Thickening single guitar track

[lumpong_bayag]

Is there other way to thicken the sound of one single track than doing double tracking or quad tracking?
Duplicating the track then apply delay but how many milliseconds?

 

[Ihsahn1981]

Is there other way to thicken the sound of one single track than doing double tracking or quad tracking?
Duplicating the track then apply delay but how many milliseconds?

As many ms as is needed I guess.. 3? 4 maybe?

But I tell you man, its always better to double or quad track.

Hopefully you already know this and the duplicating thing is an emergency solution.

 

[Zack Uidl]

duplicating and adding MS delay to one track is not a good idea....

 

[Joematthews]

duplicating and adding MS delay to one track is not a good idea....

+1, sounds phasey and horrible

Joe

 

[Metaltastic]

+1, sounds phasey and horrible

Joe

Well unless you hard pan them to opposite sides, which works when there's only one guitarist and the rhythm parts have a lot of little improvised licks and stuff that would sound horrid when doubled (a big example would be Steve Vai when he was playing in Alcatrazz and David Lee Roth's band, you can definitely hear it's him on the left and him slightly delayed on the right, and it works really well IMO!)

 

[LydonB]

If your goal is to fatten, 30 ms of delay would be appropriate. But I would try double track instead.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

If your goal is to fatten, 30 ms of delay would be appropriate. But I would try double track instead.

I have to disagree here, since most people can clearly hear a delayed signal of 30ms as a completely different sound from the original that is playing simultaneously.

 

[LydonB]

I have to disagree here, since most people can clearly hear a delayed signal of 30ms as a completely different sound from the original that is playing simultaneously.

Well the point is to double or fatten the original track. I wouldn't do it, just saying that is an option. No more than 30ms though.

 

[lumpong_bayag]

thanks guys
i want sound like 2 playing guitarist left and right,
soundlike "double tracking" although sounds bit artificial

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Well the point is to double or fatten the original track. I wouldn't do it, just saying that is an option. No more than 30ms though.

I know it is, and I have unfortunately had to use it myself on some occasions

 

[John_C]

if you've got repeated riffs, you can do a bit of trickery.

eg
Riff A is played twice. Lets call that A1 and A2
A1 panned left, A2 panned right............followed by A2 panned left A1 panned right

 

[Erkan]

if you've got repeated riffs, you can do a bit of trickery.

eg
Riff A is played twice. Lets call that A1 and A2
A1 panned left, A2 panned right............followed by A2 panned left A1 panned right

That's a cool idea

And about the delaying... I don't think it sounds good really but I guess it depends on a lot of things... but if you absolutely can't double track it, I guess it's the only way if you want a thicker sound.

 

[-Noodles-]

How come no-one has mentioned parallel compression??

 

[beyond dead]

How come no-one has mentioned parallel compression??

ya really!

 

[if6was9]

yeah parallel compression is good for this but be careful with it as with some tones it can become over bearing in the lower mids/bass.
I've done some live recording where they've only 1 track of guitars- totally forgot about the delay thing!

What I've done with vocals before to simulate double tracking is copy the vocal into a new track, then move that by a few MS, then change the pitch by a matter of cents, pan it to the other side of the main vocal and mix it in to taste. Worked well for demo purposes but I've never tried it on guitar. the amount you delay it by and the no. of cents you change the pitch by vary the severity of the effect so they vary from project to project- just have a play around with them

 

[Jevil]

Parallel comp. and stereo reverb.

 

[wishtheend]

The amount of processing you'd have to do to even get something somewhat passable is not worth the few minutes it should take to double track.

 

[beyond dead]

The amount of processing you'd have to do to even get something somewhat passable is not worth the few minutes it should take to double track.

agreed. but sometimes you have to make the best out of what you have been given to work with.

but ultimately, If you can get the guitarist to double track, DO IT!

comping guits I usually either multiband compress, or high pass the compressed signal.

im curious as to how many people parallel compress guitars? (sorry to derail)

I generally dont, but have before, and it sounds bitchin!

 

[if6was9]

yeah like I said earlier- live recordings with only 1 guitarist, really helps if you can thicken that up and there's no option of double tracking since its a gig

 

[John_C]

i really recommend you try the method i detailed earlier. I've made many quick demos of guitar tracks like this, it really can work very well