A Double Tracking Trick

[Psylent_pulse]

Artificial Double Tracking​

So, i'm sure this can help someone on these forums especially since i know alot of you probably have recorded on a time limit, worked with sloppy guitarist or maybe just wanted a rough sketch idea layed out, etc.

So here it goes.

1) First what you want to do is set up 2 tracks (A and B)
2) record your sorce material guitar, synths, pads, strings whatever.
3) once you've recorded your source material put it on Track A and Hard-pan this right
4)copy your source material and paste it in Track B Hard-pan Track B left.

NO, YOU'RE NOT DONE YET

if you were to leave this as is you would have phase problems and many unhappy audiophiles.

5) drop a Delay plugin on Track B
6) if your delay acts like a ping pong delay then link the R and L channels
7) set the Delay to 100% wet
8) if you have the delay BPM syncd then unsync the delay so its no longer following you're tempo
9) Now set the speed of the delay between 12-30 MS
10) you should now hear your source material thick as if you had double tracked
11) I've never had phase problems but i make it a habit to check just in case

so there it is...

but remember nothing can ever replace a good musician who knows his way around his instrument.

but you can use this for experimentation on/or for some guitar/soundscapes/synths/background noises etc.

Hard panning is not necessery i just used this in the example

maybe pan an artificial double tracked highpassed tb-303 playing an acid line at 10 o clock on one channel and 2 on the other.

i Hope i have contributed something useful.

 

[Aaron Smith]

if you were to leave this as is you would have phase problems and many unhappy audiophiles.

Well if I'm understanding you correctly, then there would be no phase problems at all...what you would have is just the same sound in mono, playing back louder. And the delay trick is just the same thing as sliding one of the tracks over a certain amount of milliseconds, which I think is quicker and more simple than putting a delay plug-in on there to do the same thing.
Anyway, this will indeed result in an artificially widened sound, but I have to disagree with you that it sounds just as thick as a true double.

 

[Psylent_pulse]

maybe just wanted a rough sketch idea layed out, etc.....


but remember nothing can ever replace a good musician who knows his way around his instrument.....

QUOTE]

as you can see i wouldn't recomend this for something thats going to the pressing plant.

and you're right its not as thick as real double tracking, but it'll do while sketching something down real quick (i do this when record on the road in a hotel room with amplitube and my mac book then when i get home i go into the studio and re-work my ideas.)

as for not putting a delay and just manually shifting it over on a timeline, its a matter of taste i guess.

 

[ryanojohn]

didn't ADT involve variable delays, more like flanging, versus a single constant delay?

The other problem would be mono compatibility...

 

[Zombietakeover]

i think this is quite awful to tell anyone to do...I would never try it...If the dude couldn't double himself....i would export the track with a click on it and send it home with him to practice.....To each there own i guess

Artificial Double Tracking​

So, i'm sure this can help someone on these forums especially since i know alot of you probably have recorded on a time limit, worked with sloppy guitarist or maybe just wanted a rough sketch idea layed out, etc.

So here it goes.

1) First what you want to do is set up 2 tracks (A and B)
2) record your sorce material guitar, synths, pads, strings whatever.
3) once you've recorded your source material put it on Track A and Hard-pan this right
4)copy your source material and paste it in Track B Hard-pan Track B left.

NO, YOU'RE NOT DONE YET

if you were to leave this as is you would have phase problems and many unhappy audiophiles.

5) drop a Delay plugin on Track B
6) if your delay acts like a ping pong delay then link the R and L channels
7) set the Delay to 100% wet
8) if you have the delay BPM syncd then unsync the delay so its no longer following you're tempo
9) Now set the speed of the delay between 12-30 MS
10) you should now hear your source material thick as if you had double tracked
11) I've never had phase problems but i make it a habit to check just in case

so there it is...

but remember nothing can ever replace a good musician who knows his way around his instrument.

but you can use this for experimentation on/or for some guitar/soundscapes/synths/background noises etc.

Hard panning is not necessery i just used this in the example

maybe pan an artificial double tracked highpassed tb-303 playing an acid line at 10 o clock on one channel and 2 on the other.

i Hope i have contributed something useful.

 

[smy1]

Dudes ... he is just talking about sketches ... who needs mono compatibility for sketches?

On the other hand ... who needs doubling for sketches, either?

 

[Metaltastic]

I almost never have the two guitars playing the same part in my writing, so I need to double by default

 

[smy1]

I almost never have the two guitars playing the same part in my writing, so I need to double by default

Would that still be called "doubling" if it's not the same part?

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

The Haas zone. I have tried this trick before and didn't like it.

 

[fremen]

Honestly this trick is so old and basic that I thought that everyone in this forum have already tried it Seriously, I used it on my Fostex X-15 four tracks cassette recorder 20 years ago… I wouldn't come here and say "to avoid pop sound while recording vocals, make a pop filter with a hanger and your mom's silk stockings" (I did )
Anyway thanks for taking your time to write this, hope I didn't sounded rude, but doubling using delay, geez, I really thought that everyone knew that…

 

[Fivestringcult]

I've done this before on limited time, but it's certainly not something I'd ever like to make a habit of. If needs must, I'd rather go down the road of using two mics on different speakers of the cab, and panning one each way.

 

[greyskull]

done it on really bad backing vocals to make them stereo. and sometimes clean guitar.
but hell no on rhythm

 

[::XeS::]

It's enough to paste the first track not in the same position of the first but a little forward (2-3 ms)...now the 2 tracks don't sound mono but stereo.
Only for scratch songs

 

[nwright]

I don't claim to be a pro at this stuff, but for some reason I read the OP's post like trying one of us trying to tell Michael Jordan how to play better basketball...No offense intended, just seems funny to see this...

 

[PhilR]

Whats wrong with mono guitars anyway?

 

[Metaltastic]

There's nothing wrong with mono guitars, as long as you intend them to be that way - but when you want them to be stereo, and they end up being mono, that's another story...