Recording multiple guitar tracks with the same rig

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WolfandWeather

New member
So I'm recording some songs at the moment and the current plan is to have two guitars in each song, hard panned left and right. The problem is I've only got one decent guitar, one decent amp, one decent mic, and one pedlaboard. This is fine for one of the guitar tracks but if I use that setup for the second track as well, it will all sound exactly the same.
I've played around with the settings on the amp and the controls on the guitar and the pedals but there's only so much I can do to change the sound. Essentially, it's always going to sound like a Les Paul, an AC30, and a certain combination of pedals.

Is there anything I can do, short of buying another guitar or amp, to get two different guitar sounds out of the exact same rig?
 
Switch between your pickups. Play with the tone knobs. Add a different overdrive pedal. Mic it differently. Eq it differently.

You could also layer in some DI tracks with the various free amp/cab sims out there.
 
All of the above.

Also, if your ego allows it, bring in a guitar player. Another player using your same rig will make it sound completely different.
 
Play the part differently. Chord inversions - if you're playing an E major down on the open frets, play an E major barred on the 7th fret. Strum differently.
 
WolfandWeather said:
I've played around with the settings on the amp and the controls on the guitar and the pedals but there's only so much I can do to change the sound. Essentially, it's always going to sound like a Les Paul, an AC30, and a certain combination of pedals.
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Maybe you're not turning the knobs far enough. ;)

If you simply make one a little cleaner or crunchier...a little brighter or darker...it will be different enough.
I've used the same amp and guitar many times, and there's usually enough there to dial in a few different tone flavors...though I can't speak for the AC30.
 
I think maybe the problem is I know how I want my guitar to sound and I've spent quite while tweaking knobs to get all my gear to play nicely together and sound 'right'. Any drastically different settings just don't sound as good to me.
 
Whenever I face this scenario, I do a lot more than 2 takes on guitar. I do a few sitting, a few standing, a few on the bridge pickup, a new on the neck pickup, a few with less gain, a few with more gain. Then I'll either reamp it through my setup, or use a virtual amp sim. Or I'll run it through the pedalboard and head and then use a cab sim. Or run it through a virtual pedalboard and amp and run it through a real cab. When you find two takes that contrast each other well, then play around with using different signal chains. Use two different virtual cabs or switch around some pedals. Have fun playing around until you find what sounds good.
 
Play different parts. Break your main riff or progression into smaller parts then play them with your left and right guitars. Get the two to work together; makes it a whole lot more interesting.
 
Yeah I have different parts. I'm not double tracking anything, I'm treating the two tracks almost like two separate guitarists. I'm just finding that even when playing different parts on different pickups, it all sounds somewhat similar because it's the same guitar going through the same pedals into the same amp (played by the same guitarist).

I don't know if all AC30s are like this but mine doesn't have that many tonal options. There's bass and treble controls on the top boost channel but I don't really like how that channel sounds so I mostly use the normal channel for the bulk of my sound and that doesn't have EQ.

I can't really do much with my pedalboard either because I only a few pedals.

I do have Amplitube and have used that in the past but only if both guitars are recorded direct. Wouldn't it sound a bit weird having a 'real' amp on one side and a 'fake' amp on the other?
 
WolfandWeather said:
Wouldn't it sound a bit weird having a 'real' amp on one side and a 'fake' amp on the other?
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Depends on which amp sim you're using and how good you are at dialing it in. Over in the New Tone thread, Minerman put up some clips with a sim on one side and the real version on the other side. It's pretty darn close.
 
Even with a single amp channel and a single guitar, you've got a range of tones available. Try it cranked up for more dirt and low end, try it quiet for a cleaner tone. Play one side through your bridge pickup, one side from your neck or combo position (I think that was already suggested above). Play one side with your pedal engaged, one side without it engaged. Play one side with the cabinet mic'd from the front, one side with it mic'd from the rear. Try backing the mic away from the cabinet for a change. Roll back the volume and/or tone. There are a bunch of options even with the exact same equipment.

Remember that these tones work together to form a sum total, so it's less about what each one sounds like alone and more about what they sound like combined in the mix.

Try some complimentary EQ post-production and give each guitar part it's own slice of the frequency spectrum. But be careful about super-wide panning if the guitars aren't in unison...that can be difficult to make it sound right, and can be unpleasant to the listener.

If all else fails, maybe borrow or rent or purchase some equipment. A friend's guitar, a shop's amp, save up for an EQ or fuzz or overdrive pedal...
 
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There's no downside to buying another amp or two...and/or another guitar or two...and/or a few more pedals. :)

While I do sometimes use the same amp, without touching the amp settings...I will grab a different guitar.
That said, I also have several amps and a whole bunch of guitars and pedals...for the sake of variety.
 
WolfandWeather said:
I think maybe the problem is I know how I want my guitar to sound and I've spent quite while tweaking knobs to get all my gear to play nicely together and sound 'right'. Any drastically different settings just don't sound as good to me.
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You started off by saying you want a different sound, then you've just said you don't want a different sound. Which is it?
 
Bubba po said:
You started off by saying you want a different sound, then you've just said you don't want a different sound. Which is it?
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Lol.

Once again, like almost every other question in here, all you have to do is try stuff out on your own. You're not as limited as you think you are.
 
I nearly always record the left and right rhythm guitars with the same amp, guitar, pickup, etc...

It's actually the best way to keep the stereo field balanced.
 
wtfuhz said:
Mic it differently.
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In my limited experience, miking the cab differently has produced a significant difference in in tone. On the simplest level, and SM57 on the center of the speaker cone sounds completely different from the same mic on the edge of the cone. Incorporating all the other poster's ideas, i.e. using different mics, switching pickups or tone controls, switching up pedals, etc. and your options for tone are pretty broad even with a single guitar and amp.
 
mostmutatedman said:
In my limited experience, miking the cab differently has produced a significant difference in in tone. On the simplest level, and SM57 on the center of the speaker cone sounds completely different from the same mic on the edge of the cone. Incorporating all the other poster's ideas, i.e. using different mics, switching pickups or tone controls, switching up pedals, etc. and your options for tone are pretty broad even with a single guitar and amp.
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All this would be useful if we weren't talking about amp sims...
 
AJ679 said:
Whenever I face this scenario, I do a lot more than 2 takes on guitar. I do a few sitting, a few standing, a few on the bridge pickup, a new on the neck pickup, a few with less gain, a few with more gain. Then I'll either reamp it through my setup, or use a virtual amp sim. Or I'll run it through the pedalboard and head and then use a cab sim. Or run it through a virtual pedalboard and amp and run it through a real cab. When you find two takes that contrast each other well, then play around with using different signal chains. Use two different virtual cabs or switch around some pedals. Have fun playing around until you find what sounds good.
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+1 on the reamping. I use an AC-20 and a Fender Twin for live gigs and am very familiar with the AC-30 tone. To get a different sound record one track through the Top Boost on the AC-30, then run the track back to the AC-30 the Normal input and record that to a track. Then tweak the EQ to taste. Also, all the other things that AJ679 mentioned :)
 
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