Multitracking guitars

[cobhc]

Just a silly question really, just wondered what other people do when recording multitracked guitars.

Do you mute the tracks already recorded, or do you try and play along with the track(s) you've already recorded?

Personally I mute everything but the drums and bass when tracking guitars.

 

[Skinny Viking]

Personally I mute everything but the drums and bass when tracking guitars.

+1

sometimes I'll mute the bass too

 

[TravisW]

I always have the other guitar parts going, just to keep things tight.

 

[Jaymz]

Depends on the riff, if its simple i'll play along with the previously recorded take, if its fast/techy i'll mute it up for the br00tz.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

I always mute the other guitar tracks. I have a tendency to pay less attention to my current performance if there is another one playing.

 

[cobhc]

I always have the other guitar parts going, just to keep things tight.

Always seems to make things harder for me to get the riff tight doing this.

 

[Audiosprite]

i always play along with the other guitar part(s), but never thought to do otherwise. i'll try muting them sometime.

 

[Sacha]

Depends on the part, if i'm matching something like a slide or vibrato i need to have the other track playing, more straightforward stuff not as much.

 

[koalamo]

Play to it muted than unmute and compare the take, then go on to the next part

 

[crillemannen]

I think it is really important to hear how they sound together. So first guitar i record listening in mono, get that one tight and then i listen to it in stereo recording the other guitars

 

[nwright]

I've always tracked multiple guitar parts split in stereo. The main track being recorded will be panned center, the previously recorded tracks get panned to where they will be in the mix. This has consistently been the best way for me to keep the riffs clean and precise, but also still be able to seperate at least 3 of the performances for tightness verification as I track. (left, right and the center track as it is recorded).

 

[Brandon E.]

Yeah I record panned center with just drums...my takes seem to be locked into each other better that way

 

[StefTD]

I need to record while listening to the other parts if I want to be tight.
Pretty strange, I record some kind of scratch guitar track to the drums, record
the next guitar track to that, delete the first guitar track and record to the new
one. Depends on the song how much tracks I record, but if I want to quadtrack
or record parts with harmonies or stuff, I have to redo that scrachtrack thing
for every track.

 

[Paulie!]

I usually record while listening to the previous tracked guitar, otherwise my timing always seems a little wonky...

EDIT: For me, it's probably because I'm used to locking into the other guitarist live..
-P

 

[Megin]

I always mute the other guitar tracks. I have a tendency to pay less attention to my current performance if there is another one playing.

Same for me too. The risk for a more sloppy track is 50% if I have another track on.

 

[Jormyn]

+1 to muting the other guitars except for things like harmonies and bends.

 

[UtopianCrux]

I generally mono out with the drums when tracking guitfiddle... bass generally goes on after if its a doubled part. When doing more than one layer a side, I get two L-R going that work well together (edit, if necessary), then mono out and two second, third, etc. passes based off the first take on each side, then slipping those to their respective side. Left and right don't need to be dead on, IMHO, and actually add width during slower parts if there's a touch of slop, but when layering up, they should be dead on.