NEWB needs advice on recording

P

powerbob247

New member
I hope this is the correct forum, as my questions to pertain to recording.
1 do you double track guitars and vocals, ive heard numerous albums with singers singing twice over the same words either same key or sometimes same words different octave? same with guitar whilst playing chords record them aagain to thicken the sound?
lastly if i have 7 tracks - 2 same guitar riff, 2 vocals same vocal, 1 bass, 1 drums where do i pan what?

like i said newb, please give real answers, not whatever works for you, or its your call, or there is no correct way because im pretty sure there are standards that pros go off, im obviously no pro and not looking for top results, but do want to make my recordings sound as godd as i can within my means,

thanks all for reading all help appreciated
 
No, there are no 'standards that pros go off'! Double guitar or vocals works SOMETIMES for SOME songs in SOME genres.
Drums should be panned across the stereo field as if you were stanidng in front of them (or behind them) listening to them. Bass is usally panned center because low frequencies spread out with less directionality. Lead vocals are usually panned center, but if you have doubled vocals (same notes) you might pan them wide or just off center. DOubled (not duplicated) guitars can be panned wide or half-wide - its really up to how you want it to sound.
Listen to some music that you like and know well - but listen to how the instruments are mixed together and panned in realtionship to each other.
 
Hi

Thank you for imput, I will leave it as just one guitar and just one vocal instead of double tracking, it's sounding ok, I put it on MP3 clinic, many thanks
 
Nice job keeping it simple. Some musicians make the mistake of thinking more is better. They'll keep adding instruments and parts. They'll double parts just because they heard it's the thing to do. It can get messy and overbearing fast. Some of the best recorded songs are sparse, giving the parts of the song room to breathe.
 
I always find double tracking vocals gives it a distinct sound, if you like that sound it's great but if you don't it can sound kinda dated, most modern stuff I hear is really bare sounding, like the person is in the room with you
With guitars if it's a complicated part I tend not to double track as I don't want to lose any definition between notes, but we always double track the rhythm guitar with an acoustic guitar, sometimes we have the acoustic quite high in the mix and sometimes you wouldn't know it was there but it seems to add a bit of rhythm to the overall sound
 
Funny, I just saw a Youtube of Steve Albini and he said he didn't double-track guitars much, and recently another with Warren Huart and he does it quite a bit. So I'm not sure there's really a standard since both of them have produced huge records.

Personally I don't bother because I have a hard enough time getting just one good take on guitar heh. :guitar:
 
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