Placement and Treatment of "Overdub" guitars.

[Element77]

I'm having a bitchy-bitch of a time of trying to sit-in overdub guitars. Mostly for melodic, delayed, ambient guitars (ala Perfect Circle) everytime I hear recordings on here, I hear great overdubs, distinguished, and not overbearing.

When I record, I do 2 tracks, (100% L & R) anything more gets to mushy for me. But when I go to put an "overdub" track. I usually put it straight down the middle. And it does one of two things...

1.) Sounds like a disconnected track, as if you recorded your own guitar over professional bands CD.

2.) Just gets buried, causing me to turn it up, which in turn makes me turn up the main guitars, which makes me turn up the drums, then it turns to shit.

I can't get the goddamn thing right?! What's the secret. Should I be tucking the track behind the mains, making it subtle? Or should I be bringing out forward, making it the centerpiece? I'm talking melody lines, not face-tearing solos, so there isn't that much gain. I just don't get it.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Post a clip for us. Mixing in that 3rd guitar part can be very subjective depending on the context. Easier to give you an opinion if we actually hear what you are going for. Sometimes they need to be up front/middle, or background middle. Sometimes it's better to pan them out with the other guitars.

 

[Erik Monsonis]

If I use a 3rd track it's usually a mono track with stereo delay and stereo reverb. Level just enough to blend without sounding separate.

 

[TheDarkProject]

What I do for backing vocals is high-pass them and add more reverb. That stops them competing with the fundamental frequencies of the main melody and de-focuses them a little to help push them into the background without necessarily being any quieter. Maybe that would work for the sort of guitar parts you are talking about too.

 

[RedDog]

Your new guitar might just be clashing at certain frequencies. Have to tried a touch of EQ before panning and adding verb?