Adjusting Tone for Quad Tracking

[Zack Uidl]

Hey everyone,

I am going to begin reamping my DIs soon and wanted to get some opinions. Do you guys adjust your tones differently if you are going to be quad tracking? So, for example, do something like use less gain per track.

I will be using a peavey 6505+ if that makes any difference.

Thanks for the input in advance.

 

[Machinated]

Yeah I usually use less gain for 4 guitars. Some people also like doing 2 tracks of one amp and 2 of another. Or 2 tracks of one setting and 2 of another.

 

[Petrocker]

Yeah I like having the 2 guitars that are 80% panned with a cab that has more bottom (I use impulses).
And I cut some more highs on those guitars aswell.

 

[JBroll]

I honestly like to use two different sounds for quad-tracking. One more aggressive and 'bitey', one more full and thick. This allows for a lot of things... using one pair of sounds for everything is nice, as once you've found two good sounds on their own you just have to find fun ways to blend them, and using automation to change their levels for different parts of the songs really saves some annoyance (more 'full' under the solo or other appropriate places, where they don't have to stand out so much, more 'bite' in technical parts, and so on) later on.

Mix two different sounds (I'm almost always 100R-100R-100L-100L with this stuff) on each side and use a different guitar for both sides and you have some nice, wide imaging, too...

Jeff

 

[Zack Uidl]

Thanks for the input everyone. Really helpful. Thanks for your time

 

[xconnyx]

i'm sorry, but....

i'm not new to recording guitars, but the term "quad" or "double-tracked" is confusing me...

double, is this 2 guitars, i mean 2 guitars each side or 2 tracks of guitar at all?

same is for quad...

4 guitartracks at all, 2 tracks for each side = 4 tracks = quadtracked?

excuse me... i'm german...

 

[Metaltastic]

Double-tracking - two separate performances, one on each side

Quad-tracking - four separate performances, two on each side

 

[Descent]

as people have said u wanna have gain as low as u can to keep note clarity (once the 4 tracks play back it will sound more gainy), i always think lamb of god levels of gain (ie very little). Something i tried recently with my 5150 was record 2 tracks of green channel and 2 tracks of red channel, suprising how different they sound even with nothing changed but channel. Gave really big sound especially on chords, should give options when mixing too.

 

[xconnyx]

Double-tracking - two separate performances, one on each side

Quad-tracking - four separate performances, two on each side

thx!

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Hey everyone,

I am going to begin reamping my DIs soon and wanted to get some opinions. Do you guys adjust your tones differently if you are going to be quad tracking? So, for example, do something like use less gain per track.

I will be using a peavey 6505+ if that makes any difference.

Thanks for the input in advance.

If you are going to do 4 tracks of the same cab/amp I would definitely suggest using 2 different mic positions in addition to different amp settings.

 

[beyond dead]

anyone ever quad track, then use different mic positions and different amp combo`s ( 4 takes, 2 takes per amp all using dual mic setup) this would be ......... 8 takes per side, so i guess 16 tracks in total

 

[Zack Uidl]

thanks for all the input everyone. very helpful. i am really grateful for this forum

 

[JBroll]

I'd personally hold back from changing mic positions, as they're such a pain in the ass to get right in the first place. Your call, but I'd rather use a different guitar, change the line before the amp (compress and EQ instead of TS, change TS settings, leave TS out entirely depending on the pickup), change the settings slightly, or combine some of the above.

Jeff

 

[colonel kurtz]

funny this topic just came up, because i spent a good chunk of my day yesterday quad-tracking guitars for a fellow sneap forum member...anyways, without getting tooooooooo specific, each guitarist did 2 takes, one with a high-gain, in-your-face sort of sound, the other a sort of mushier low-gain tone to fill things out.

also make sure that if you have some sort of lead going on, that you take an additional 2 rythym tracks, unless you plan on keeping the leads panned out wide

 

[Metaltastic]

also make sure that if you have some sort of lead going on, that you take an additional 2 rythym tracks, unless you plan on keeping the leads panned out wide

I don't follow - wouldn't there be one lead, either down the middle or slightly off-center, thus not changing the rhythm part at all? Or for a harmony, each lead at 50%?

