This was another Really useful video - thank you for posting. Adding the DI into the mix makes a big difference in terms of adding clarity. I’ve been running mine through a tube preamp that I’ve been running slightly hit. I also found another trick. Instead of doing a full power chord, have the guitar play just the root on one set of tracks; then the fifth and octave on another. You can then blend between the two for depth vs cut.

Dr. Bob, above all else, I love that you talk to us like adults that have some idea what you’re talking about already. You approach this like it’s a conversation at a restaurant, not some overtly technical science class. It’s been really helpful many times. Thank you 🙏🏻

Love this. Great tips. Drums sound great as well!

Lots of great info here. In my own humbling moment, I found that adding some room reverb from an alesis midiverb 4 of all things blended in the mix, paired with the andy sneap pultec trick(adjusting top boost to taste) and dialing in upper mids with a wide q to taste gave some of my less than stellar previous recording projects some beefy guitars. Paired with a modified rear bus technique my buddies were astounded at the girth i got on the guitars vs my first mix many years ago. Sometimes those old cheesy reverb units are worth keeping around!

Great work Doc. So long ago I was limited to what I committed to the take and had to deal with that, no return. Now the DAW possibilities are endless and flexible. Thank you Sir for sharing.

Great stuff, I will endeavour to back off on the distortion with my future amp recordings. It can be added in later. Thanks very much!!!

Brilliant - thx Doc. Just the script I needed!

So, like, he starts by explaining the importance of having options during the mixing process and how having both live and direct guitar tracks can provide flexibility. He demonstrates how he splits the guitar signal using an amp switcher box, sending one side to an amp and the other directly into his recording software (Cubase). This setup allows for easier editing and gives him options for re-amping later. Dr. Bob then showcases various guitar tones and amp simulations he uses, emphasizing the importance of not over-distorting the original recordings to maintain clarity. He also applies EQ and stereo widening techniques to enhance the guitar sound. Overall, the video provides valuable insights into how to approach mixing and editing distorted guitars in a music production, ensuring flexibility and sonic quality in the final mix.

A nice feature of the Line 6 Helix is that USB channel 7 (I think that is correct) is the guitar signal with no effects. Just assign a channel in the DAW to that channel. Great video Bobby! Always great information.

Good one! I learned the hard way how hard it is to edit distorted guitars after a remote tracking session. LOL I used to feel bad about wanting ALL my options at mixing time, but have finally accepted it! LOL Another excellent diagnosis and prognosis by the Dr!

Just what I needed mate. Thanks.

Bloody Brilliant!!! Thanks you Sir!

AWESOME! Thanks so much for this!

I've actually used a Morley A/B/Y box to record a mic'ed amp and direct signal.

Awsome as usual!! I use some thing like this on my basses. Double them on muted guitar for clarity.

Great video, man! Sounds great! The riff totally reminds me of Blind by Korn. 🤘🏻

Great as always! Also BAE has a great di (with a carnhill transfer ) and it's got stereo outs. Great di for around 130$

My two cents: - To avoid "chorusy" sounding guitars (5:38) when summing wide stereo spread tracks (same take) to mono (like it or not, most BlueTooth speakers, Alexas, and such, still sum to mono) I always make sure that DI/amp sim tracks and amp/cabinet/mic/preamp tracks (same take) stay phase-aligned (slight delay/time compensation). - Another thing to consider: Middle (Center) and Side (L/R) volume balance changes when summed to mono. Everything in the Mid channel (center) becomes 6 dBs louder in the mix. I have found that the best way to prevent this is by spreading tracks (same take) to L and R, instead of putting them together (same spot, one side or the other.) By spreading properly (and volume-balancing) time/phase-aligned tracks from one take, you can reduce significantly the L/R volume drop when summing to mono. But panning all tracks (same take) to the same spot (L or R) forces an inevitable 6db drop when played in mono, no matter what you do. - I try not to process (comp/eq, etc) tracks (same take) individually to avoid unnecessary phase issues (mud). I try to get as close as I can to what I want by tweaking the amp/sim's Eqs/parameters. Further processing is only applied to all tracks (same take) together (Bus). What are your thoughts on this? Those guitars sound huge, BTW!

I'm new to mixing. Just doing my own music at home. But purely by experimenting, I found that if I record the same rythm guitar parts twice, if I pan each left and right then blend in some opposite reverb via sends, it sounds very full. Weirdly if I pan the exact same guitar part left and right, it sounds like it's coming from the centre. But with the minute differences with the 2 different guitar parts it's enough to make them really wide and full. This is probably nothing new but I felt quite proud of myself for discovering that for myself.

The IK interface has a reamp option allowing you to use real amps for tones you like to change. I much prefer the live amps to many plugins (although some plugins sound great)-there’s something about the guitar/amp/cabinet/player circle (cycle) that creates, IMO, a very organic, believable and ultimately, a less fatiguing guitar capture. I love your content -always informative yet entertaining! Have you done a video on how you organize/label etc your tracks? 🇨🇦

Great video! Love that lick. Reminds me of stone temple pilots…👌

siiiick. I got ideas just watching!

