Tracking guitars for two sides

[BaylorPRSer]

i was tracking guitars with record enabled on two tracks each hard-panned left and right. My buddy was telling me that that was incorrect and you had to physically track both sides each. Why is that? It's puzzling to me, because you want both sides to be identical, and the only real way to do that is to enable record on two tracks simultaneously, pan center or copy/paste from left into right or vice versa. any input?

[ZOMB13]

There is no correct or incorrect way, it all depends on what sounds better to you.

Personally for me, everything sounds much better having 2 guitars (one hard left, one hard right) some parts I still quad though (2 left, 2 right)

[MisterMcCruff]

Forgive me if I'm wrong here, as I'm a novice myself, but recording precisely the same thing L&R hard panned will help to space your mix out but won't make it any thicker. Tracking it twice (accurately) lends itself to a fatter sound.

[BaylorPRSer]

I'm getting good not great takes at the moment. Good enough to track drums ya know? But when I track the other side separately the differences are subtle but there. Using identical tracks for both sides doesn't have any distinct disadvantages though is what I am gathering, correct?

Thx so much for the replies guys!!! Means a lot.

[Clocks]

There has to be some difference in the sound for double tracking to be any use, if you put the same exact part panned l/r it is the same as doing 1 take in the middle.
The only way you could get round this is by using the Haas(sp?) effect, by recording the exact same sound, then moving 1 part 12ms ahead or behind, which would give the double tracking effect.
Its better to track 2 times then pan each one though.

[mniel8195]

if im correct just duplicating your take and panning it to the other side is just going to make it sound louder. the ideal is that you dont want both take to be identical. you want them to be tracked tight but their should be some differences.

[GSingleton]

Yeah playing it twice and panning gives you a thicker tone. If you do the exact thing on each side it just sounds center.

[BaylorPRSer]

cool thanks for the info guys.

[ShreddingDragon]

Separate takes for both sides, always. I don't really see the point in recording only one take and putting it on both tracks. If that sounds good to someone, I'm interested By slightly delaying the other one, moving it further by a few milliseconds, it can be made useable in an emergency... But it's not going to be as lively and 3D as by individual tracking per side.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by mniel8195

if im correct just duplicating your take and panning it to the other side is just going to make it sound louder. the ideal is that you dont want both take to be identical. you want them to be tracked tight but their should be some differences.

You are correct.

The point of multitracking isn't to have the guitar physically in two places at once in the mix, it's to create a sense of stereo spread and depth. For this to work, paradoxically, the two performances CAN'T be identical. You want them as tight as you can get them, but ever-so-slight differences in your attack and timing and the way notes sustain and the physical waveforms as they're captured will make each side sound slightly different, and give you a much bigger, lusher sounding recording.

Psychoacoustically, the best guess I've heard for why our ears like this is that when we're playing in a room and listening, we don't hear a guitar from one point. We hear the guitar coming from the cab, but we also hear it reflected off the floor, the ceiling, the walls, and we hear it coming at us from a number of different points (condensed down to L and R by our ears) Recording multiple tracks recreates this effect surprisingly well, and sounds more "natural" to our ears.

If done right, of course. There's nothing worse than sloppy doubling.