How should I approach recording an ambidextrous, 8-string guitar player

[KevChelios]

So, the guitarist for a band I just joined, plays leads and rhythms at the same time over an 8-string. Kinda like Tosin Abasi, I guess. They don't have solid recordings, so I offered to re-vamp some songs, and track a new one.



This may sound like a dumb question:
Should I double track his leads and rhythms separately and pan L/R respectively, and center leads

or just record him playing everything at the same time and double track that,

or pan rhythms left/leads right?

I'm trying to capture his style as best as possible, but still be very clean and tight.
Sorry if this is confusing.

Thanks!

 

[Mago]

Doesn't sound clean and tight to me through that video tbh...so you're gonna have a hard time recording anyway, no matter how you do it.
Maybe it's the cam sound though

 

[egan.]

Yeah, unless he can actually play like Tosin you should separate the parts. That video sounds like a hot mess.

 

[John_C]

Record them seperately. Or keep the whole thing very clean toned, the parts interfere with each other too much with distortion.

The only way i could see this working is if you had separate pickups for each string and then had each one processed seperately, or at least in small groups. Multiple parts going through the same distortion = disaster

 

[CubanDude]

wow.. he's playing way out of his comfort zone... don't do that, it will only give you a headache

 

[Kellii]

Seperatly, He doesn't seem tight at all at playing that particular style.

 

[Sloan]

MARSHALL MG SPOTTED. SAY NO.

 

[Sloan]

fuck this reminds me of some dudes i tried to record a looooong time ago. shows up with line 6 head/cab - fucking wanted to die.

 

[Charles J]

yeah, his playing is definitely a hot mess.... i'm kind of tired of dudes ripping off Tosin SO blatantly while doing a very sub-par job of it..

i hear no emotion, creativity or real sense of finesse' in this, which is what all the players I've seen trying to 'copy cat' Tosins' style are lacking...

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

That was the messiest thing I've heard in my life

 

[xFkx]

would try to record the duda again with a hairband on the neck, couse right now it's messy with all the strings resonating.

and yeah +1 for playing outside his comfort zone, stuff like this doesn't end well

 

[Djunn]

This dude is playing something inside his head but the stuff comes out of his hands is something different.

 

[KevChelios]

Gah, should not have mentioned Tosin.... What I meant, was he does a lot of hybrid picking and what not. And don't trip, that's just a practice amp, clearly, haha.

I was hoping you guys should give me pointers on how to record this type of guitarist, not nitpick his play through of the song.

 

[DanLights]

Gah, should not have mentioned Tosin.... What I meant, was he does a lot of hybrid picking and what not. And don't trip, that's just a practice amp, clearly, haha.

I was hoping you guys should give me pointers on how to record this type of guitarist, not nitpick his play through of the song.

Tosin or not, he kinda sucks at it. I´m sure he´s more than capable for playing "normally", but that´s really dirty and sloppy.

 

[egan.]

Gah, should not have mentioned Tosin.... What I meant, was he does a lot of hybrid picking and what not. And don't trip, that's just a practice amp, clearly, haha.

I was hoping you guys should give me pointers on how to record this type of guitarist, not nitpick his play through of the song.

Sorry man but our advice is (and should be) informed by the execution in the video you included. Based on what you've showed us he cannot play it once tightly, let alone double track which is why you need to separate it out in to simpler things.
And to be totally honest, we aren't nit picking. His timing and dynamics are totally out of control which has nothing to do with comparisons to Tosin and everything to do with his execution of his own song.

 

[JakeAC5253]

Gah, should not have mentioned Tosin.... What I meant, was he does a lot of hybrid picking and what not. And don't trip, that's just a practice amp, clearly, haha.

I was hoping you guys should give me pointers on how to record this type of guitarist, not nitpick his play through of the song.

I could tell at times that he was sort of emulating the sound of polyrhythm riffs but without keeping time. I think if you were to set up a click track, he wouldn't know how to play about half of the song. I don't really have recording advice for this, other than watch out, this seems like the kind of project where the artist would lean heavily on you to put their song together and it results in conflict.

If you are going to go ahead and track this, then definitely split everything up into different layered tracks. Modern dense metal mixes should not attempt to emulate single channel audio, in my opinion. If it makes him more comfortable, then have him play it through once while doing all parts at once to create a guide track. Then have him listen to the guide track while dubbing the rhythms for L and R tracks, then again for duplicating the lead tracks. Then just delete the guide track and start mixing.

 

[KevChelios]

Tosin or not, he kinda sucks at it. I´m sure he´s more than capable for playing "normally", but that´s really dirty and sloppy.

Okay, so you're saying separately?

 

[Sloan]

...this seems like the kind of project where the artist would lean heavily on you to put their song together and it results in conflict.

 

[DanLights]

Okay, so you're saying separately?

Yeah definitely, what everyone else has said. The guide track idea might work well of he can actually manage to record half-decently to a click.

 

[CubanDude]

so.. you're still gonna do it after all?