recording guitar

[JoeytheKing]

Just wondering if anyone knows the best way record a guitar track if there is only 1 guitar in the song.....The song is technical (ala Dream Theater) and to recreate the guitar twice in a 10 minute song is quite time consuming......I'm sure I could just bounce the track, but if i do that, should i pan one 100 left and 100 right, or keep a single track and pan that?....Just looking for the fullest guitar tone I can get without playing the track twice, and having a good stereo sound......Ythanx.....JTK

 

[BBB]

Use good mic'ing techniques. See the thread below about getting a good distorted sound.

You could try using slight delay when panning the same track L/R. However, make sure you also check the mix by panning them both to center to check for phasing.

 

[BillC15]

I know this is a really old post but I have a similar question. I found that putting the slightest possible delay on the copy of a riff gives a nice stereo sound. However, someone else told me that I shouldn't do this, so I just recorded the riff again and got a similar sound. Anyone else recommend staggering tracks slightly like that to get a professional stereo sound?

 

[jonnyc]

I know this is a really old post but I have a similar question. I found that putting the slightest possible delay on the copy of a riff gives a nice stereo sound. However, someone else told me that I shouldn't do this, so I just recorded the riff again and got a similar sound. Anyone else recommend staggering tracks slightly like that to get a professional stereo sound?

IMHO it never sounds as professional copy/pasting/and nudging as it does when you do the same track twice. All the slight little difference in the two takes really fills things out nicely.

 

[bkkornaker]

2 things to do......

-Easy way, but sounds like pooh---- record one track, copy and paste that track to a new track, put a delay in the track and set it to 100% wet signal only, and delay it for a single repeat at 16-18ms. pan each track to 100% left and right.

--hard way, but sounds best---- re-record a new take on a separate track, and pan them 100% left and right.

I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO IT THE HARD WAY. You will thanks us all later. It sounds the best, and has the least chance of phase issues. If you want your songs to sound "pro", then do what the pros do..........and record each take separately!

 

[Ironklad Audio]

While performing the song twice, and sending each individual to a separate track will almost always work the best, i think that the next best thing(and just a step above copy/pasting, and delaying on the other side) is to mic the cab with 2 mics - preferably 2 DIFFERENT mics, and send each track to different sides.

Maybe also EQ each one a little bit differently if it helps. This way you'll end up with identical playing on each track, but with some sort of tonal variety that will likely sound better than trying to dick around with one track until it sounds decent.

 

[BillC15]

Thanks for the input guys. I did it the hard way and I can't believe I got such a sound out of and ordinary sound card. I was also was wondering about the panning of this song by sum 41 but I really have now way of showing you guys, do I?

 

[Ironklad Audio]

well...you could post the song somewhere to be d/l'd, and many here would be able to hear roughly how the guitars are panned

but i wouldn't ever spend my time listening to a sum 41 track, so sorry

 

[chessrock]

Copy/pasting and panning/delaying them ... is nothing more than a hard-panned slap-back delay. That's all it is.

And it sounds incredibly gay. In fact, if you really dig hard-panned slapback delay ... you might be a homo.

Just kidding. Well, maybe not. Actually you might be, but having a fetish for slap-back delay isn't generally the cause of it. Elvis used a lot of slapback, as did John Lennon, and they seemed pretty straight I suppose.

.

 

[jonnyc]

Elvis used a lot of slapback, as did John Lennon, and they seemed pretty straight I suppose.

.

I don't know, remember some of those outfits they used to wear?