 

[LSD-Studio]

I'd personally hold back from changing mic positions, as they're such a pain in the ass to get right in the first place.

+1 on that

..but I'd rather use a different guitar

I'd definitely not do that.

change the amp, the cab, the pickup...whatever, but try to use the same guitar!

the intonation on a guitar is always a compromise, you'll never find 2 guitars with the very same intonation across the neck.

by using just one guitar you won't run into any tuning-shit later

 

[colonel kurtz]

I don't follow - wouldn't there be one lead, either down the middle or slightly off-center, thus not changing the rhythm part at all? Or for a harmony, each lead at 50%?

well 90% of the time the guys were either playing the same thing, or a pretty standard harmony...but from time to time, the guy who was on the right side would bust out a solo - of course, his track then gets panned from the right side to the middle.

thus, to fill out the rythym, the guy on the left has to be panned out to both sides...but it sounded pretty poop with a low gain track on 1 side, and a high gain track on the other, which is why we doubled the rythym during leads, so that there was still 1 hi and 1 lo gain on each side, with the lead down the middle

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I'd personally hold back from changing mic positions, as they're such a pain in the ass to get right in the first place. Jeff

To each his own but I don't understand what you guys would achieve by quad tracking the same amp, settings, cab, and mic position. 4 tracks of the same texture seems kind of a waste to me.

And if you end up changing the settings on your amp, you'll probably have to move the mic anyway. I'm by no means omniscient, but it just makes more sense to me that you would move the mic to get a different texture.

Now I have a big cock too.

 

[JBroll]

I'd definitely not do that.

change the amp, the cab, the pickup...whatever, but try to use the same guitar!

the intonation on a guitar is always a compromise, you'll never find 2 guitars with the very same intonation across the neck.

by using just one guitar you won't run into any tuning-shit later

I don't think it's that much of an issue. If a guitar isn't set up right, it shouldn't be recording; if a guitar is set up right (and I don't mean Guitar-Center-said-good-enough set up right, I mean JBroll-level-maniacally-obsessive-about-the-paint-cracks-being-in-tune set up right) the player's touch can easily bring about bigger variations than the guitar setup.

To each his own but I don't understand what you guys would achieve by quad tracking the same amp, settings, cab, and mic position. 4 tracks of the same texture seems kind of a waste to me.

And if you end up changing the settings on your amp, you'll probably have to move the mic anyway. I'm by no means omniscient, but it just makes more sense to me that you would move the mic to get a different texture.

Now I have a big cock too.

I don't change tones across the sides as much as some here would - just enough to 'space' things, which isn't a while lot - and moving the mic is never necessary. Now, as I said above, I might change guitars, or tinker with the wiring of a guitar (parallel switching is fun, I'll use my D Sonic in series without a TS and in parallel with a TS and it'll sound like completely different guitars were used), or play with something else in the chain. However, I don't like being near my speakers when I record, so I'd rather change other things.

Jeff

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

I honestly like to use two different sounds for quad-tracking. One more aggressive and 'bitey', one more full and thick.

+1

anyone ever quad track, then use different mic positions and different amp combo`s ( 4 takes, 2 takes per amp all using dual mic setup) this would be ......... 8 takes per side, so i guess 16 tracks in total

The CD I'm recording at the moment has up to 8 tracks (4 per side), but it wasn't really deliberate. Some bits actually have 4 different guitar parts (2 rhythm, then 2 harmonised leads), so it makes more sense, but on the rest of it I was worried about time so I did 4 tracks with the same setup/altered settings - in the end I had enough to change the setup as well, so I doubled all the originals out of habit more than anything. It's a pain in the arse to mix, but it gives you lots of possibilities.

Steve