automating riffs along with big chords

[bryan_kilco]

I'm wondering how you guys go about this.

Say you have 2 guitars, hardpanned L/R, playing a chorus "riff"....and let's say 4 measures into the riff, you have tracked 2 more guitars of big chords to layer over top of the riff. Obviously, with faders at 0, when the chorus ends, the volume of the guitars drops significantly. I've only done a wee bit of automation in my time, but what would be the best way to work this out?

Automate the chorus "riff" tracks down a dB or 2, and let the chord tracks sort of lay over top of the riffs? It still seems like there'd be significant volume change when coming back to the verse, which is only dual tracked guitars....

 

[Mm1066]

I'm wondering how you guys go about this.

Say you have 2 guitars, hardpanned L/R, playing a chorus "riff"....and let's say 4 measures into the riff, you have tracked 2 more guitars of big chords to layer over top of the riff. Obviously, with faders at 0, when the chorus ends, the volume of the guitars drops significantly. I've only done a wee bit of automation in my time, but what would be the best way to work this out?

Automate the chorus "riff" tracks down a dB or 2, and let the chord tracks sort of lay over top of the riffs? It still seems like there'd be significant volume change when coming back to the verse, which is only dual tracked guitars....

If I was in this situation I'd automate the volume of the extra guitars to do a slow fade from two bars before, just so it is more subtle. Doing a straight automation like a volume drop will be really noticeable, so I'd avoid this at all costs. Or, you could automate the rhythm so they would be 2dB or so quieter than the chorus guitar, and do the fade for them instead of the chorus guitars.

 

[rfahey86]

I usually just lower the chorus guitars so that the sum of all 4 is really no different than the volume of the verse.

 

[egan.]

When I do that I want the chorus to be louder. I might feather it a little so it's not as much of a difference but I definitely want that effect.

 

[cent73]

+1 to what Egan said.

The chorus is usually a bit louder from the verse. A perfect example is New Skin by Incubus @ 2:45, where second part of the chorus gets even louder, and I think it was because of additional guitar tracks (can't hear well with this YT quality, and I don't have the CD on me right now).