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I've always been under the impression that distorted guitar (note: not just overdrive) pretty much always needs to be double tracked and panned hard L/R for it to sound powerful if used in a 'Drums/Bass/Guitar' setting with only one guitarist...Steve, I know you're into capturing a band live, but what do you do when it comes to thick distortion guitar? Do you just leave it down the Center or use two mics and pan hard L/R to get some sort of stereo doubletrack sound... OR do you have the guitarist come and overdub the guitars again and pan the original live take the overdub hard L/R?This is in the case of only one guitarist btw.Would be really interested in the answer because I come to this problem when recording live bands too.Thanks a bunchChris

Some bands double-track guitars for certain parts, some don't. A few bands have a routine of doubling all the guitar parts, but certainly not the majority of them.I don't have an opinion on whether or not it's a good idea. Sometimes it sounds interesting, sometimes it makes things sound more conventional and flattens out the dynamics.If you are going to double-track a distorted guitar part, I'd suggest using a different guitar for the second pass, so there is a discernible difference between them. This usually makes the doubling sound less muddy.

when steve recorded my guitar (which is rather treble-heavy and thin), he put 2 mics on the amp (see below) and then panned them to get a wider stereo image so it didn't seem too wimpy.

OK, thanks.Steve, have you double tracked the guitar on some shellac records or am I just hearing things?ThanksChris

Is it the angle the of the picture or the e22 is right on the cone and the Coles is a foot - foot and a half away?

chriscookbook wrote:Steve, have you double tracked the guitar on some shellac records or am I just hearing things?Lay off the pills man.

eliya wrote:Is it the angle the of the picture or the e22 is right on the cone and the Coles is a foot - foot and a half away?sorry for the terrible photo. your assessment is pretty accurate. if i remember, the coles was maybe a foot off the grillcloth.

I've heard great albums with double tracking or tons of guitars, and i've also heard great ones with one track, one guitar player. Think of all the great 40's, 50's, 60's bands in mono with one guitar player. It depends on the economy of the playing--some guys say more with less, some guys/ bands need more expansion and more elaboration.

steve,did you any double tracking on the monsoon?EDIT: now that the spambot got deleted this is no longer relevant.