Panning options with Reverb/Delay

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Rockstar Vatican Assassin
Member Since: Mar 20, 2009

So I've been working on my bands album now for over a year and still feel like I'm getting nowhere. I mean.. what we got now we can sell and it being a basement recording, no one is displeased. However, I keep going back to it everytime I read something new. Now I've found myself in a new pickle.. panning stereo busses.

So here's the setup now... and where I need help. My original thinking was very simplistic.. send both L and R guitars to a stereo bus and then pan the bus according to each guitar. So in other words, I have the L guitar track sitting at .30, sending it only to the left channel of the bus, and panning that channel 100% L. The same method used for the R guitar as well.

But now I'm reading that to get that uber sound for guitar, you actually want the stereo bus per track. So I would send the mono L guitar to its own bus and then pan that bus maybe 10% and 40% to the Left of center.

And then I read from the audio cookbook this little quip:
...For big guitar sound, pan the guitar and the delay/reverb to the center (or put your monitors in mono) and then slowly increase the delay until it sounds bigger.....

WTF? Pan two guitars to the center?
So clearly.. I'm lost here. What is the best use of a stereo bus as it pertains to chorus/reverb/delay for a two guitarist band?

Thanks

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http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Apr 01, 2011 01:50 pm

I've used stereo delays on guitars panned at 8 o'clock (left) and 4 o'clock (right). 15 ms delay on the left, 30 ms on the right. Does a great job at making the guitars pop out of a mix sometimes. Definitely not suitable for all songs or styles...but sometimes I love it.

Interesting thought, to stack the delay and guitars in the same position. I might try that.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Apr 01, 2011 08:37 pm

what sorta music ya doin Hip?

Main thing with distorted gits is getting the right amount of distortion and then the right amount of top end as a collective.

Ya proly already know this but just to be sure,
I dont even worry about what it "looks" like im doing to the eq, my main goal with guitars is to clean as much mess off the top and bottom end as humanly possible in line with the song.

That means "presence" too much of this will keep your gits down in vol, same goes for treble,

You want the meat of the gits to be what makes distorted guitars sound good, which is mostly mid range.
Too much top will kill the cymbals, the vocals, and the hats and anything else that sits there.

I gather you know all this man, but you'd be suprised how much you can tweak what you "think" is good already, to dial them in more.

Take a sit back an have a listen to the song as a whole, not honing in on anything in particular, and just see how the song makes you feel,

You'll soon be going eeewwggh there's a real irritation here, or a real honk there.

i just been going thru tweaking my stuff ready for a test master and this is what i been going thru, among other things.

3 worst things for distorted guitars.

Too much distortion ( a biggy)

Too much bottom end. Roll off anything under 100hz

Too much top end.
Roll back what is required but mainly back to a minimum of 10k (its just not needed)
i someitmes go as far 8 to even 6k if ive tracked too much in the first place.

Again, you'll find you'll be increasing the cymbal freq to get over the gits. thats when it falls in heap.
It might sound passable your mix,
but come master time,
Death.

The morale of the story is,
when you have less of the ****y messy freq you dont need, you can turn the guitars up more.
"Then"
you can get to meat of the guitar sound and there's your fattness. IMO.
Showcase the meat, by trimming the by-product.

Do that as well as double tracking each side and you'll be good.


I hope this helps.




Typo Szar
Member
Since: Jul 04, 2002


Apr 01, 2011 11:38 pm

Wat dematrix said, but more to the point of ur original post, I dont see y u need a seperate bus per track?

Reverb and delay buses are basicaly simulating a real life situation, thast the first thing to have in mind. All ur guitars (drums, bass, vox, keys) have to inhabit the same space, whether its big small, bright or dark. So i dont see y u would need a ton of buses unless some of them are for special effects. If u pan ur guitars differently throughout the bus and their EQ'd in a way taht their not smearing eachother u should get a good spread on the single bus no problem. If u want each track to maybe delay a bit differently r so, u can just insert.

Rockstar Vatican Assassin
Member
Since: Mar 20, 2009


Apr 03, 2011 08:26 pm

Thanks all...

I ended up giving each Guitar its own stereo BUS vs having two guitars (different players, different sound) going through a single BUS. I think I do like it better; It gave it more of that big sound.

@ Dematrix,
Guitars are taking me forever! Thanks for the tips.

Here's what I've got so far; let me know your thoughts regarding how the guitars sound (plus chorus/delay FX).

dl.dropbox.com/u/5535054/...The_Reality.mp3

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Apr 04, 2011 01:07 am

guitars sound fine to me.
Cymbals are overwhelming everything though. they be very loud.

Rockstar Vatican Assassin
Member
Since: Mar 20, 2009


Apr 04, 2011 09:22 am

@ Dematrix..

LOL, and I just turned them up cause I thought they weren't loud enough! I'll bring them back down and repost when I get the chance. Thanks!

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