Quad tracking preferences!

[Krenzathal]

Whats your favourite setup for quad tracking? As in what each guitar should sound like!

It's only experimenting but at the moment I have 4 guitars tracks, 2 hard left and right and 2 at around 70-80%. I had the hard L/R guitars with a straight cap grill impulse to give a brighter tone and an edge with the inner ones for a more middy, chunky tone. I'm using TSS & TSE X30 on all tracks and variations of 57 impulses from Recabinet 2.02 modern that are the same positions but from different cabs to avoid any phasing issues.

I'm having one of those rare moments where I'm not sure if it's good or not.

What's everyone else's preferences when quading?

I'm was trying to get a sound that's somewhere between Deaths Symbolic tone and Lost Horizons Awakening The world, but that's not why I'm asking the question I'm just curious as to what other peoples settings are!

Cheers!

 

[jimwilbourne]

you're totally headed in the right direction. keep it up!
I'd love to hear a sample of it if you have something to show!


my methods:

I tend to not quad track. at least not in the tracking stage.

my current favourite method is to double track each guitar part then artificially Quad track using a Haas affect.
I tend to do a variety of different things when choosing guitar tones for this.

my go-to method right now is to pan each take 100% then pan the haas of each take 80-85% in the opposite direction.
I also will reamp haas takes with a different guitar tone or a different amp/impulse all together.
depending on how I feel about the mix & tone of the project I will either keep the haas tracks at either the same volume or drop them anywhere from -1db to -5db relative to the takes at hard left & right.
the key here is to try couple of different combinations until you achieve a blended tone that matches the band well.

bus all 4 of these to a Guitar mix Aux track and then control the volume of the guitars from there.
if (and there usually are) there are guitar parts that are not the main guitar lines like harmonies and leads, I tend to again double or single track each. and pan them 80-85% and cut out any of the haas tracks that are running at the same time of the song as the harmonies.
basically, I make sure that I don't have 8 different parts running at the same time. I try to keep it at 4 guitar tracks (not including leads). rare exceptions 1 or 2 extra guitars depending on what I'm trying to achieve.

guitar leads have a multitude of different options. so I won't go into that on this one. but that's where the real playtime comes in.

I've found that this method of Quad tracking creates giant results while still maintaining a lot of tightness in the guitar tracks without having to over-edit.

give it a try!

 

[Krenzathal]

Thanks for the reply! I'll definitely give that a bash and I'll put up some sounds when I'm happy with them.

Does the Haas effect not cause a lot of phasey chorus like issues? How do you get around that or is it not a problem for you?

This is my first project using impulses and sims rather than my trusty POD Xt with the old firmware (which gave a much better non fizzy tone IMO!)

I'm still getting the hang of it all, and finding it a bit tough TBH. The POD was instantly useable but These amp sims certainly take a lot of experimenting with to get a decent sound but I do know it's possible from hearing some of the excellent mixes from the people in here!

I'm thinking of using my 6505 (real not sim!) with the impulses as well if I can find the time to build a dummy load.

 

[jimwilbourne]

Thanks for the reply! I'll definitely give that a bash and I'll put up some sounds when I'm happy with them.

Does the Haas effect not cause a lot of phasey chorus like issues? How do you get around that or is it not a problem for you?

This is my first project using impulses and sims rather than my trusty POD Xt with the old firmware (which gave a much better non fizzy tone IMO!)

I'm still getting the hang of it all, and finding it a bit tough TBH. The POD was instantly useable but These amp sims certainly take a lot of experimenting with to get a decent sound but I do know it's possible from hearing some of the excellent mixes from the people in here!

I'm thinking of using my 6505 (real not sim!) with the impulses as well if I can find the time to build a dummy load.

sometimes you can run into some phase problems.
but the key in making it work is making sure that you shift the the haas track at least 15 ms.
but you can't stop there. it's a good idea to also nudge the haas track around between 15 & 30 ms until you find the spot that gives you the best sound with the least phase issues.

also: the comment I made about reamping/new tones for the haas track & dropping the volume of the haas tracks relative to the original takes make a big difference in phase. I'm not sure why. it may only be an allusion.

I have a 6505 that I sometimes use. I haven't combined it with impulse an yet, but you should give it a try!
it'll probably yield some great results. especially if you have an ill treated room when tracking live guitars (like I usually do ).