Multiple Guitar Tracks - Again...

[get2sammyb]

Hi guys,

I wondered if you could give me some more tips on mixing multiple guitar tracks of the same thing. What I have been doing is recording a guitar part three times, miced in three different places - on axis, off axis and a distant condenser microphone. This is giving me a good stereo image when I pan the tracks out but I'm now wondering about how I should be cleaning them up and getting the best results from them in the mix.

To begin with - the tracks need compressing to smooth them out - but should I compress them all - or should I leave one of the tracks (the condenser maybe) to leave in the more natural sound. In theory I thought this would sound great but in practice not so?

The same problem lies in the EQ - at the moment I am EQing them with a little boost in the 500hz zone and 1000hz zone. Should I EQ all the tracks in the same way? It sounds good but I'm not sure if I'm getting the best spread of frequencies. I don't really know what to do in terms of altering the mix to get them sounding nicer. Still a bit of a noob.

And then pretty much the same question for reverb - should I be applying the tiniest amount of reverb to all of the tracks - or just one or two of them?

I can provide samples of my mixes should you want them.

Thanks in advance,

Sammy.

 

[SuicideNote]

How are these tracks panned in your mix?

The main thing I'd do, if you need all 3 tracks, is to make sure the group of guitars as a whole are clean and articulate. Which probably means cutting a whole bunch of overlapping low frequencies and staying away from reverb. With 3 mics on the same performance, especially with a distant condenser, I'm sure you have enough ambiance for the track without gobs of reverb.

I pretty much compress everything at some point so these guitars are probably no exception. Keep pulling down on the ratio until they act like recorded guitars should. As funny as it seems, I tend to compress distorted guitars more than clean ones. I just never liked the sound of the compressor clamping down on my perfect clean tone.

I never post EQ guitars. If they don't sound right when I'm recording, I fix it before it gets laid down.

As for what you should do, try everything, especially as a n00ber.

 

[get2sammyb]

Thanks Suicide Note - helps a lot

They are panned kinda - well I have 6 guitars in total (sometimes 9 if there is a solo or something).

They are like - the onaxis is at 15, off axis at 30 and condenser at 50 mirrored for both section. Then I tend to put leads dead center and out full wide with pads and synths occupying sorta 75ish area.

 

[blueroommusic]

just my .02cents....

I usually pan guitars out quite a bit more depending on what type of material it is...the heavier, the wider usually (maybe 80-85% L/R)....also, when you have 3 mics to work with the best thing to do in my opinion is mute all 3 tracks...listen to them individually, and pick the best; then unmute one of the others and add to taste...if you add the 3rd and it starts to sound like poop, don't use it (as if that wasn't obvious enough ). also, when panning 3 mics, I would suggest keeping them relatively close (in my case, not more than 5% deviation)...if you pan them as you described, it will often times eat up your sonic space, leaving no room for other elements...I often pan them all the same, to keep them more focused....btw, I hardly ever compress distorted guitar...there's not really much point, since the signal is allready essentially compressed.

 

[pinhedgtr]

Are you mixing with one take and three mics, or are you recording multiple takes? I like to record two seperate takes for guitars and pan them about 60% left and right. I don't use a room mic though, I just close mic them cause my room does'nt sound good enough yet. I like the sound of seperate takes because it makes it sound like 2 guitar players.

B

 

[HangDawg]

Hey, here's an idea. Post a clip.

 

[danny.guitar]

Hey, here's an idea. Post a clip.

^ what he said.

Also, a good tip I learned from a mic test (on another forum) is mic'ing the guitar with all mics at the same time, recording each onto a seperate track (if you have enough inputs).

For example, place one up at the top of the fretboard around the 3rd-5th fret, another around the 10th-12th, and one closer to the soundhole.

This makes it so you only have to record once, and you get a nice combination of sounds that you can mix how you want to.