Recording guitars with Effects

[DEFIED]

Hey everyone,

This weekend am going to be recording my band's guitar tracks, and the other guitar player is pretty insistent on recording with his effects on. His chorus pedal is part of his overall sound and is on at all times. I on the other hand, don't use a chorus pedal, and only use effects on various parts. How would you suggest I go about recording and panning these guitars? Would it sound really weird to have effects on one side and none on the other? Or would it be better to quad track and each of us have a left and right track so that the effects are even? I appreciate all the help you guys give, .

Thanks!

Edit:New Version! https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11047252/It's Beauty v2.mp3

 

[CubanDude]

I never record any FX on the way in besides wahwah pedals. Also leaves you all opportunities later on if you're not sure if guitar w/ FX on one side and the other w/o FX on the other side doesn't work out.

 

[BLUElightCory]

I'd say try it his way, but personally I probably wouldn't track with the chorus unless it was integral to the part/sound (which, let's face it, there's a good chance it isn't). Maybe ask him to show you some CDs where there is chorus on the guitar at all times? My guess is it'd be hard to find many rock records made in the last 15 years that sound like that.

It's easy enough to add chorus after the fact, show him how it works and he might be fine with it.

 

[LBTM]

Track it as he wants but also record DIs at the same time if later he wants to turn it off.
So both you will be happy.

 

[DEFIED]

Great, I was definitely going to take DI's at the same time.

 

[mva801]

For the fucking life of me I can't think of any situation where you'd want to have your chorus pedal on all the time. I'm guessing you play heavier stuff if you're on this forum. That sounds like a recipe for just.... terrible tone. Definitely take a DI and do whatever you want with it later...

 

[LBTM]

come on guys, aren't you bored of the similar kind of tone in every metal album?

the guy trys to do something different and it might turn out sounding great!

 

[CubanDude]

^ i'm quite open for "something new", but a chorus for heavy rhythm guitars sounds like the worst idea ever.. should result in quite the opposite of what i consider "tight"

 

[greyskull]

Chorus pedal??? Fuck me is it the 80's? throw it in the bin.

 

[Jordon]

If it sounds good and fits the song/part, commit.

 

[ShipwreckSoundWorks]

If it sounds good do it. I always had this one guitarist who played in a very experimental/ambient metal band. And he always insists on using his damn Boss Delay pedal. It sounds fine, so I just let it slide.. But my philosophy is at least if it's done digitally on a computer it can be reversed. I wouldn't allow it. I would throw the effect on with some effects plug in and tell him to get over it.
And like bluelightcory said. It's probably NOT an integral part of the sound. I could see a guitarist like that coming to me and using it because "It sounds cool" which is fine, but if it's unnecessary in every way, I don't tend to let shit like that slide.

 

[LBTM]

@DEFIED if possible when you've recorded them post a sound clip

 

[bryan_kilco]

My old bands other guitarist used to have a pretty bad tone. Scooped mids, too much bass, and using a distortion pedal instead of the amps natural distortion (SS Peavey Transtube...which I thought the dist channel was at least useable, I owned the same one for years...). My current band, the other guy uses delay on clean parts. I don't mind it too much, but sometimes it seems that he HAS to do it just because it "sounds better" or ...hiding his mistakes.....

 

[DEFIED]

I will definitely post some clips when I am done recording the guitars. The music is a type of slower, experimental heavy stuff, and we aren't exactly going for the tight, metal guitar sound that we all used to go for in the past. We are trying something different as we have all gotten tired of playing in death and tech death bands. I know that its pretty much a no-no to record guitars with effects going on, other than wah, because its easier to either add more effects, or not have any at all later on. That's kinda why I'm hesitant to do it. But I'm just looking for something different. Plus I can always reamp later too since I'll have the DI's

 

[LBTM]

My old bands other guitarist used to have a pretty bad tone. Scooped mids, too much bass, and using a distortion pedal instead of the amps natural distortion (SS Peavey Transtube...which I thought the dist channel was at least useable, I owned the same one for years...). My current band, the other guy uses delay on clean parts. I don't mind it too much, but sometimes it seems that he HAS to do it just because it "sounds better" or ...hiding his mistakes.....

Just a newby question... Why it's wrong to use a distortion pedal? Can't you get a better tone (or one you like more) with a pedal?

Edit: Actually if you use a distortion pedal and turn up the amp on the clean channel the tubes won't color the tone?

 

[bryan_kilco]

Just a newby question... Why it's wrong to use a distortion pedal? Can't you get a better tone (or one you like more) with a pedal?

Edit: Actually if you use a distortion pedal and turn up the amp on the clean channel the tubes won't color the tone?

Well, it's sort of like buying a new car only for the trunk space.

If you're going to drop $2,000 or a Mesa Dual Rectifier, why on earth would you put a crappy $60 distortion pedal in front of it?!?!?! (The scenario in my previous post was a Peavey solid state and not a Recto, but still, the amps natural distortion did sound better.

I've heard some "ok" sounding pedals. Most are junk, with the exception of a few I've heard (which a few guys mentioned above).

 

[DEFIED]

Just a newby question... Why it's wrong to use a distortion pedal? Can't you get a better tone (or one you like more) with a pedal?

I understand this frustration tho, I used to know a guy who had a full Marshall TSL stack when they first came out, and then he used a Metal Zone in front of it....Blasphemy!!! Usually, a tube amps natural tone will far surpass anything a distortion pedal can produce. But dist. pedals are sometimes used to help shape a sound, much like a Tube Screamer helping to tighten up a 5150's low end.

 

[mva801]

There's nothing wrong with a distortion pedal, as long as you get a good tone out of it.... I used to know a guy who played a dual rec, but just left it in the clean channel and got his dist sound out of a metal zone. And it didnt sound good.

Some people just can't hear man. I recorded this one band, went to their practice space, and they had 6505's with the gain MAXED AND tube screamers in front. I saw that and was like, holy fuck. Is that not the fizziest, thinnest, weirdest tone ever? They said no, man, they sound sick. So they fired them up, and sure enough..... fizziest weirdest tone ever. I turned their gain down to 4, told them to pick harder, and watched as the light bulb came on.....

 

[LBTM]

Yes, some guys don't understand tone and it's logical. They just learn to play guitar. We're not all nerds.....

But hey, let's not get off-topic here

 

[Megin]

Just a newby question... Why it's wrong to use a distortion pedal? Can't you get a better tone (or one you like more) with a pedal?

If you have a cheap crapy amp, fine. At least it will sound better but if you have a good amp, use an overdrive e.g. Maxon OD808