seem to lose their "woodness?"
 
Can you post samples? There's way too many possible causes to hazard a guess at the root of the problem.
 
Chances are you need to EQ the guitars differently, so each one stands out. Find the frequencies that tend to be "stacking" on top of each other, and experiment with some EQ cuts.
 
think about arrangements.....

then, think about instrumentation.

imagine, two violin players playing different things at the same time, whilst one sat on the shoulders of the other, and you're standing 10' from them with your eyes closed.

which one is playing which part?

if they are playing complementary parts (arrangement) then you can probably tell them apart.

if you seperate them, by 20' on either side of you, you can tell them apart no matter what they're playing.

now, put them on top of each other again, and give one of them a viola, and the other a violin, and let them play two different things together..... and then play harmony together...
you'll be able to tell them apart still..

and if you separate them again, it's even more clear what's going on.

that's they way you have to think about choice of guitars, amps, tones, arrangements, panning, volume, everything.

that's the art part.
 
Joe Gilder said:
Chances are you need to EQ the guitars differently, so each one stands out. Find the frequencies that tend to be "stacking" on top of each other, and experiment with some EQ cuts.
Click to expand...

^^^ This!

Read up on Complementary EQ techniques

You'll be amazed at how savage you have to be in cutting out overlapping frequencies

Don't fall into the trap of trying to make each guitar track sounding great all by itself. Each track needs to fit into the MIX and it's your job as engineer to make sure they fit
 
I pretty much agree with the EQ advice.

But before that, think about the arrangement. You got some advice there too. If the two parts are not arranged well to begin with, fixing the problem via EQ is going to give you a headache.
 
The complimentary EQ tricks are great advice, but doesn't the need for that decrease as the panning distance increases? I mean, If I have 2 guitars at 100% L/R, and I EQ them the same, will we perceive any overlap?

I ask because up till now I have been routing 2 identical rhythm guitars (2 takes though) to an aux and then processing them as one, while panned usually about 80% or more. Should I be rethinking my approach and processing differently on each side?
 
There's a lot of good advice in this thread - unfortunately, the answer is, a little bit of all of it. I've had pretty good success recording electric rock through a Line 6 POD HD Pro by following this rough guide:
  • Flesh out solid arrangements for rhythm and electric so they compliment one another and do not clash (difficult and subjectuve, I know, but the performance and the material are the most important part of any song in my opinion)
  • Doubletrack the rhythm electrics and pan them partly to each side (usually 40-50% or more if it sounds right)
  • Use a different tone for the lead electric if you can. This helps avoid the need for heavy EQ'ing since different electric models will have different tonal makeup
  • Record one lead part and leave it centered. Since the doubletracked rhythm parts are panned, the lead will sit nicely in the middle

As others have said, there are a million ways to fix your problem, this is just how I get a decent blend between lead and rhythm on electric stuff.

The biggest thing to try is the doubletracked rhythm - this made probably the biggest difference between my amateur-sounding stuff and material (both acoustic and electric) that sounds even halfway close to "professional".
 
I now realize you have, in fact, been double-tracking the rhythm parts. Still excellent advice. To your point, though, about heavy EQ, I don't think you ahould apply different EQ to each side. I suspect the advice was to heavily EQ the lead part so that the lead doesn't clash as much with the rhythm tracks.
 
GONZO-X said:
think about arrangements.....

imagine, two violin players playing different things at the same time, whilst one sat on the shoulders of the other, and you're standing 10' from them with your eyes closed.

which one is playing which part?

if they are playing complementary parts (arrangement) then you can probably tell them apart.

if you seperate them, by 20' on either side of you, you can tell them apart no matter what they're playing.

now, put them on top of each other again, and give one of them a viola, and the other a violin, and let them play two different things together..... and then play harmony together...
you'll be able to tell them apart still..

and if you separate them again, it's even more clear what's going on.

that's they way you have to think about choice of guitars, amps, tones, arrangements, panning, volume, everything.

that's the art part.
Click to expand...

That is a very good visualisation - well done
 
sixer2007 said:
The complimentary EQ tricks are great advice, but doesn't the need for that decrease as the panning distance increases? I mean, If I have 2 guitars at 100% L/R, and I EQ them the same, will we perceive any overlap?

I ask because up till now I have been routing 2 identical rhythm guitars (2 takes though) to an aux and then processing them as one, while panned usually about 80% or more. Should I be rethinking my approach and processing differently on each side?
Click to expand...

Depends who your mixing God is.

Many top line Mix engineers will get the mix working totally in Mono before ANY panning is applied. This by it's very nature means you have to carve out EQ space for each & every instrument.
 
in danger of sounding pedantic, the technical term for this issue is called "masking", and as all the other posts have said there are 3 main ways of helping to prevent it.

1) record with slightly different tones
2) EQ with a "peaks and troughs" approach
3) panning

the recording different tones can sometimes be difficult, especially if the musician involved is adamant that they need "their tone" or only have limited resources, but changing even the smallest thing can make a big difference (different guitar, pickup, plectrum, amp, amp EQ, mic, mic placement etc), and making these small changes at the source means much less hassle later on when mixing

EQ'ing with "peaks and troughs" can help not only with the same instrument double tracked, but also with instruments sharing the same space in the frequency spectrum, and it should help prevent losing any overall sound or tone. as a rule of thumb for this approach, if you cut some where, you boost somewhere else to balance out the cut. you then apply this in reverse to the double track.

For example, if you cut -2db at 250hz and then boost 2b at 700hz on one guitar, then on the other you could boost 2db at 250hz and cut -2db at 700hz on the second guitar. this gives the individual tracks their own space, but as a whole the guitars will still sound thick and strong. imagine it like a puzzle where the parts on their own don't necessarily make sense, but together they paint a beautiful picture.

panning can also add space but giving each tracks it's own space in the stereo spread. however, as someone has already noted, panning only really works in stereo. in mono, all of your panning becomes useless. hence why i have put these suggestions in this order. get it right at source, if not then EQ it to create space in the frequency spectrum, and then pan to create space in the stereo field.

Well, that's my 2 cents and how i think of it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top