Two separate rhythm guitarists on an album

[Uladyne]

So we start rhythm guitars on thursday, and a concern was raised about having one guitarist play the rhythms to all the songs, which is presumably normal. The notion popped up to have the "other guy" play the rhythms to the one song he wrote, to sort of include him more in the process (he's contributed riffs and leads to numerous other songs as well).

I don't see this as a problem, as both guitarists have very similar rhythm styles, and neither is a sloppy player. The main guitarist though seems to be pulling the "90% of tone is in the hands" card and is afraid that that one song will sound noticably different from all the others if he doesn't play it. the same guitar and rig would be used.

It is arguable which of the two guitarists plays tighter rhythms. I've worked with DI's from both of them. If it were all about tightness I would prefer to play rhythm guitar on all the songs I wrote, but seeing as I'm playing bass for the band and not guitar, I'm not gonna try to hog everything. Its already been discussed that if any body gets stuck on any rhythm parts on my songs I'll probably have to jump in on it anyway, thus defeating the whole "hand tone" argument.

So I guess the question would be: Do you think it would be that big of a deal in the end to have the rhythm guitars for one song played by a different guitarist? I am of the opinion that there would be no discernable difference in the end, but I'd like to consider other opinions as well.

Sorry if this should have been posted elsewhere. Didn't seem to fall into production tips, but still seemed a bit too "production-esque" for the off topic tavern.

 

[Skinny Viking]

If its arguable about who is the tighter player I would say let the other guy do the rhythms since as you pointed out there would probably be no discernible difference in the end. That plus the morale benefits

If he was a sloppy player it would be different

 

[fabz]

We're tracking rythms at the moment the second time for the same album. First i played all the rythms but we figured it would be cooler to have the both of us each playing his part. If both guitarist are playing similar tight i don't see a problem as long as the same rig and guitar is used. If it sucks big time you still can retrack it.

 

[Rip-G]

Even if there would be a difference it's not a crime to make different songs sound a bit different. Even in metal. It's music after all not a T-Ford factory, isn't it?

 

[Lionwing]

Why don't you do what KSE do... no matter who writes the riffs, get both guitarists to play each riff before tracking and the band decide who's hands sound better on it. And if no one can tell the difference, then you're in a pointless dispute.

 

[Uladyne]

Why don't you do what KSE do... no matter who writes the riffs, get both guitarists to play each riff before tracking and the band decide who's hands sound better on it. And if no one can tell the difference, then you're in a pointless dispute.

It would be cool to do that if we had the time, but unfortunately we're paying a dude by the hour, so we want to try to have all of our ducks in a row before we start. Maybe if we save the song for last we can have both of them track it and decide between the two.

So yea, basically what you said, time permitting, haha. I don't want it to sound like a charity thing but if the dude wrote the song I think should have the right to play it on the album. I think the other dude is just worried because on their last album the other previous guitarist was super sloppy and the songs came out sounding way different from eachother, but I'm convinced it was due to a half-assed mix job where consistency wasn't even considered.

 

[vespiz]

I've found that tracking the same guitarst twice gets a tighter sound, but two different guitarists gets a wider sound.
Anyone else found out the same?

 

[Wolfeman]

I've found that tracking the same guitarst twice gets a tighter sound, but two different guitarists gets a wider sound.
Anyone else found out the same?

Yep. I kinda prefer when one guitarists records 'left' and the other records 'right'. Makes it sound more real to my ears. But if one guitarist sucks really bad, I can see it being a problem.

 

[vespiz]

True. No matter how you track it, if the playing is sloppy.. well.. good luck on the editing!

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

Even if there would be a difference it's not a crime to make different songs sound a bit different. Even in metal. It's music after all not a T-Ford factory, isn't it?

Exactly!