How do you approach quad tracks for fast riffs

[H-evolve]

Hi all,

Was wondering how you guys approach quad tracking when we're talking about very fast picked, palm muted, riffs?

Everybody says to forget about quad tracking if you don't have tight guitar players, and I totally get that. However, for very fast riffs (think about, for example, the latest album, Virus of the Mind, by Starkill), I have a hard time conceiving that most "tight" players can acheive that? I don't consider myself as good as Jeff Loomis, but I think I am pretty "decent". Yet I doubt only the likes of Jeff Loomis can quad track right?

We're about to record a song we wrote where the main rythm guitar plays a very fast palm muted E string (If I recall, it's 190 bpm, and I think 4th notes), for a long time (there is a lead guitar doing something on top, so it's not that boring!!!). I can't see how we'll be able to keep it tight for all the duration of the riff on 4 tracks, so I was wondering how do you guys approach this. Of course we're going to practice like hell to make is as tight as possible. But I am still not so confident.. maybe I am too much of a perfectionist, but I really think it needs to be perfect to sound awesome.

Thanks for any help or advice.

 

[Jormyn]

Practice a shit-ton of old Metallica. James is the king of fast, sustained downstrokes.

Or don't worry about it being all downstrokes, choke up on the pick, and alternate as chunkily as you can.

 

[MrBongo]

record a lot of takes and use the good parts only. You will feel like sh*t for being such a cheater, but it works

 

[Jormyn]

Forgot to mention, the odds are very good that any modern album you're comparing yourself to has had the guitars edited like crazy. Everybody does it, so don't feel too bad if you have to fix a few notes here and there.

 

[Another Guitar Dude]

Yep, try to record a few takes as best as you can and then edit them. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

[H-evolve]

Yep, try to record a few takes as best as you can and then edit them. There's nothing wrong with that.

Ya I guess it makes sense! And ya regarding the comment about practicing Metallica's songs, I actually am quite good on down picking. The riff I am concerned about is all fast alternate picking.

But thanks about the editing tip. I was naive thinking that pros do it without editing!!

 

[Heabow]

NO. DON'T EDIT ANYTHING. NEVER. PLAY IT PERFECTLY OR DON'T DO IT.

Nah, just kidding I agree with what the dudes said above. I'd add that, to me, "editing" in that particular case means just comping the large parts that are good not note by note or something. But I must say that I'm pretty lazy when I gotta edit guitars

 

[Jormyn]

Also, if you can get at least one good take down you can probably use it to make another one. For instance, say your verse consists of the same riff played twice, and the verse is repeated three times during the song. One solid take of the verse would have two takes of that riff, you could copy the second half to a new track and drag it over to become the first half, etc, etc.

If you happen to be using Reaper, I actually wrote a ReaScript that helps you automate this. It's great when you're whipping off a demo and you don't have the time or patience to get a second good take. See here: http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=174793

 

[DullElysium]

Has anyone tried using vocalign for the quad parts?