Planning to head to the studio and was curious if this would be an efficient use of energy.

When recording in the past many of the songs have a section or two that have a big muff or similar and I often go back and overdub a clean or lightly overdriven track to give it some clarity.

Would it be helpful if I ran two amps at the same time with one doing my usual sound and the other running sorta clean. That way I am capturing both guitar sounds at the same time vs going back and laying down the overdub.

OR

Is it more of a pain in the ass to have both amps going and properly capturing both sounds.

The second amp thing should be doable as long as you can easily isolate it. That said an overdub here and there shouldn't add too much time either. None of these things are major time killers in the studio compared to not having solid practice and arrangements, being prepared and confident (or at least realistic) with vocals, having a shared vision as far as mix goes, etc.

Owen wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2024 10:47 am Would it be helpful if I ran two amps at the same time with one doing my usual sound and the other running sorta clean. That way I am capturing both guitar sounds at the same time vs going back and laying down the overdub.

I can guarantee that others will have more educated answers than me, but if it's the exact same guitar just through two different amps and they are completely synched in time (i.e., no delay), won't the sound kinda just morph into a single combination of both guitar sounds on the record? I think you need those slight differences that come from playing the same part twice to have the effect of hearing two separate guitars. Or maybe a very slight delay on one of the signals?

I might be talking out of my ass. Others, please correct as necessary.

No matter how prepared you personally are, your singer will be writing lyrics right up to and during their vocal performance.

twelvepoint wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2024 11:08 am No matter how prepared you personally are, your singer will be writing lyrics right up to and during their vocal performance.

LOL

In our case, our time waster was one fucking song, one that should have been a simple one to finish, that sounded like ass and I'm still not happy with (100% a performance issue).

One thing about us is that we over-prepare. I have a spreadsheet of all the songs broken down into sections, what effects, what guitars, what amps, where overdubs will need to go, vocals broken down to person and if a double track is needed, etc.

Rehearsals and confidence are at an all time high.

We were just at a smaller studio in January, and we kind of have our routine down pretty good, but making the jump to Electrical has me thinking.

Just trying to think outside the box of little time savers.

Recording the same signal through two different amps is still going to sound like a mono source. The subtle differences in timing and tuning you get from overdubbing another performance of the same passage is where things start to sound "big"

Nate Dort wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2024 11:14 am Recording the same signal through two different amps is still going to sound like a mono source. The subtle differences in timing and tuning you get from overdubbing another performance of the same passage is where things start to sound "big"

That is certainly something I want to avoid.

Owen wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2024 11:13 am One thing about us is that we over-prepare. I have a spreadsheet of all the songs broken down into sections, what effects, what guitars, what amps, where overdubs will need to go, vocals broken down to person and if a double track is needed, etc.

Rehearsals and confidence are at an all time high.

We were just at a smaller studio in January, and we kind of have our routine down pretty good, but making the jump to Electrical has me thinking.

Just trying to think outside the box of little time savers.

This shit is where it's at. I recorded a band once who finished an LP in EP time at an EP price and it was this that did it. It's nice to leave a little space for spontaneity, but that's actually easier when everyone can be a 1 take Jake.

Owen wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2024 11:24 am

Nate Dort wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2024 11:14 am Recording the same signal through two different amps is still going to sound like a mono source. The subtle differences in timing and tuning you get from overdubbing another performance of the same passage is where things start to sound "big"

That is certainly something I want to avoid.

The 'basically mono' part or 'distinct overdub' part?

It's understandable that not everyone wants an overdubbed sound (more 'true' to the live band sound, perhaps). If you're just looking to use the 2nd amp as a boost/blend for fuzzy parts (which is a good instinct. Blown out fuzzy guitar can sound 'smaller' in the mix) then that's a good way to do it.