Great stuff as always Bobby! I love the Jimmy page trick. Hadn't thought of that before, but I always have DI tracks. Now I've got another use for them! Cheers. The snare on that track is insane, btw. Love the room sound/verb on it. Do you have a video for that?!

Another "semester" of mixing wisdom, Bobby! On the same vein, I'd love one of you content-creator-producer types to unfold the mix that is "The Hellion" [Screaming For Vengeance] by Judas Priest - a sweet, short, tasty bit of metal perfection.

Thank god, finally a video that matters.

Check out Reaper! Using "Spectral Peaks", the Riff (Db-Eb, Db-Eb, etc) would be seen in the wave-form as a different color for each different note!! Killer for editing! I Love your technique Bro!

Nice one!

Awesome.

Loved this. Got any tips for a 2 guitar band?

Awesome! I love the comment "you can always get more distortion later". Have you tried Neural DSP's Archetype Jon Petrucci yet? Just got it and it's insane!

Clean signal as bread crumb trail

Such a great channel.

I get that you wouldn't want so much distortion going in now, but doesn't the guitar player need that amount of distortion from the amp to get the intensity of the part right?

I hope you're still there with that one idea I pitched way back when in mind, how to make your guitars sound so echoey and fuzzy like in the very, very intro to Chinese Democracy (but only the fakeout-pause intro riff part, not the buildup intro before it).

Great video. So do you edit both the unamplified tracks AND the amplified tracks which come out of your signal splitter, or just the unamplified tracks?

Love the idea of splitting the source. You ever see the video of Mick Gordon at GDC explaining the creation of his DOOM soundtrack? I think you might dig it.

?I have learned a lot from your videos - thank you! Do you allow for natural time and not put onto a grid? Some performances I think are meant to surge and lag and vary in tempo. I realize that makes editing more difficult, bur just wondering.

Like the other day, you should make the cigar thing part of the editing part schtick.

Whenever i try this, i always have a hard time getting the phase right between the amp-cab sim and the actual mic'ed up cabinet :/

Yeah!!!

As usual a great video Bobby.. I have a doubt.. would be great if you can clear it... once i edit the DI guitar track ( transients clearly visible ) ,how will that translate to the Mic Guitar track (visual blob ) .. should i seperately edit the mic guitar track with reference to the DI track ??...Please can you clarify

Thanks for these tips! Is there a reason you use the switch pedal and not a DI, though?

Arturia studio interface has a reamp built in

Is there a specific reason you wouldn't just use a DI box and use the "thru" on that to go to your amp?

Great tips Bobby.. Would you advise also time shifting any of the duplicate tracks slightly, for more separation, when you have them sounding as you want, or keep them all bang on in time with each other?

How do you go with phase with these re-amped channels?

Are there any tonal/production reasons why you chose an a/b/y as opposed to a di box? Pragmatically, it seems like they would both achieve the same outcome of feeding an amp as well as tracking the di. Cheers!

so there is actualy only 2 takes ...? then re amp creates a second set then edit then daw based amp sims for set 2 and then clean rectifier amp sims doe set 3? then edits you edit the first re amped set and daw based amp sims while setting daw to effect the direct guitars for extra tightness?

Great information that song sounds like Blind though

So this is how pros usually widen a guitar in the mix.

Awesome, now how do I get Jeff Lynnes acoustic guitar sound? Not asking for any friends..ive never fell in love with my acoustic recordings, and ive tried most all my mics/combos/positions.. guess nothing makes up for a great mic and room.. ive got 3 3k acoustics so dont think its the guitars, but think one should be a mic instead.. been considering trying the "Nashville guitar" or doubling with octave strings from a 12 string set.

locking to grids sucks. vary each tracks position to give a human feel or just have the guitar player play them the right way when double tracking

Tip #1: have guitar tracks that already sound really good lol!!

AC/DC didn’t overuse distortion, they kept it pretty clean, otherwise it gets muddy.

Nice . The average person the purchaser of music, has no idea how much goes into sound mixing and quality of the product they are giving their money to get . The music artist playing their parts do so and they themselves become better to achieve the desired sound and their trademark brand . Sure it is in their talent on their instrument but hiring a good engineer is crucial . You can not sell garage sounding junk in a very competative commerial market . That is if they the artist and bands want to make a career out of music and entertainment business . Cheers 02/26/2022

Use TC Electronics Mimiq and you will not even have to double track.

Call Mike?

this sounds like limp bizkit i hope that whole things not coming back around... i guess we are at about the 20 yr cycle

You mentioned several times that you wouldn’t record the guitars with so much distortion today, but you never really said why. If you’re recording heavy guitar sounds why would you want to record them with less distortion?

Thanks. Can you do reamping that with real amps? i don't like virtual amps they sound fake.

…and the guitar player says what happened to the tone I worked on so hard!

The very reason why no one likes to listen to modern rock today.

If you want me to continue watching, you're gonna have to back off the mic so I don't hear all your disgusting mouth sounds. 🤣😜😕💘