My expereience is like DCLee's - if you double up one take, it only makes it sound like one take but louder.
Here are all my -mostly failed- experiments:
1. I used to do 1 take and pan it hard right, then take a copy and pan it hard left. This is a waste of time, as the stereo image just ends up right down the middle again.
2. So then I used to start 1 of the 2 identical tracks very very slightly (a few millisecs) later. This immediately opens up the stereo image (putting the guitars at the sides, with the desired gap in the middle) BUT it's kinda non-symmetrical, and requires you to increase the volume of one of the tracks to compensate, and when you do this the stereo effect starts to disappear again. I guess this is like ADT....?
3. My most recent 1 take idea has been to use just the 1 take and NOT to pan it at all. Then I apply a stereo enhancer plug-in on the computer. This can do 2 things
a) make the extreme left and extreme right parts of the track louder relative to the middle. This works fairly well. It can also be used on the bass to emphasise the middle part of the sound, whilst ducking the right and left.
b) split the track down the middle and offset the left and right to open up the sound - this is actually the same as what I was doing in 2, above.

Using a) and b) together in this way for me has been better than recording 2 takes and panning them.
As someone said - if you do 2 takes, they can end up muddying the overall sound because they can never be identical. If you can play very precisely (which sometimes I can, but purely by accident!) then the end result is clearer but the stereo image is less pronounced.

I have read somewhere that what you SHOULD do is record 1 take through amp / amp model type A and the 2nd take through amp / amp model B - then the sound of the different amps will gurantee enough difference in the sound to keep the 2 takes well apart from eachother.

The question I have is - does ANY pro band record guitars and bass without using external amps and mics - ie, by using only emulators?
If so - who, and what is thier equipment and method?

i was talking about straight "double tracking", not recording a part for the left and right to get a wider stereo image. though you can use both these approaches at once, which is what a lot of rock/metal recordings do: 2 guitar parts, each panned left and right and also each of those parts is double tracked.

also, if you record the left and right parts with a different guitar sound you will get an unbalanced sound, which isn't really desirable, and you will almost never hear this done on a pro recording, unless its for an intro or the 2 guitars are meant to be playing something really different (ie its done like a special effect), etc.

Can I ask what the point of double tracking is? Surely it would be easier and less time consuming to just make the one guitar track louder, rather than use two identical ones?
I always found that recording two takes of the left guitar and two of the right, always made the sound far thicker and heavier than using two identical tracks.

I tend to use a pre-amp, such as a Line 6 POD into the computer, then record on a program such as Cubase. Double tracking and drum programming can then be added easily. Check out an mp3 of a project called Days of Perversion here:
http://www.adamhooton.com/sounds/www_ad ... weeper.mp3
My friend Adam and I recorded our guitar parts through a POD using Cubase in an afternoon about 2 years. Excuse the quality of the track, there is no bass or vocals and it hasn't been mixed properly, but it's an example of what you can do in your living room in a short space of time. There are other Cubase recorded mp3s of Adam's guitar work, and our old band Downtrodden to be found at www.adamhooton.com if anyone is interested.

That last message was from me, just forgot to log in before posting it, d'oh!

There is a Forum for Andy Sneap (machine head, Arch Enemy, Exodus) on his website

Whwen it comes to guitar tone, double tracking, recording metal, this is the place.

The comments about double tracking making it sound messy are correct, which is why to be successful at double tracking, you have to play the same thing as tight as fucking possible.

If it sounds messy, you ain't played it tight enough. Smple as that. If it sounds like one nice big fat guitar, then you've got it. if you don't, you have to do it again.

POD xt is great, but do check out the 'metal packs' over at Line 6. Worth the 50USD or so.

^ that's right. 4 separate tracks of guitar panned eg 100% left, 50% left then 50% right and 100% right will give a nice thick stereo spread. Using a different amp, guitar or EQ'ing on some tracks will add definition. You will have to play each take as tight as possible, but the tiny variations in each human performance is what contributes to a big guitar sound. Cloning one identical track 2 or 4 times will just make it louder which is not what you want.

There's a wealth of info on recording a good guitar sound as well as loads of other aspects of production on Andy Sneap's forum or in the article in ZT Mag a couple of issues back!

This guy (Bulb) manages to get some AMAZING tones from a POD XT. An unbelievably huge guitar sound and heavy as f*ck.

His website is: