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2. Mixing Guitar Part 2

1

To further augment the sound of your guitar, adding a second take of yourself playing the same part, then panning both parts to the opposite positions in the stereo image can accentuate the impact of each chord. Try different chord voicings, rather than keeping things exactly the same. 2

To define these panned parts even further, sculpt the EQ slightly differently for each part. Clipping or boosting certain frequencies then doing the reverse for the other part makes for a more dynamically interesting soundstage, and makes each guitar sit better in its place. 3

If you’ve built up quite a few different guitar parts, you might want to bus them together, and apply a master effect — such as reverb — to all of them. This can help the parts feel like they’re in the same room, and help them stick. It can also save your CPU from loading different instances of the same effect. 4

Automation can be a massive help when it comes to guitar mixing, as you might want to automatically apply different attributes at key moments of the song. If you’re after a big chorus, then automating an increase in volume can bring everything to the forefront, before settling down again for the verse, without you worrying about it. 5

Major changes can be quite jarring if you’re not careful, so take care to subtly apply the automation levels required, and keep listening to your track. Applying distortion or overdrive to your guitar tone can be a big time-saver. Here we’re automating our gain to ramp up, to beef up our chorus. 6

As your mix starts to come together, you may notice that some guitar ideas, riffs or even chord sequences don’t hang together as well as others. Or perhaps the interplay of parts is causing confusion. While the initial plan may have been solid, there comes a point when you’re going to have to cut anything that doesn’t fit with the feel of the song as a whole.

7

In terms of distorted guitars, be careful with your compressor, because, in all honesty, a distorted guitar signal rarely needs it, as the boosting of the signal tends to saturate the dynamic range. Take a close look at your waveform, and apply compression sparingly.

8

While reverb can provide a cohesion to your guitar parts, make sure you don’t have competing room types that confuse the sense of reality within the track. Mix bussing reverb to all your guitar tracks (step 4) is definitely encouraged, but don’t let these rules stop you from experimenting — it’s your song after all.

9

Considering all the points from both parts of this step-by-step should help you understand how guitar typically works in a mix context, and how to affect change and make it a more prominent ingredient. Remember the paramount concern is always the final song.