# Double or quad track guitars?



## sevenstringj (Jul 5, 2010)

For rhythm work, what do you do?

PS - "Double tracked" means 1 right and 1 left track, both playing the same thing. "Quad tracked" means 2 right and 2 left tracks, all playing the same thing.

I chose to make the poll results "public" so we can reference recordings if voters have uploaded them.


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## sevenstringj (Jul 7, 2010)

MOAR!


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## Yaris (Jul 7, 2010)

There's no poll option for single track.


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## darren (Jul 7, 2010)

Yaris said:


> There's no poll option for single track.



^^ this. Especially in a two-guitar band.


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## VacantPlanet (Jul 7, 2010)

I double track, although I'm very curious about experimenting with quads.


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## troyguitar (Jul 7, 2010)

Is 1 track on each side "double" or "single"?


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## Prydogga (Jul 7, 2010)

1 on each side is single. I wish I had another guitarist so I could single track.


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## troyguitar (Jul 7, 2010)

I guess my stuff is single tracked then, sometimes with a different guitarist on each side but often it's just me on both sides.


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## nihilist (Jul 7, 2010)

1 track on each side is double track. Personally I quad track.


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## Prydogga (Jul 7, 2010)

Are you sure? Because single track is one on each side for stability, double is to make it thicker by doubling each side. Double is 2 each side I'm pretty damn sure.


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## friendforafoe (Jul 7, 2010)

@ Prydogga: My interpretation was "single" tracking was literally one guitar track (when you copy and paste a single track and pan hard left and hard right, it negates the stereo field and thus becomes essentially mono). I thought "double" tracking was one track played twice (so two separate tracks total), one panned left and one panned right ... in this case, I double track only

... now if I've been wrong all these years and you're right (not saying you are or aren't, I may be mistaken lol), then I've only been single tracking this entire time and have gotten some great results. 

It's all a matter of careful EQing and compression and how well the guitars sit with the kick drum/snare and bass. No need to quad-track on my end yet


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## friendforafoe (Jul 7, 2010)

Prydogga said:


> Are you sure? Because single track is one on each side for stability, double is to make it thicker by doubling each side. Double is 2 each side I'm pretty damn sure.



And that's what I thought quad tracking was


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## nihilist (Jul 7, 2010)

Prydogga said:


> Are you sure? Because single track is one on each side for stability, double is to make it thicker by doubling each side. Double is 2 each side I'm pretty damn sure.



Doubletracking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Prydogga (Jul 7, 2010)

Okay, now I'm just confused, you of all people should know (To FFaF), so I think I should judge your judgement, but I've always heard people in interviews and such say "Didn't even double track, just did one each side" and things like that, and as said above, two guitarist bands doing their track each side. So I'm really not sure.


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## Prydogga (Jul 7, 2010)

friendforafoe said:


> And that's what I thought quad tracking was



Shit I dunno, everyone always caused a big stink (In a good way ) over someone quadtracking, and I've never found 2 each side to be a hard feat, but 4 each side seems overkill. I think I'm wrong on this completely.


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## nihilist (Jul 7, 2010)

If quad tracking was really eight tracks there would be no one doing it, because it would be a phasy mess. Yet I hear of plenty of people quad tracking. Including professional producers.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/instruments-guitar-bass-amps/495080-quad-tracking-guitars.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/production-tips/359939-quad-tracking-guitars.html
http://www.guitarampmodeling.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=11092&start=0


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## Prydogga (Jul 7, 2010)

Ahh, noted.


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## Bananalyze (Jul 7, 2010)

I've never tried quad tracking.... It sounds like it might be too excessive. 

I just do two tracks panned left and right (both me).


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## sevenstringj (Jul 7, 2010)

OK! So lemme clear this up, and sorry for any confusion. When I say "double tracked" I mean 1 track on each side, playing the same thing (i.e., doubling). "Quad tracked" would mean 2 right tracks and 2 left tracks, all playing the same thing.


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## Joelan (Jul 8, 2010)

I was so blown away by the improvement in sound I got from double tracking I never tried quad tracking


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## haffner1 (Jul 8, 2010)

I usually do just double tracking, but not panned completely left and right, more like 50% each way. But then again, most of my mixes sound like crap when I do them myself anyway because I am no sound engineer. Even for harmonized parts, I still do just this, but maybe I am going about that the wrong way.


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## crankyrayhanky (Jul 8, 2010)

I sort of like 3 tracks (rock/metal)
2 dominant panned hard L/R, the 3rd one coming in at say 3 oclock with less volume, just adding some more during big moments

I was always a proponent of multi tracking, but then after listening to a lot of Slipknot, those guys go essentially like a live band- but each "single performance" guitar is molting several mics on several amps/cabinets making the sound Huge without layering several performances. I like that organic Hugeness


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## eyebanez333 (Jul 8, 2010)

We usually quad track. One guitarist is recorded using two mics on the same cabinet (different positions on the same speaker). One is panned hard to the left, the other not so hard to the left. The second guitarist is recorded using the same method...but one track is panned hard to the right, the other not so hard to the right. IF the song has a bunch of lead work in it, we'll just do three tracks. One from each guitarist playing the rhythm part, panned hard L and R respectively, with the lead track straight up center.


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## Zer01 (Jul 8, 2010)

What are everyone's thoughts on how to do minor 3rd harmonies (Swedish, metalcore, etc)? 

Do you: double track - riff on one side, harmony on the other side, or
quad track - riff on both sides, harmony on both sides?

I get even more confused when I try using 2 different amps to make a bigger sound. Which do I put on each side?


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## Triple7 (Jul 8, 2010)

I record two tracks for each guitar. I pan 1 tack hard right, 1 track hard left, 1 track about 50% right, and 1 track 50% left.

I thought what i was doing was double tracking.


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## Andii (Jul 8, 2010)

I double track and pan hard left and right.

Sound clip:
SoundClick artist: Axon Soundworks - page with MP3 music downloads


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