What will give a better guitar sound?? Dual Track or Quad tracked?

[doclegion]

Whats the best technicue for tracking guitars?? I always use dual tracking (hard L hard R) and the occasional one up the center but quad seems to work well and make it fuller but everything seems to come down a bit in the mix if i quad them up!! Whats your opinion Whats a good way to go about this to achieve a mix of guitars??

 

[poidaobi]

What's the meaning of Life? Should I use a Mesa or a Peavey? Should I use a Pearl or Sonar Snare?

Depends on many variables and applications.

A good way to get a decent guitar sound is preperation and a good guitar player who is tight and does what he is told (not me! Ha-ha)

 

[006]

Neither is "better" than the other, let's get that straight right off the bat. Double-tracked can work out a lot better if the guitar player(s) aren't tight enough to do two takes per side. I personally prefer double-tracking because it's always tighter sounding, whether the guitarists are tight or not...if they aren't on double, then they will sound just awful quad. Also, double present a bit of a challenge trying to get the guitars to sound as big, which I like. Doubles offer a more focused sound, regardless of how tight the players are. Most importantly, which one is "better" comes down to a lot of factors, main thing being the project itself.

~006

 

[ze kink]

I usually like the organic quality of dual tracking, so that's what I usually go for. It's just a matter of taste really. Oh, and I hard pan the guitars.

 

[PostMortem1666]

Quad tracking is just too much for me also. I like only dual tracking. I have quad tracked before and it just isn't as tight sounding as dual tracking. Sometimes if I want a little more thickness I will quad track and turn 2 of the takes down in volume to where it is only slightly noticeable.

 

[Ermz]

It depends on what the project needs. On rock music I frequently leave the verses more sparse then kick into the choruses with 4 or more guitars. With metal, if it's crushing music and you have tight players, there's usually no reason not to quad-track. It gives a larger, denser sound and can be the difference from 'great' to 'fuckin ace'.

 

[roy22341]

Lately I've found that dual tracking works best for me. For a while I was using the POD and quad tracked, however I started micing up a 5150 and found that quad tracking was just way too much. My guitarist is certainly tight enough to quad track, but I'm just not a fan of it - especially for faster songs. As moonlapse said though, usually the chorus is going to have four or more guitars. Well now that I've contradicted myself about 4 times I'm going to go ahead and say its a case by case basis and whatever sounds better IS better.

 

[doclegion]

Just thought i would ask i dualed and i was like awesome then the quad sounded fuller then i was like WOW THATS LOUD WHERE DID EVERYTHING GO hehe

 

[2000ContourSVT]

I prefer double tracking. Quad tracking just seems a little too much. I used to do quad tracking but I'm not the tightest player in the world and I found that double tracking is thick enough when adding a bass guitar and drums to the mix.

 

[Torniojaws]

If the music is fast with lots of technical riffs, double
If the music is slower/simpler with mostly power chords, quad

 

[-Noodles-]

If the music is fast with lots of technical riffs, double
If the music is slower/simpler with mostly power chords, quad

+1

 

[siegfried]

And what about triple-tracking (L-C-R)? What are your opinions?

 

[Torniojaws]

Well, Metallica's Black album was done a bit like that (multitracked guitars on both sides plus a rhythm guitar in the center), and obviously it worked there. Personally I didn't feel it added much to the sound when I tried doing it for some things a few years ago. The center is already jam-packed with stuff, so adding more wouldn't be my first choice But then again, I've got a lot of synths there too. It probably would work better in music with just guitars, bass, drums and vocals.

 

[siegfried]

The center is already jam-packed with stuff, so adding more wouldn't be my first choice

Aren´t standard L-R double/quad tracked guitars occupying, when played tight, also center?

 

[TheWinterSnow]

i prefer dual tracking simply because it is more organic and tighter. if you are playing slow huge rythms then go for quad.

also to help thicken the sound with dual tracking, don't hard pan, that's a huge culprit of making the middle areas to sound open and the guitars to sound thin. if you want to get the organic sound with the quad tracked thickness, you can quad track and pan your two mains at 50 L/R and then pan your quads at 100 L/R with the quads at half volume, then bus all your guitar tracks together into a guitars master fader. it will supplement the far stereo field but not be loud enough to really be heard, until you mute them, which then you will hear how those quads are really make the sound thicker without being noticeable.

 

[poidaobi]

Aren´t standard L-R double/quad tracked guitars occupying, when played tight, also center?

 

[Torniojaws]

Aren´t standard L-R double/quad tracked guitars occupying, when played tight, also center?

In a way, but then again not. The center channel has them both, but they are not in the center. 100 % panned they are only played in one speaker on each side, the other speaker doesn't have any information from the other side, so they are not in the center. But if both play the same riff, you can hear it in the center too, sort of.

 

[The Crystal King]

also to help thicken the sound with dual tracking, don't hard pan, that's a huge culprit of making the middle areas to sound open and the guitars to sound thin. if you want to get the organic sound with the quad tracked thickness, you can quad track and pan your two mains at 50 L/R and then pan your quads at 100 L/R with the quads at half volume, then bus all your guitar tracks together into a guitars master fader. it will supplement the far stereo field but not be loud enough to really be heard, until you mute them, which then you will hear how those quads are really make the sound thicker without being noticeable.

This is exactly what I've been trying, and it seems to get the best sound. So the secondary panned tracks are only 60%, or even less, of the volume of the mains, and still they seem to beef up the sound nicely! It also doesn't matter as much if you're playing isn't ultra tight in those quads, because the mains will be the dominant sound for the listener!

 

[colonel kurtz]

i like double-tracking with 2 instances of each performance, whether it's by sticking 2 mics on a cab, reamping, copying and using different amp sims, etc.