Guitar Recording

[GregDarva]

Just wondering for all metal guitar players. 2 questions.

1) How many distortion guitar tracks do you record in the studio?

2) how do you mix them? (example: 1 left, 1 right, 1 up the middle)

i'm experimenting a lot with recording and want some tips on this.

[gerthboy]

I usually record at least three distortion tracks. One regular then I play the track again on a baritone guitar to beef it up, then play the same track again on a different guitar with different pickups like if I used single coils first I'll record with humbuckers etc, just to get the full range of sound.

As far as the mix goes I look at each individual track from each mic I've used and listen to them alone then slowly start bringing them into the mix together, I try to make them blend but when you take one track away you can definetly tell that it's not there.

Once I've got the mix the way I like it I bounce all the tracks to one track and then either pan left or right about 50%-70%.

to hear an example of my guitar recordings check out my myspace page and listen to the demo's. They are streaming audio so there is some phasing but its good enough to give you an idea. It's not metal guitar but the techniques work for all types of music

myspace.com/johnchevalliermusic (http://myspace.com/johnchevalliermusic)

[v BONES v]

I generally find that one stereo guitar will do the job nicely - if I'm feeling particularly omnipotent I might reverse the stereo image and do a second part - but thats usually plenty.

Layering parts doesn't always get you the result you are looking for. Listen to Jake E Lee's opening riff on Rock n' Roll Rebel (Ozzy, Bark at the Moon) there are apparently 4 or 5 guitar parts on it but you would never guess, it actually sounds like a short ADT. I guess the problem is that he played the overdubs so accurately that they are almost indistinguishable!

A simple left to right delay of 20 to 50 ms makes you sound like an army, drop in a subtle stereo flange or chorus and you've got enough width to take on Zakk himself!

[bob]

How many guitar parts do you have ?

When i have the same part i record it twice with the same gear and put one hard left and one hard right.

When i have two distinct parts i record each one twice with different gear and then pan each part hard left and hard right.

If you just have one part, another thing you can try is recording the part twice with the same gear, pan one track left or right dry, then pan the other part in the opposite speaker with a slight delay or reverb (like steph carpenter on 'around the fur')

With Alice in Chains, Jerry Cantrell would record his rythm tracks 3 times, each time in a different EQ range.