which is the preferred tracking rythm guitar method?

[ApolloSpeed]

which is the preferred tracking rythm guitar method if you have two guitarist?

1st method: 2 guitar tracks, one player per side ?

2nd method: or 4 guitar tracks, one player on each side twice ?


I've normally had good results from the 1st method....but this band I'm reconding thinks they wanna do method number 2 so that it is heavier!

What does everyone here prefer in this situation?

 

[Wolfeman]

I would at least do number 2. I usually liek the sound of 4 guitar tracks per side though. I would never Single track like you mentioned in the first option.

 

[everybody's x]

at least two tracks of each

 

[wishtheend]

Two tracks per side - however if there is a section where both players play the same rhythm - have one guitarist record all 4 tracks. Sounds a lot tighter imo.

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

I think it's not uncommen to have one player play four tracks for the whole song, each guitar player playing the songs that they wrote the majority of.

 

[Matt Crooks]

1 guitarist, 2 tracks on each side. If they can't agree who's the better rhythm palyer, split the songs up between them. Or if they each have parts they play better, have one guitarist do the parts they are good at, and the other do the parts they are good at.

Also: make sure to use one guitar for all tracks - it will help with intonation issues.

 

[musickey]

Yeah have each guitarist track 2 performances on one side or the other. it can get kinda crazy if your using 2 mics on the cab, keep in mind your track naming convention to cut down on confusion.

 

[Wolfeman]

Yeah have each guitarist track 2 performances on one side or the other. it can get kinda crazy if your using 2 mics on the cab, keep in mind your track naming convention to cut down on confusion.

Good tip, it does get crazy with a bunch of mics and tracks.

 

[chadsxe]

1 guitarist , 1 track each side...

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Also: make sure to use one guitar for all tracks - it will help with intonation issues.

I chopped a riff up into 3 different parts on a 5 second section yesterday because of intonation issues, kept retuning, pain in the ass overkill

 

[musickey]

Good tip, it does get crazy with a bunch of mics and tracks.

Yes it does! i just got through tracking guitars for my band and i had - 1 scratch track, then i tracked 4 perfomances of DI so i could re-amp later with a 5150 and Triple Recto, and using the On/Off axis mic method so 4 tracks with 2 mics = 8, With all the tracks in there it gets kinda confusing i think the only thing that saved me was naming myshit in a way that made it easer. does anyone have an easier way. an example of my track labeling

DI Tracks
guitar_1
guitar_2
guitar_3
guitar_4
Re-amp Tracks
Mesa_1 on
Mesa_1 off
Mesa_2 on
Mesa_2 off
5150_1 on
5150_1 off
5150_2 on
5150_2 off

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Bus em

 

[musickey]

Bus em

Yeah after i get em all tracked i group all the 5150 tracks and all the Mesa tracks

 

[Massili]

regarding pan, with different guitar settings (ie 2 5150 and 2 mesa tracks) how do you guys pan 'em? i'm asking it cuz i quad tracked last time and it sounded a bit "wet" and double tracked sounded a bit more dry (for me it's cooler) and clear, it sounded that the 4tracked had a kind of verb on it... i recorded 2 diff amp settings but didnt know how to pan them for better results, every pan settings i did sounded bad. 5150 hard left mesa hard right, one amp on each side (95-70%)....every set sounded bad!!

 

[Wolfeman]

regarding pan, with different guitar settings (ie 2 5150 and 2 mesa tracks) how do you guys pan 'em? i'm asking it cuz i quad tracked last time and it sounded a bit "wet" and double tracked sounded a bit more dry (for me it's cooler) and clear, it sounded that the 4tracked had a kind of verb on it... i recorded 2 diff amp settings but didnt know how to pan them for better results, every pan settings i did sounded bad. 5150 hard left mesa hard right, one amp on each side (95-70%)....every set sounded bad!!

Phasing issues maybe?

 

[chadsxe]

regarding pan, with different guitar settings (ie 2 5150 and 2 mesa tracks) how do you guys pan 'em? i'm asking it cuz i quad tracked last time and it sounded a bit "wet" and double tracked sounded a bit more dry (for me it's cooler) and clear, it sounded that the 4tracked had a kind of verb on it... i recorded 2 diff amp settings but didnt know how to pan them for better results, every pan settings i did sounded bad. 5150 hard left mesa hard right, one amp on each side (95-70%)....every set sounded bad!!

I am guessing the "verb" you are talking about has to do with the precived delay between not so tight tracked guitars.

 

[Massili]

no phase issues at all wolf and chad u are right the guitars arent so tight but no that bad. I supposed at first that would be the problem... ill track the guitars again and see what happen... anyway, how do u guys pan guitars recorded that way?

 

[cobrahead1030]

i'm the loner herei guess...i like 3 guitar tracks, 1 on each side totally dry or with a LITTLE bit of reverb...one in the center @ lower volume, with a good amount of reverb; sometimes i'll have the center track do something different from the other two with chords/harmonies, or i'll have it drop out for a laid back section, and then kick back in for the next heavy riff...there's a lot of little things i can do with that 3rd track to effect the dynamics of the tune

only one per side sounds thin usually, and 2 per side sounds like overkill (in my recordings that is...i've heard other guys make both methods work great)

apollo, i'd try to explain to the band what you feel has gotten you the best results in the past...i think if a band is paying you to make them sound good, one would hope they'd be willing to do what's necessary to let you do that to the best of your ability

 

[Torniojaws]

I like tracking 2 tracks per side and one in the center, a little bit quieter than the side ones (3-4 dB less~). Tracking four tracks per side seems a bit redundant to myself - lots of more time spent tracking for a marginal at best improvement. If it works for you, then nice

 

[Ermz]

I prefer to get the one player to do all 4 tracks. That way you're at least ensured consistency between the takes. It's amazing how differently people can interpret the same riff.