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GMC Forum _ Recording _ Guitar Overdubbing Question

Posted by: muntahunta Sep 11 2009, 12:17 PM

is it better to record the guitar many different times as tight as possible for the overdub or is it better to just use the same recording and duplicate it?

I'd like to know because one way would save alot of time but id rather have the best quality

Posted by: MickeM Sep 11 2009, 01:00 PM

You can't use the same recording since it'll sound weak out of phase.

Rerecord as tight as you can! ...several times and put a perfectly clean guitar in the middle while the others are panned.


EDIT: A metal guitar could be like this
Perfectly clean in the middle
The sound you want to stick out panned ~60% left and right (two different takes)
And over distorted sound panned far righ and far left (two different takes)

That are five takes in all. Try it and see what you think.

Posted by: muntahunta Sep 11 2009, 01:07 PM

cheers dude, ill try it with my next recording smile.gif

Posted by: steve25 Sep 11 2009, 06:03 PM

Definetly don't just copy the same guitar track as it won't sound like you've doubled it it'll just sound louder. Ideally if you want to double track or quad track then you should change the tone in some way slightly but so that it still fits together

Posted by: tonymiro Sep 11 2009, 06:06 PM

In the Sept 2009 issue of Sound on Sound there's a good bit in the Q&A section on this.

Posted by: Matt23 Sep 11 2009, 06:15 PM

Yeh you need to record seperate tracks in time for it to sound good. There is something you can do though which isn't as good, but takes a lot less time, so it's good for less important recordings. Record your track, duplicate it, pan the original and duplicated tracks to opposite sides of the mix, then move the duplicated track forward or backward a very small amount. This creates a more wide, overdub style sound, and if you move it only a very small amount, the tracks still sound like they're playing at the same time.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Sep 11 2009, 09:12 PM

Separate tracks is always better. And try not to use too much distortion as the two overdriven guitars will add up the compression. Those subtle differences in playing when recording 2nd take is what makes the riffin huge in the recording.

Posted by: David Wallimann Sep 11 2009, 09:23 PM

Yeah, always double your guitars yourself.
I recommend recording one with a good V shape EQ (lots of Highs and Bass, very little mids..
And double that with a flat kind of EQ..
I had great results that way!

Posted by: Sollesnes Sep 11 2009, 11:26 PM

What about solos? smile.gif

Posted by: enforcer Sep 12 2009, 04:26 AM

QUOTE (Sollesnes @ Sep 12 2009, 01:26 AM) *
What about solos? smile.gif


It is too hard to dub solos as they tend to differ a lot from each other in the matter of tightness I guess ofc, here I am not talking about melody parts but real solo parts...

Well the most complicated stuff that I used dubbing with is clean complex arpeggios, didn't tried any thing more complex that that.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Sep 12 2009, 03:03 PM

QUOTE (Sollesnes @ Sep 12 2009, 12:26 AM) *
What about solos? smile.gif


Solos are ovedubbed as well, but in a different way and not that often. You can for example add a nice harmonizing sequence to the solo, playing thirds on the overdubbed track to spice it up a bit if you feel that the part is a bit "weak" in that particular area.

Posted by: Rated Htr Sep 12 2009, 04:52 PM

Omg, this topic is helping me alot aswell, figuring out many mistakes. Thanks guys smile.gif

Posted by: David Wallimann Sep 12 2009, 04:56 PM

QUOTE (Sollesnes @ Sep 11 2009, 06:26 PM) *
What about solos? smile.gif


Petrucci doubles most of his solos..

Posted by: enforcer Sep 12 2009, 04:59 PM

QUOTE (David Wallimann @ Sep 12 2009, 06:56 PM) *
Petrucci doubles most of his solos..


because he is John Petrucci I guess laugh.gif

Posted by: David Wallimann Sep 12 2009, 06:20 PM

Hehe!
Yeah, of course... :-)

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Sep 22 2009, 03:54 PM

In Blind Guardian pretty much everything gets doubled smile.gif At least doubled...
As the others already said, if you want to double a take you HAVE to record it a second time, just copying your first take will not have the effect that you want, it will alway sound mono, no matter how you pan it and it will also never sound fat and big. Of course you should play as exact as possible, the more takes you plan to layer the better you have to play, otherwise it will sound horrible in the end, using headphones is a good thing here. And I also recommend not to use too much distortion cause it adds up in the end and what sounds ok with only one track will sound overdistorted and muddy when you double it. Another good thing is to alter the sound a bit, or even use different amps, play around a bit with different setups until you find the sound that you like.

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