Beginner Questions on Quadtracking

[MarwanBaki]

Hey guys, wondering if you can answer a few of my questions?

I searched and found SOME answers but none were really clear so if you dont mind clarifying some stuff.

So quad tracking, interesting stuff. Some guides tell you how to do it but they don't tell you why. And since im trying to learn, i'd like to know why.

Correct me if im wrong but it seems that we pan the 4 tracks in this order respectively (complete left, halfway left, halfway right,complete right) Or something along those lines, could be 80% or 40%. Thats irrelevant

1. So why are we doing this exactly? Why doesnt having a few tracks it in the middle suffice?

2. If i have two guitars playing different riffs. Does that mean i need 8 tracks? How do i tackle this?

3. What if i want to pan a specific section of the song where the lead is only to the left and rhythm is right? What happens to all the billion tracks i have.

4. What if i have a rhythm guitar playing something, lead playing something over it AND a harmony over the lead. does that make 12 tracks or do i take 2 of the lead's for the harmony.

5. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: Why do i have to play a track or riff 4 times, why can't i just copy paste it. Technically if i am following a metronome correctly, would it matter, how much does it matter? (i am doing that now just because everyone says so but i am curious and would like to know why )

Thanks guys

 

[Nebulous]

Do it how you want to dude. The point of quad tracking is to try make a a thicker wall of guitars, but IMO there is no point having two riffs playing at the same time, each quad tracked. If there are two riffs playing at the same time, or a lead, or any instance where there are two parts being played in the foreground then you can if you like, but don't 100% need to quad track every part. You will reach a point in the mix were there are too many things fighting eachother for space, so create the space with the amount of tracks you use.
That's IME of course.

 

[arv_foh]

Hey guys, wondering if you can answer a few of my questions?

I searched and found SOME answers but none were really clear so if you dont mind clarifying some stuff.

So quad tracking, interesting stuff. Some guides tell you how to do it but they don't tell you why. And since im trying to learn, i'd like to know why.

Correct me if im wrong but it seems that we pan the 4 tracks in this order respectively (complete left, halfway left, halfway right,complete right) Or something along those lines, could be 80% or 40%. Thats irrelevant

1. So why are we doing this exactly? Why doesnt having a few tracks it in the middle suffice?

2. If i have two guitars playing different riffs. Does that mean i need 8 tracks? How do i tackle this?

3. What if i want to pan a specific section of the song where the lead is only to the left and rhythm is right? What happens to all the billion tracks i have.

4. What if i have a rhythm guitar playing something, lead playing something over it AND a harmony over the lead. does that make 12 tracks or do i take 2 of the lead's for the harmony.

5. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: Why do i have to play a track or riff 4 times, why can't i just copy paste it. Technically if i am following a metronome correctly, would it matter, how much does it matter? (i am doing that now just because everyone says so but i am curious and would like to know why )

Thanks guys

1. stereo image, learn what it is, this would just be a huge mono guitar track

2. no, you need 2 tracks per side (2 left and 2 right) hence the name QUAD

3. leads are not quad tracked

4. no you only quad track rhythms

5. because then you would just have one huge mono track, once again, stereo image, learn what it is

the subtleties in how humans play the guitar end up with minor differences in each track, and when you pan these tracks it gives you a "fuller, wider" sound, and if you panned 2 of the exact same track hard left and hard right it would just give you a mono track instead of a stereo guitar sound which is what you are trying to achieve, look up doubling and learn more about it

honestly I think quad tracking is unnecessary, if you can't get a huge guitar sound with one track of guitar on the left and one on the right you're doing something wrong

use your ears, copy and paste a guitar track, pan hard left and right, then play it twice and pan it hard left and hard right and you will hear a huge difference

 

[Trevoire520]

Personally I'm leaning more towards a track of rhythm on each side and leads up the middle these days.

Copying and pasting doesn't make something double tracked, it just changes the panning.
It's the little differences in the two performances that make everything sound bigger.

Think of it like this, at a gig having one guitar player going into two amps doesn't make it sound like there's two guitar players does it? It just makes it sound like one going though two amps.
It's the same for recording.

And don't try recording one take and delaying it a few milliseconds either, that just gives you a constant phaseyness throughout the song.

 

[MarwanBaki]

Thanks for the answers guys. Im gonna do some trial and error and see which combination suits me best. But thanks i needed some clarification on why im doing what im doing before i did that.

Cheers

 

[wibi08]

MarwanBaki may i borrow your thread? hehehe

if the band play harmonize (root and 3rd) and also quad track. Where should i pan?

if....
guitar 1 -> play root
guitar 2 -> play 3rd
guitar 3 -> play root
guitar 4 -> play 3rd

1st method,
guitar 1 -> pan hard L
guitar 2 -> pan hard R
guitar 3 -> pan R85
guitar 4 -> pan L85

2nd method,
guitar 1 -> pan hard L
guitar 2 -> pan hard R
guitar 3 -> pan L85
guitar 4 -> pan R85

What do you prefer? sorry if my question too long

thx

 

[Trevoire520]

2nd Method, gives more seperation.