5 ways to get a bigger guitar sound in your mix
We all want our guitars to sound big, wide and powerful. Whether you’re making the next cult rock and roll hit or recording a popular acoustic tune, having a great guitar sound that can spread across the entire stereo field can have a huge impact on the listener and a huge emotional impact on the audience. song. .
1. Less is more
When layering guitar tracks, people tend to mindlessly jump in and layer after track of scratchy power chords etc. This process usually makes the final product sound like a wall of white noise and sound more or less like the notes of the song. This makes all guitars sound weak and thin and not emotionally powerful at all.
A well played guitar track with the correct pitches dialed in will sound much better and bigger than 6 roughly played guitar tracks. Less really is more. Take the band Nirvana for example. They were a three-piece band, so you could only play drums, bass, guitar, and vocals at the same time when they played live. But the guitars still sounded huge. This was because the guitar played really well, had the right tones dialed in, and was rigged in a way that made the guitar sound huge. There were also very well written and played drum and bass parts that filled out the rest of the frequency spectrum. The same goes for the band Cream. Another band of 3 pieces. But famous for really huge tones, not because there were more than 10 guitar tracks, but because the few guitar parts were amazingly played with the correct tones dialed in.
2.Dual tracking
“Hi Evan, what is double tracking?” Double tracking is when you overdub one duplicate track on top of another, for example a vocal or guitar track. This usually happens when someone wants a wide guitar track, they would record the take, then record a second take and pan each take hard left and right. This technique works very well for acoustic guitars. In Daft Punk’s song Horizon, the intro has a double tracked acoustic guitar turned left and right. Gives the illusion of a really wide stereo single guitar track. It also works well on clean electric guitars. Personally, I only do this dual left and right tracking when there isn’t too much in a mix. I’d do it mostly for song intros or intermissions or whatever, but if there’s a chorus part with a lot of elements, I’d typically strip that double-track part down to a single mono track and let other elements fit in and breathe in the stereo field.
3. Dialing in the right guitar tones
Many people just want to jump right in and lay down another guitar track, but this can lead to clutter and a wall of white noise as I mentioned in #1. It’s important to dial in the right punchy guitar tone you need first. recording. Doing this will beat a million years of EQ work later inside your DAW. Be careful not to dial in too much treble on your guitar amp. At first you have this feeling of brightness and presence, but it is only a temporary illusion. Too much treble can contribute to that horrible wall of noise that you don’t want to associate with your guitar tone. Give the mid-range a try. This is where his guitars thrive and where his guitars sound truly great. Also, if you have a drive setup built into your amp or a distortion pedal, try dialing in some distortion so you can get that huge, gritty sound that will cut through the mix later. As well as saturation, nothing too crazy. Give it a try and see what works best for you.
4. Layers of different shades
Like I said before, mindlessly layering a bunch of guitar tracks will sound lifeless and weak. It amazes me how many people just add a second, third, or fourth guitar track, not intending to duplicate the track, just with the exact same setup and tone, expecting a huge sound. If you’re going to layer, do it once and do it right. Just two healthy, well-sculpted guitar tones will sound huge compared to 4 or 5 duplicates, all panned center. As you layer these two tones, try to play the guitar part the same way, and try to pan them to exactly the same degree, so it sounds like you’re playing just one guitar. This won’t make your guitar sound wide, but it will help it sound huge, rich, and colorful.
Achieve different tones using different strings, different guitars, different pedals, different amp setups, different amps, different mic placements, different mics, etc. Also, if you played the original guitar with a pick, try doing the second part with your fingers, or vice versa. You can also try to vary the chords a bit. Just experiment and see what works well.
5. Overdub an acoustic guitar
This is not a very common move, but it works very well. It works on basically all genres, from hard rock to pop music. Simply overdub a clean acoustic guitar over your original guitar track with the same chords. Also, pan the acoustic and level it so it blends in with the original guitar and becomes an expansion of it. This acoustic guitar will add fullness, brilliance and natural harmonic brilliance to your guitar. I usually use a generous amount of compression on this overdubbed acoustic to let the brilliance shine through in the final mix.
So, in conclusion, I hope this article has enlightened you on how to get a great guitar sound out of your mixes. Use this knowledge I’ve given you today and experiment with these techniques and see what works well in your mix.
Thank you for reading.
Expect more mixing tips soon.
Have a nice day.
Evan.
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