Tone shift upon editing

[kelhard]

Hey there.
I'm working on a track and there is a problem on the guitar track. Once I fix the problem and play it back, the tonal balance changes considerably for that split second.

What I'm doing is fixing an audible noise in a guitar track. The guitar was recorded in stereo, onto separate tracks. I go to each track separately, find a section of the same riff, copy it, and paste it into the section with the audible noise. When I play the track back on its own, it sounds fine. No audible clicks, and everything is in time. Same for the 2nd guitar track.

When I go back into the multitrack field, the tonal balance of the guitar track(s) shift considerably. I don't know what has happened.
When I go and mute the guitar in the left channel, the right channel sounds perfectly fine. When I mute the guitar in the right channel, the left channel sounds fine. When I put both tracks together again, the tonal balance shifts.

I've tried inverting each of the "edited" sections to see if that could help. It doesn't. I tried inverting only one channel (experimented with each one separately). It doesn't work. I've tried copying and pasting the sections into their own tracks, and replicated the exact same EQ, Panning and Volume settings as the "originals". It doesn't work. I tried adjusting the volume and panning (many different settings) on just the edited sections alone. No avail.

If anyone here has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I'm almost at my wits end here.

My last resort is to get the guy to play the guitar track all over again. Because we recorded the guitar in sections (He'd play good for a bit and then make an error, so I'd just start again on a fresh set of tracks, and I pieced the guitar track from 3 different "takes"), it will be hard to get the exact same sound, unless we do the whole thing.

Any suggestions????

 

[RAMI]

Are you saying that you take a part from one track and paste it to the other? Or you take a part off the SAME track where there's the same riff and pase it?

Makes a difference. If you're taking the part from track 1 and pasting it on track 2, then you're just doubling track 1 for a second. So, in other words, for that second (or whatever amount of time) you're hearing a mono signal, since both tracks have the exact same source.
If that's the case, it might just be that it's such a big change in sound that it seems like a pitch change.
I'm just guessing, and I'm sure someone more knowlegeable will help you more, but the copying and pasting of the tracks got my curiosity as far as how you're doing that.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

It's not easy to tell based upon just your description, even though you did a good and thorough job of explaining the situation. That said, though, my first suspect would be that there may be some phase cancellation happening.

The questions there would be what your definition of "in time" is, and how was the stereo recording accomplished to begin with.

G.

 

[LogicDeLuxe]

When I go and mute the guitar in the left channel, the right channel sounds perfectly fine. When I mute the guitar in the right channel, the left channel sounds fine. When I put both tracks together again, the tonal balance shifts.

Sounds like a phase problem to me. Maybe you should try editing it as a stereo track rather than channel independed.

 

[kelhard]

Hi everyone.
I was working on a reply last night when the power went out for about 5 hours. Hence, my posting got lost.
For clarification to Rami, yes I am using a small section of the same riff on the same track to repair the audible click. And for SouthSIDE, the stereo recording was simply using 2 mics (a condenser and a dynamic) on the same amp, and recording them to thier own mono track rather than a combined stereo track. And what I meant by "in time" is that it is in time (in sync rather) with the rest of the rhythm track, and its not straying from the rest of the track. When I made the original test edits, the edits were perfect.
I will try Logic Deluxe's suggestion of editing it as a stereo track. Seeing how I have the EQ settings and panning the way I want it, I'll bounce those 2 tracks down to a stereo pre-mix and edit the offending section from there. Funny how I never thought of that.
I'll give it a try and let you know how I make out. Thanks guys.

 

[kelhard]

Success!!

Hey everyone.
Logic Deluxe's suggestion worked out perfectly and now I have a perfectly executed guitar track, to the musician's satisfaction. I am sending him a copy of the mastered mixdown as an mp3 for evaluation. Hope it passes the test.
Thank so much!!!!