Single Tracking vs Double Tracking vs Quad Tracking - What is the best ?

Introduction

Ok , for some of the readers who might not be familiar with this terminology , in music production slang , when we say single tracking , it means recording an instrument only once . Double tracking means recording an instrument two times etc ... The whole point of doing this type of recording is to get a wider , fatter sound out of our instrument by layering the recorded sounds . Layering the same takes has been used ever since the 60s , and reached it's peak in modern era with digital recording , where you are not bound by the limitations of having a limited number of tracks to record on .In digital technology you can have as many tracks as you like ( granted that your CPU can handle it of course ) , and taking advantage of this will certainly enhance your recordings and step up your music production .In this article i will be using my electric guitar as an example , as it is much easier to drastically manipulate sounds and thus prove my point more efficiently . So let's dive in :)

Single Tracking

The point of having a double tracked sound is to have two separate takes of the same material you are about to record . You might wonder : Why can't i just duplicate my already recorded track ? It is faster and there will be two tracks of the same material after all, right ? Well , sorry to dissapoint you but it actually won't . Let me explain .
The answer lies in the nature of the sound waves . When two identical sound waves are played at the same time , the only thing that changes is it's volume . If you duplicate your first take hoping to get a wide and fat sound , the only thing you'll end up with will be the same signal , only louder . In audio terminology , this is also known as the ''Big Mono'' . Generally you don't need it , as you'll be perfectly fine with the the single take . There will be no difference whatsoever between that and the single take . Let me demonstrate it on this example :

Double Tracking

So , now that we have established that the method above won't work , let's see how does double tracking work . So we record the material twice . This is very important for a number of reasons . First of all , you won't play it exactly the same every time . I mean it is important to stay in time with the music , but chances are that unless you are a cyborg , you will play the second take slightly differently ( i'm talking about micro timing here , as it is great if you can be as tight as possible with your playing ) . The slight difference between the takes will fatten up our sound , as the two sound waves will not be identical . The second thing is that most likely the timbre will be slightly different as well , thus further enhancing the depth of the sound waves . For this purpose i have recorded the riff twice and panned it hard left ( L 100% ) and hard right ( R 100%) in the stereo field . I have used the same settings on my amplifier , but you can still hear the slight tonal differences . We can take this concept even further , by having two different tones , which i have provided in the example below the first one .

If you listen to any bigger rock production from 80's onwards , all of the guitars have been done like this . It is amazing how big of a sound you get , and how more exciting things become with this method .

Quad Tracking

Following the logic of ''more is more'' , we can take the double tracking concept and double it ! We need to record the same take 4 times . The beauty of quad tracking is that you have much more options than double tracking ( although double tracking sounds just fine in most of the cases ) . First you can decide how many different tones you want . You can go for different tone on all of the 4 takes . Or have 2 takes with the same tone , or all 4 with the same one . Next up is panning . The most common form of panning quad tracked guitars is two guitars hard left and hard right ( L 100% , R 100% ) and two guitars at 75 % left and right . This way you get a wider stereo field , and remove the problem of too many frequencies battling for the same space in stereo field . Of course , you can also hard pan all of the tracks . I have provided the examples of these two types of panning , but when it comes to this , your creativity is the limit . There are so many options , just try different stuff around and see what you like best :)

On first notice , you might think that the more audio you layer , the fatter and better the sound will be , but is not the case . By having too many sounds of the same material , you risk loosing the clarity and definition of the sound , as the transients get lost the more you layer . This is a great rule to go by when deciding wheres to quad or double track something . Quad tracking will make for a bit of a fatter sound but at the expense of slightly less clear sound . It is up to you to decide , in which musical situation you'll end up using which method .

Conclusion

Layering the same takes won't work on all of the instruments . For example double tracking drums won't do you a lot of good , since the transients of the drums are essential to it's sound , and layering different takes on top of each other will result in a messy performance and loss of precious attack of the sound . Bass guitar is also considered to be useless to double track , as there is no need to pan it in the stereo field . You might go for it on certain parts though , especially if you are playing in higher register :) On the other hand , multi-tracking can do wonders on guitars , it can thicken up your vocal tracks really nicely , and enhance certain parts which are important in the mix . It is a very musical tool to have at your disposal .
I hope you've found this article useful , and hopefully it has inspired you to start experimenting with this technique .
Thanks for reading :)