Amp settings for tracking 2 guitarists question

[OneDaySky]

Joey, I remember you saying quite some time ago that you never use different amps on the left and right of a mix, because it makes it sounds off balance/lop sided. I totally agree (well kinda works with ambient bands), but I just wanna know, do you track guitars with the same amp/patch and just change the settings for left and right? I personally use the same sound, but use 2 different guitars for left and right unless 1 guitarist is playing solo/lead stuff, if so then I track the same guitar for left and right (sounds huger than 2 different guitars IMO)
But the reason I do 2 different guitars is to kinda match what the live version of the song would sound like.

Would be rad to hear your thoughts on it

 

[masque-]

I've read somewhere that you shouldn't record doubled parts with different guitars due to the fact that they will have slight intonation differences and that will cause some problems with chords and such. So it would probably be a better idea just to change some of the settings on each part to get a bit of difference in the two sides.

 

[jpsmithrocks]

When im in the studio almost always use the same guitar for both sides since most of the time the people i play with are able to play as good if not better a lot of times we dont have to make make minor settings adjustments because we sound different playing the same thing... I would say at least 70% of the tone is the person playing and the subtle differences in pick strike and left movement make huge sound differences... however if the adjustments are made they are made to the bus and not to the heads/amp sims...

 

[OneDaySky]

Forsure i just do2 guitars for a slight more live real feel, but seriously considering going that route with 1 guitar and possibly the best guitarist in each band doing all the rhythm work

 

[XNightrage87X]

Though it would be best to use the same guitar for both tracks; providing that the guitars are using the same pickups, two different guitars shouldn't have a huge noticeable difference should they?

Just curious, because I myself play left-handed and wouldn't imagine that it would be best for me or the other guitarist to just do all the guitar tracking. I do know that both Ben & Cameron from Asking Alexandria did their own individual parts with separate guitars, as Cameron plays lefty.

 

[OneDaySky]

Though it would be best to use the same guitar for both tracks; providing that the guitars are using the same pickups, two different guitars shouldn't have a huge noticeable difference should they?

Just curious, because I myself play left-handed and wouldn't imagine that it would be best for me or the other guitarist to just do all the guitar tracking. I do know that both Ben & Cameron from Asking Alexandria did their own individual parts with separate guitars, as Cameron plays lefty.

Ah interesting, but i think Joey gets one of the members to do all the rhythm guitars, and the other guitarist will play his parts that are left (he said once that guitarists must put their ego's aside and choose best player to do all the rhythm)

 

[XNightrage87X]

That definitely makes sense, because along with the different sound in the guitar itself, they playing style is also going to have noticeable difference.

I'm just curious on what type of riffs you would breakdown to assign to the other guitarist. Would you assign all rhythm harmonies to the main recorded player? And leave things like octave chords and/or leads only to the other guitar player? Just wondering what would be the most efficient way of breaking it down.

Would love to know Joey's take on this, as I'm sure it would help for the musicians to have a better understand of who's gonna play what when it comes time to tracking in the studio.

 

[jpsmithrocks]

Typically how it works is the tightest guitarist plays all the rhythms after that they switch off on who plays the leads keeping in mind that the person who plays the leads in the studio more often then not plays them live as well. I know for me and the musicians I work with the person who wrote the harmonies usually plays them and the person who wrote the leads usually plays them while again maintaining the idea the "better guitarist" has already put down the rhythms for song. But this is subjective because it depends on how good the other guitarist is. I've seen bands where the vocalist is the best guitarist in the band or shit think about the first killswitch in witch Adam D played drums... and not guitar...

 

[OneDaySky]

Typically how it works is the tightest guitarist plays all the rhythms after that they switch off on who plays the leads keeping in mind that the person who plays the leads in the studio more often then not plays them live as well. I know for me and the musicians I work with the person who wrote the harmonies usually plays them and the person who wrote the leads usually plays them while again maintaining the idea the "better guitarist" has already put down the rhythms for song. But this is subjective because it depends on how good the other guitarist is. I've seen bands where the vocalist is the best guitarist in the band or shit think about the first killswitch in witch Adam D played drums... and not guitar...

So True dude!
Its like Tim from As I Lay Dying, he wrote everything on the old records, all instruments, so it really is about setting ego's aside, though hard, but necessary for best Product