Fattening up guitars

I'm trying to clone a guitar track, using panning and delay to thicken it up.

I also seem to remember reading about bouncing an audio track to split mono, and then doing something from there.

To be honest I'm still not 100% sure about the mono/stereo thing. I know that the guitar is recorded in mono, but is it bounced or exported as stereo somehow? Can anyone just clear the mono/stereo thing up a little?

Many thanks

Thanks Beag that makes sense. Been unsure of this since I started recording, even though I've read quite a lot about it.

Hi Rob

For the bluesy overdriven rythym guitar sound you've used on your songs on Soundclick I'd really recommend doubling your guitar, i.e. recording the same part twice, not cloning one take.

There are two main advantages to doing this - first off, you can record the two parts with different amp and EQ settings, or even with different guitars if you like. This will give you distinct differences between the two which, when panned apart, will certainly thicken up the sound.

Secondly, and just as importantly, you will probably find it almost physically impossible to play the same part exactly the same twice - the slight nuances in timing and attack will help to separate the two takes and give a greater 'meatiness' to the overall sound.

With cleaner guitars, or where you just want it to sound like one guitar only is playing, I agree with what Beagle is saying - you have to create some differences between the two clones.

A great way to do this is to EQ your separate cloned tracks differently - try it with a simple graphic on each track, cutting and boosting identical corresponding frequencies on each track.

A great free EQ which will do a similar job if you record your guitar in stereo, or bounce your two mono clones to a stereo track, is Voxengo's OVERTONE GEQ VST plug-in.

Just a few ideas Rob, hope they help you

Steve

There is also "chorus", a light setting. Kjaurehause(sp) classic series are free. When cloning a track, panning one left, the other right, and not necessarilly 100%, maybe 60% to 75% left/right, or any combination, 60 one side, 75 the other, then chorus one side, or reverb one side or combination. But the best suggestion was to re-record as close as possible, pan to each side, different effects, many ways to do this.
Later
Albert

Rob.... My prefered method of recording guitar is to get the sound I want before I record. I choose not to add the FX in the track as a plug in, but instead to get the sound I want out of the amp or POD2 before I start recording.

To "fatten" the sound, I generally use gain. Turn down the master some and crank up the pre-gain to get the distortion happening in the amp. Distortion in a tube circuit (and some simulated tube circuits) add Even Order Harmonics to the original tone and by their very nature, EOH make the sound fat.... That's why tube preamps are used to "warm up" vocals....it's the same principal. With my POD it's easy to do as I only need to select the amp model I want to get the sound I'm looking for....my Boogie also makes it easy to get the desired sound.

As Gambler said, a bit of chorusing or flanging or a slap back echo from a pedal might also help. If that's the sound you're going for....delays will sound different than EOH, and there's a difference in the resulting sound.

Clean guitar is a bit more challenging to fatten, but it can be done by the same method.... crank the pre gain....just not as much, keeping the guitar clean sounding...Those EOH are present, even in a clean tube circuit.... use a smaller amp so you can turn it up while still playing clean, because the EOH tend to become more prominant at the higher volumes where the output tubes start to clip a bit....it's that clipping that makes the EOH pop out.... keep the preamp tubes from clipping and the sound will be clean, but still have a fattness to it.

final note: I use FX for the unique sound they give....like a slap back echo...or reverb....I never try to use any FX to "fatten" the guitar's sound....That is done (by me) with the volume & tone settings on the guitar and the gain & eq settings of the amp.

Plenty to think about here, more than one way of skinning a cat for sure.

Herb I always record my guitars dry now, after finding out the hard way earlier on. I'm finding I get a good sound from the JCM900 amp sim. I used to have a Marshall JCM900 years ago and I've always tried to get that sound again, the nearest I get is this plug in.

Thanks again

Sorry Herb. I always related the word gain to volume. In some situations it probably is a correct assumption, but obviously not in this one.
As to your recording preferences, I just can't do it. I mean, I'll play through an amp sim with effects as I am recording, but I usually don't record those effects. I record the dry signal. And then go back a fix and change and adjust, and maybe even end up going back to the original settings I monitored with, but I just don't have the confidence to get a sound and stick with it. Which is not to say your way is wrong, I just can't force myself to do it. But then, I believe you are an old school, true electric guitar player, where I was more an acoustic player, very seldom did I play the electric live. The bass was the first live electric instument, followed by electric for a few years, and then back to acoustic. Probably explains our difference in approach.
Later
Albert

+1 on the use of pork products. Always seems to fatten things up.
I too use the guitar hacker method. I have to like the tone I hear before I can record.
Because the tone is where I get to draw from my own emotion. I f the tone is not close, no emotion.
This might not work for you, but that’s the way I like to roll.
A good guitar tone can be inspiring.