Quad Tracking Guitars?

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lordbodom

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Im working on a metal song and running into some confusion. I know a lot of people double and quad track their guitars.

When doubling/quad tracking, do you have each guitar come from only one side? eg:

guitar 1: L and 70L
guitar 2: R and 70R

Also, if you wanted to add harmony over the guitars, do you normally use one of the existing guitars or add a 3rd one? Also what is the preferred for solo as well?

Thanks!
 
Just realised i posted this in recording techniques while i was trying to in the newbie section. Any one know how i can move it? i looked but couldnt figure it out:(.
 
When you show 'guitar 1' and 'guitar 2', is each guitar the same recorded track doubled? If so then panning one hard left and the other 70% is like taking 1 track and panning at 77% (if the volume for each track is the same).
The idea of doubling guitars is to play the same guitar/same part twice in two separate takes on two separate tracks. The differences between the two takes are what gives if fullness.

There are no real 'preferences' - its what sounds good to you, and what you want from the sound. I usually pan guitar solos at 5% or so, to give them their own location in the mix. But if there are 2 solos goign at once, I will pan further.

Only a moderator can move a thread!
 
I'll double track my rhythm guitars, a single track for lead and for the harmony. Sometimes a couple of tracks for harmony.
Just depends on what the song calls for.

Same thing with panning....but usually my 2 rhythm tracks end up at around 9:00 and 3:00 (one on each side) but sometimes hard panned.... sometimes both tracks leaning to one side but that depends on what other rhythm type things are goin on.
 
Thanks for the replies. What i was playing with is recording the guitar 4 times. 2 each with the same tone. so Guitar 1 (first tone, 2 tracks) = L L70. Guitar 2 (2nd tone, 2 tracks) = R R70.
 
Ya might try 2 takes and try that in a mix first.
A bunch of heavy distorted guitar tracks can be kind of a chore to mix. Ya end up with a LOT of low/mid mud.

just a thought.....
 
When I double track guits I try to use a different guitar and amp for the double and/or play in a different register (maybe capo up). Otherwise you can end up with some mud.
 
Hmmm I usually do 4 tracks and pan 65-75 L/R . I pan Left Tone 1 and 2 then pan Right the other Tone 1 and 2 as I like to layer rather than differentiate.
 
I've noticed that when i try to record the same part multiple times, and then pan, say 2 of them (recorded in separate takes) to the SAME side, I get a jumbled mess of non sense. BUT, if i record only 2 takes, pan them to L/R respectively, and then double those by copy/paste, I get a very nice full sound. At least for me, I have to be careful about putting two takes anywhere past about 70% panned on the same side... So watch out for that
 
Mic a HiWatt 50 and record one track on 2" tape.

Just kidding, what they all said ^
 
When I double track I usually take one side and notch out an EQ frequency and bump another in the high-mids, then do the exact opposite on the other track - gives them a little more room and separation.
 
sixer2007 said:
double those by copy/paste,
Click to expand...

That accomplishes absolutely nothing other than making them louder.

It's been said a million times here, and I guess it needs to be repeated: Copy/Pasting anything does nothing other than make it louder. It doesn't make it "fuller", "warmer", "thicker" or anything else that ends with "er", other than "louder". It's the fact that it gets louder that makes people think it actually sounds better. But the fact is, it sound exactly the same, just LOUDER.
 
Im sure its been said.... but im a big fan of multi tracking guitars. brings a lot into the equation. depending on the song/context i frequently double or quad track unless its a song where the rhythm guitar is just supporting the bass line.


A metal song is a broad spectrum of what the guitars might be doing... are they playing a slow riff? fast riff? power chords?

if its a slow riff i'd double and pan each side
if its a fast riff i'd single and pan and double track the rhythm which is probably mimicing the bass and pan it opposite of the riff.

power chords i'd double or quad.

NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER COPY PASTE!..

unless you are looking to use it as a delay kind of track with heavy reverb and really low in the mix and panned opposite... thats a fun effect :D but you dont need to copy to get it either... but ya can.
 
Thanks for the responses. that is a lot of good info. i will play around with it and see how it goes. Thanks again!
 
I just tried this out for a hardcore band yesterday. There was only one guitarist and the sound called for a "heavier" guitar.

We tracked the rhythm guitar twice (one on each side) then tracked the same riff twice again. Two takes were panned sort of hard left and right, while the extra two were panned less to the right and left, but taken down a few db. Its just a way of thickening up sound really, with most music being so compressed at mastering (especially metal) there is no dynamics left to the song. So we can't really control dynamics, but we can add thickness to the song. I'm going to be using this technique to beef up choruses or to add an "uplifting" moment, if you get me, to more mellow songs.
 
As to the OP's original question, why don't you try and decide for yourself what sounds better for the song?
 
I often wonder that. How can anyone else but the mixer possibly know ?
 
Still new at this so dont really know what im doing. Just thought id ask to see how others were doing theres. At first dint even know bout double/quad tracking and was trying to figure out why 1 track sounded so bad.
 
Point taken. Didn't mean to come across in the wrong way, we do get alot of questions where people ask things that make one wonder why they just don't try it and then on the basis of that, come with questions.
But as you're new to all this.........
 
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