Let's say you are recording a rock band and you have the band lay 4 (or more) tracks of the same distorted rhythm part with slightly different tones/timbres... You pull up the 1st and work a compressors settings to give you that perfect blend of bite on the front edge & fatness, You get the attack & release set and it's pumping along with the rhythm just right. Now, Is it common practice to copy & paste that compressor with those settings to the other 3 guitar tracks that are playing the same part? I have done this before with good results and maybe adjusted the threshold a little more or less on some of the tracks, but I wonder if this is the wrong method?

That's how I'd do it: ctl-drag the first compressor instance into the other tracks. It might require some tweaking, but you'd start pretty close and even might only have to adjust the threshold. That's how I do multitracked vocals, anyway. Although there's usually less variation in vocals than guitars.

Thanks Bit... I was wondering if this was common or if I was half-arsing it. 20 Something views and nobody before you could say if they have done this before or not? hehe TROLLS!

Yep Ctrl/drag is how I do it too. Sonar is pretty quick once you learn the shortcuts & hot keys. Or like when dragging a track to another track or layer within a track to another layer.... shift/drag will let it move up/down but will lock it in it's place in time. Very helpful when compiling multiple takes into one useable track.

i would never use the same settings on multiple guitar parts.

if i'm doing multiples, it's to create sonic MAYHEM, not homogenize all of them to sound the same.


think of it as an opportunity to make a lot of different frequencies, do different things, at the SAME time.

then you have a sledgehammer sound.

instead of american cheese.

Well Of course I EQ them to sound different & pan them around the field. I also play a bit (like I said) with threshold, ratio, & output volumes to leave some less compressed than others. but the timing part of it... Attack & release are generally real close if several takes are 1 person performing the same piece of music right?

well, if you layer 4 tracks of the same piece of music played by the same guy, the same way, even if you switch up the compressor settings, the end result sounds very homogenous.

i mean, in theory you would think it would make the part more powerful, but in practice, it does precisely the opposite.

IMHO

in fact, if you WANT to make a guitar part sound SMALLER, then simply multi track it.

Batsbrew, Are you saying when you want a big fat rock sound you only track it one time? Or only twice for a L/R separation?

well, of course, we are strictly talking MY interpretation here.

there are no CORRECT answers, only opinions!
LOL

that said, when i want big fat rock sound, i track a single big fat rock track.

then, on playback in the mix, and ONLY then, do i decide if it needs more.

typically, i'll track with two different guitars, two different amp setups, two different mics, maybe even two different rooms! then i'll mix them hard left and right.

there is a clarity there, and the power comes into the way the different sounds spread out across the sonic spectrum.

at least, thats something i'm going for with my own material, and other folks' productions......

then, it's down to the performance. are the two guitar parts really gelling? performance wise? do they groove? are they totally brain-locked into the same power mode!!?

that's what i dig.


now, if you look at it the way brian May (Queen) used to layer tracks, it's a different function...
he was not playing the same part multiple times.... he was multitracking individual parts to create the whole.
like scholz with boston, or anybody else from the classic rock days that layered guitars to create a bigger picture.

but the more you layer a single rock rhythm part on top of itself, the more the sound itself gets diminished.
you can only occupy so much sonic space with one part, before it starts to lose all of it's clarity, and it kind of mushes together.

we're talking aesthetics here, i'm sure there are pro producers who regularly multitrack the same rhythm guitar parts on top of each other, and make it work.