Getting A Better Guitar Tone: Part 2

Today I will start part 2 in my series of getting a better guitar tone in your mixes and recordings. If you haven't already, check out Part One and start there. Today we are going to talk about how you can get a big guitar tone, and how you can guitars to stand up front without covering up the vocal. This applies particular to alternative and rock music but you'll find this useful in any genre that needs the electric guitars up front.

Double The Guitars

Much like recording acoustic, doubling your electric guitar tracks will instantly boost the width and "huge" factor of the recording. Your guitars will give the instruments up the center some breathing room, and give a bigger sound to your mix. In case you don't know what doubling is, it is simply recording two different takes of the same part, and then panning them hard left and right in the mix. It's important that you actually record two takes, otherwise it will sound mono even if you copy and paste. The frequencies must be slightly different. 

You will probably find yourself primarily using this during the rhythm sections but it can also be useful in a lead outro or intro. One creative trick I've been using when doing doubled leads is to do them an octave apart. I will have one play an octave higher or lower than the other and keep them panned hard left and right. This helps to give a huge lead sound and really take the song to another height on an intro or outro. 

Cut Around 2Khz

The main problem you will run into when trying to get a huge guitar sound is that the electric guitars will often end up masking the vocal. You'll have the two fighting for attention you don't want that. This is where EQ comes in hand. EQ is really all about balancing tracks and getting them to play nicely together. A great way to help electric guitars sit nicely with a vocal is to cut around 2khz. The 2khz range is where a large part of your vocals lie. Mid range instruments like guitars can usually take a 3 to 6db cut around 2khz without losing much of their tonality. When you do this, you will notice the vocals start to shine through more. This helps tremendously and keeps you from trying to go in and boost unnecessarily on the vocal track. 

In part three we will talk about why you using compression on electric guitar, why you shouldn't solo it, and why you should use less distortion. See you then!