Treating volume differences when a lead guitar kicks in?

[Flow Of Time]

Hey guys,
since the day I started recording/mixing songs I'm struggling with this following problem:
There's (logically) a noticable, somehow odd sounding volume difference in my guitars when the lead guitar kicks in.
So how do you guys treat this kind of stuff? Volume automation?
Here's an example on a song I'm currently working on:
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/92n4bnyqdagiff5/9.1.13.mp3
Any help is appreciated

 

[CubanDude]

yep, automation

 

[Nimvi]

Volume automation, and also panning/EQ automation helps. Try to think of your leadguitar like a vocal. It should probably be the main element, and everything else is there to support it. If the support is dancing in front of the main artist, people are probably going to be pissed!

To find a suitable level for a lead element, it helps me to turn the volume down REALLY low (like barely audible), and the last things I want to be hearing before everything disappears are the vocal, kick and snare. Just a handy technique to get your balance in the ballpark.

Btw, personal opinion, but I think those rhythm guitars are a bit on the loud side to begin with.

EDIT: EQing while listening in mono helps too. If stuff is overlapping, it will be very apparant there.

 

[Flow Of Time]

Thanks for your answers
Are we speaking of automating the whole guitar bus to stay at about the same level or do you just automate the rhythm guitars down when the lead guitar kicks in?

Btw, personal opinion, but I think those rhythm guitars are a bit on the loud side to begin with.

Yes you're right, I'll have to work on that a bit further. I also feel like there's to much fizzyness remaining..

 

[mickrich]

If you are lazy like me, put compressor on rhythm guitar bus sidechained from lead guitar.
Set release time so they swell back up after the lead.

 

[amarshism]

I let my mix bus compression look after that

 

[tgs]

If you are lazy like me, put compressor on rhythm guitar bus sidechained from lead guitar.
Set release time so they swell back up after the lead.

I've tried that a couple of times (out of laziness as well of course, hehe) but it always made the rhythms sound weird, even with a long release time. Never managed to make it sound natural.

 

[Igor Samurovic]

I put an EQ that eats the 1-4khz area by 3 db out of the rhythm guitar when the lead kicks in. This will of course depend on what your lead tone is like, what pickup you use and what you play, but this is the most crucial range here. I do this because I like the punch to remain, but you can just as well drop the level of the whole rhythm guitar by a few DBs, as far as I know, this is what andy does to great success (or has done for years, at least). On the last Testament album, he really seems to have perfected the lead/rhythm frequency balance, on older albums he produced (doomsday machine for example) rhythm guitars mostly lose the gritty character when the lead comes in, but on the newest Testament album, he has a gritty and unobstructed rhythm guitar alongside the piercing lead. I have no idea how he does THAT, I'd like somebody to answer this if anybody knows

 

[Star Ark]

instead of automation i would put the solo rhythm guitars on a different track and lower their volumes but ive never needed to do that. my mix buss comp fixes that like amarshism said

 

[Flow Of Time]

Thanks for all the responses!
I'll try each suggestion and figure which works best for me