STUDIO-RIFFIC

Double, triple, quadruple your parts and be creative with panning.

Yes, there are lots of great sounding albums with guitars that are fairly static and just mono. Furthermore, there are lots of great recordings that feature minimal guitars. However, we are talking guitar here, and following in the footsteps of anyone from the Beatles, to the Eagles, to Steve Vai, to Queen, to Meshuggah, to Fall Out Boy, to the Foo Fighters and Tame Impala… all of these artists have utilised doubling of guitar parts and some creative panning to create contrast.

What do we mean by the term ‘double tracking guitar parts’? Literally that, having two takes of the same part. For example - play one pass of a rhythm/chordy part. Then change tones slightly and record the same part again. Pan the first part hard left and the second part hard right. What do you hear? You should get a big sound that’s spread across the stereo field. The two guitar parts are similar (in that they’re playing the same notes/part/riff/rhythm) but they’re slightly different due to the nuances in your playing. Even if you really try to nail the parts exactly, there’s going to be slight timing differences, variations in articulations and dynamics and so on. These variations, along with the panning left and right are what help to make the overall part sound big. This doesn’t mean the parts can be completely sloppy or badly played – they still need to feel good on their own, and be in time and well performed. But, the little rhythmic and time feel differences give the feel of a big guitar section as opposed to a single guitar.

This type of hard panning of double tracked parts works great for filling the stereo field as there is still room for instruments or parts that are panned to the centre of the mix (or indeed other instruments, typically bass guitar, kick drum and vocals). Furthermore you can experiment with anywhere across the stereo field (20 to the right etc, it doesn’t just have to be full left or right).

Hopefully you’re now starting to see the benefit of panning and double tracking and then also the possibilities if you get creative. Try doubling your doubles (?!) and maybe even doubling them again to thicken up tones even further. You could even layer harmonies in this fashion as opposed to always playing full chords across all 6 strings of the guitar. Multiple layered parts are a big feature of lots of modern metal recordings to really build a dense tone whilst complimentary parts or instruments (covering similar spaces and frequencies but not always playing the same part) show up in everything from bluegrass to psychedelic rock.

You’d also be surprised how much a tone that might sound overly bright or dark or not to your taste in isolation can actually work well in a layered/doubled/panned setting. Try it out! Once you start getting into the production aspect and mix stage of working with these parts, you can then really create impact and contrast between sections. Dropping to a narrower centre panned single instrument for a section and then opening up to pairs of hard left and right panned double tracked guitars creates contrast and adds extra tonal colours to the mix. Have fun with it!

BY NICK BROWN