Why do my guitars sound like they have chorus?

[Dwarfgrinder]

Not sure if this should go in the bashing forums or here. Plz move if I'm in the wrong spot. SRY!

Hi im casually working on this track and i've noticed that my guitars sound like there some chorus in them...but there is no such effect applied to them. I would like to know what may cause this. I'm pointing at 2 things but I can't pin it down.

1. the odd scoops i dug at about 1.7-2.2k to fit the incoming vocals (I think it should make a bit of room. I will move the cuts around accordingly when i get the vocals.)
2. The use of too many guitar tracks that are not 100% tight. I'm using 5 tracks. 2 panned hard left/right, 2 cross panned 42L/42R and 1 dead middle but only to give it the OOMF that the guitars on the sides don't give me. The center track is EQ'd and lvled in a way that I HOPE doesn't show theres a center guitar.

It sounds alright...i guess...meh...it kinda sounds messy.

It might be quiet, no ghetto volume tweaks on 2 bus.

[rook2c4]

This is what I would do:
Play back the mix in mono. While the mix is playing, take turns muting each of the guitar tracks, and listen carefully for which mute makes the mix sound sound better or worse. Maybe more than one of the guitar tracks needs to be removed, or maybe just one will do the trick. When a mix sounds good in mono, it will sound good in stereo too. Although you will probably have to adjust the panning if you remove any guitar tracks in order to re-establish a good stereo balance again.

[brandondrury]

I always wondered why, technically, I never cared for the sound of 4 guitar tracks. I just learned this a few days ago in Ethan Winer's book, "The Audio Expert". Two similar tracks on top of each other (or close to it as in your case) will comb filter. There's no way around it. At least this is the way I understand it.

2 panned hard left/right, 2 cross panned 42L/42R

Kill the inside pair and I'd bet the chorus goes away. Whether or not you like that sound is another story. Thankfully, not everyone has the same tastes as I do.

[garww]

.................... I just learned this a few days ago in Ethan Winer's book, "The Audio Expert". Two similar tracks on top of each other (or close to it as in your case) will comb filter. There's no way around it. At least this is the way I understand it.

...........

Ya, two of anything can present this PIA effect - including two speakers

[Dwarfgrinder]

If i raise the "middle" tracks level by as much as 1db it gets really ugly. They're only there to fill the void between left and right. Is there another way to make my hard left and right guitars sound very left and right but bleed into the opposite sides in order to achieve a wall without using more then 2 tracks?

[willj]

Dont turn all the guitar tracks up to the same volume level. When you record four tracks, youre not doing it so they can all be heard. Youre doing it so they support each other.

[Dwarfgrinder]

Dont turn all the guitar tracks up to the same volume level. When you record four tracks, youre not doing it so they can all be heard. Youre doing it so they support each other.

Only the left and right tracks are loud. The other 3 are barely audible and only fill in space and meat. It works but I feel it makes it too unclean.

[m24p]

If i raise the "middle" tracks level by as much as 1db it gets really ugly. They're only there to fill the void between left and right. Is there another way to make my hard left and right guitars sound very left and right but bleed into the opposite sides in order to achieve a wall without using more then 2 tracks?

Try a short (30 ms?) opposite panned delay, down 6 dB. (I haven't done it recently, so those are just the ballpark settings - tweak violently until you've got it doing what you want.)

[jp2121]

Hello, I don't think you'll find that having a guitar down the center does much good. It eats up all that prime real estate where the vocals, bass, and some drums go. One guitar track per side can be huge. Two per side can also be huge but they need to be played tight and as mentioned, it is more of a support thing unless you bring the gain down a little more. That can keep things clearer. Beyond adding four tracks, that's up to you. Playing tight shouldn't be that hard to do if you write the song. I will come up with a riff that I like and of course I just want to record a song right away...can't do it. I need to learn that thing up and down so it is second nature to me. Then it's time to record it!

Alright, other things can can cause this weird sound is recording one track to a click with maybe a little too big of a buffer setting in your DAW and then recording another track, playing along with the first track and not so much the click. Happened to me before. Delays start building up and cause the weird sounds. If you can't get your buffer setting way down, just record your first track to the click, mute that track, and then do your other track to the click only. Same thing with drums and bass added later. Just something that has to be in the back of your head.

This is a short sample of a song I am working on, just a rough mix so far with some scratch tracks. There is one guitar track per side, panned 100%. I think I am getting a pretty large sound with just one track per side. I will probably bring them in to maybe 85% but it can start to take up some room in the middle. Extreme panning sounds maybe just a little too wide for me. Your guitar tone sounded very usable, just a few EQ tweaks maybe. Good Luck!

[Mackanov]

Another thing to try is appliying complimentary EQ to those guitar tracks. High pass the hard panned ones, low shelf the more centered ones. Make them sound different.

[rook2c4]

Or on some of the guitar tracks, play at at a different neck position. Slap on a capo if that helps. This will not only make the overall effect sound huge and thick, but ultimately you won't need as many guitar tracks. The only downside is that you will have to learn to play the chord sequence in at the different positions, but it's well worth the effort.