You'd think that panning black metal guitar tones should be easy... but there are a couple of things to consider and watch out for, so let's dive into that now.
A Quick Reality Check About Quad Tracking
Before we get into the techniques discussing quad tracking, I need to clearly state the following:
Quad tracking only works if the guitar performances are tight.
Quad tracking is time consuming and can be a real pain, but if you've gone through the effort to record yourself at a high standard, then quad tracking opens you up to a lot of options that you may not have with just double tracking.
Tone Variation Builds Width
A mistake that you can make with panning quad-tracked guitars is assuming that will automatically give you width. Not true. If you have the same settings, same EQ, same guitar tone, etc, it's not gauranteed that you'll get the width you're looking for.
Having two different guitar tones that compliment each other can often give you that extra width you're looking for. If none of the following panning techniques seems to be working for you, consider building two different guitar tones that compliment each other.
If you need help developing tones from scratch in order to build complimentary guitar tones, this workshop can help you.
And remember, with all of the following techniques: your guitar performance needs to be SOLID!
Technique 1: Both Guitar Pairs Hard Panned
This is the most common approach and it's simply taking both pairs of your guitar tracks and panning them 100% left and right respectively. All four rhythm guitars live at the extremes of the stereo filed.
As I touched on above, this technique can be made even more effective by having one guitar tone be a bit darker and mid-focused, with the other being more scooped, brighter, and aggressive.
The width will come from the contrast, not the track count.
Technique 2: One Pair Hard Panned, One Pair at 80%
This is a very good option and it could be what you need when you're looking for both width and a bit more focus.
One pair of your guitars will be 100% panned left and right, but the other pair will be around 80%. The outer pair creates the stereo width while the inner pair somewhat fills the space.
Additionally, this can be a great option for songs and mixes that are more wide open and don't have a lot going on. I wouldn't necessarily use this method if I have a full orchestral arrangement and tons of blast beats.
Technique 3: Both Pairs Hard Panned, One Pair Quieter
This technique is, in my opinion, not used enough and probably is the most effective of all the techniques, especially when you are blending different guitar tones.
It's exactly what it sounds like: all of your guitars are hard panned 100% left and right respectively, but one pair of the guitars are turned down anywhere from 3 to 6dB.
Instead of changing the stereo position by bringing the guitars in, you change the depth by adjusting the blend of the guitar tone.
This is a fantastic way to add thickness with a secondary guitar tone that may be more meaty and mid-range focused, or adding more bite with a sharp guitar tone into one that is too midrange.
The end result is a singular, massive black metal guitar sound.
I personally use this method all the time with great results.
Hard Panning Guitars Is Not the Problem
I know you're reading this right now going, "Cool, Scott, tell me the answer," and in typical fashion, all I can suggest is to use the one that makes the most sense for the song you're working on right now.
If you truly want to quad track your guitars, then you need to put the work into recording them at a high level.
If you find the guitar tone isn't "wide enough" or defined enough, it's possible your performance isn't that great or you have too much gain.
Remember, when you stack four guitar tracks on top of each other, the gain will accumulate and what might feel like a weak gain setting with just one track, could turn out to be way too much once it's multiplied by a factor of 4.
How This Ties Into Guitar Tone
I'd highly recommend that if you're quad-tracking guitars, that you create two different guitar tones that complement each other and make use of Technique #3.
You can take one of my mix-ready Neural DSP guitar presets and practice combining black metal guitar tones that already sound awesome so that you can develop your ear.
My tones are built and designed with quad tracking and panning guitars in mind already, so if you want to skip the trial-and-error phase and get straight to writing music and experimenting with different panning settings... well, that's where my professionally crafted tones can save you time.
Final Thoughts
Like I just said... there is no "correct" way. The "correct" way is the way it sounds best for the type of music and song you're working on right now.
Try all three techniques and listen in context. The song will tell you which one you should use.