2 guitars - indie rock..how do you like to mix them?

[Methlab]

This is always something I like to get more in depth with and probably gloss over when I mix.


I am working on more minimal rock mixes when it comes to guitars. I can make the guitars rock simply by hard panning 1 left and 1 right for what Im doing. Basically, I like less guitars in the mix because the whole big guitar thing is just kind of done to me. Plus this retains a live feel and is more organic to me.

Here is a current example of 2 takes:

left side guitar is a tele (pup switch middle)into a marshall..kind of ambient miced for a room sound..then the right side guitar is a tele (bridge pup, tone knob dialed down a little) into a ts9/tube screamer > memory man then a into a Vox close miced.

The guitars will play different parts, but also come together too. For me, if it is blending and rocking before I add any EQ or mix effect, I am happy. If not, I will not record until it is.

So that being said, how do you guys like to EQ guitars in this vein? Should they both get a dose of 9k..should I set up some kind of delay bus to pan each a little to the opposite side? When I buss them together, should I glue them, or maybe just parallel compress? Are you adding some frequency to one guitar and subtracting from the other? High passing and low passing both?

I'd love to hear ideas on how you guys would approach this. Interpol does this a lot..Tokyo Police Club..etc..

[dropblacksky]

As with everything, it depends on the arrangement...but in the case of 2 guitars, bass, drums, and vocals...I like to maintain a sense of frequency balance across the stereo spectrum. Basically, what that means is that my panning scheme is going to be changing a lot throughout the song unless I'm specifically going for a 'live' vibe.

It sounds lopsided to me if guitar on the left is playing a chunky rhythm and guitar on the right is playing a lead line. If both guitars are playing complimentary parts in similar ranges they'll be panned away from each other....fro rhythm vs lead I might double track the rhythm and have it panned wide with the lead more in the center. I'll also often do what you mentioned and set up delay/reverb busses that allow a hint of say the Left guitar coming out of the right speaker...again, for me it's all about balance and keeping the song interesting through movement.

I generally don't 'eq' them apart (cut and boost different frequencies between two guitars) unless they are occupying the same space and conflicting... if they are L/R I'm looking again to maintain the overall frequency balance and energy across the stereo field.

[Methlab]

cool. So you would bus the 2 guitars together and maybe just a a HP/LP then? I think they may end up needing a little brightness and some 9k, so thats when I wonder if I should do both of them together or not. I think I may just bus them and parallel compress since the 2 tones sound good together.

But yeah, the guitars never deviate so much that one would play a chunk rhythm and the other doesn't..they mostly play the same thing except split up when I want to change dynamics.

Another band who did this really well was at the drive in..that may be a good example of what I am doing actually also. They usually kept it live sounding by hard panning 1 guy to a side, and then if they did do any pans it was for tripped out effects.

[jchadstopherhuez]

i've always felt that there is a REASON for two speakers.

best,

jchristopherhughes

[dropblacksky]

Yeah...the chunky rhythm vs. the lead is an extreme example....but sometimes even an octave difference between the two guitars can make things feel out of balance (to me anyway)...particularly when listening with headphones or earbuds (which the majority of people are doing nowadays).

If I'm doing similar processes or want to compress and glue them together, I'll definitely bus them together...but most eq is done individually.

I think the At The Drive In style is cool conceptually...and the Mars Volta as well...though, particulary with the latter, I can't get into the guitar solo coming at me from just one side. Mostly this is an issue with headphones...kind of like listening to early stereo mixes where the drums pummell your left ear only. I go for balance and movement in my mixes...but of course, everyone does it differently.