How much guitar is too much, on a recording?

If you’re billy corgan it’s a few hundred

No such thing if done well. There are like 3 dozen guitar tracks on “Epic” by Faith No More.

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How many microphones? (step up and back)

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Probably going to be mostly recorded 1 track at a time, plugged straight in, except for 3 acoustic parts that I want to do. I'll be using mics for those.

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No such thing if done well. There are like 3 dozen guitar tracks on “Epic” by Faith No More.

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There is the problem.. not sure I know how to do it well
I do have some ideas on how to do some of it, so it's not all walking on top of each other, using different tunings and stuff.

Here is what I am going to try: For the basic rhythm, I'm going to tune my parlor guitar down 1/2 step and play just like in a key of E7, then I'm going to use my Takamine tuned up 1/2 step and play like D7, I have a 3/4 size guitar that is set up for a high strung Nashville tuning, and I will play that tuned down in E7 as well. Acoustic bass tuned down also.

All of the other guitars will also be tuned up or down 1/2 step and played accordingly. And I might try a part that is in a D#A#D#G#A#D# tuning too.
It's a really swampy voodooish sounding thing, so I might be able to make it work out.

On topic: I've become a big fan of 90's Alt-Rock producer Rick Beato's YT series "What Makes This Song Great". He has somehow come up with the original multitrack recordings, and is thus able to break out and explain how all of the parts are blended together.

For example, we've all heard the music of Tom Petty played to death (no pun) on classic rock radio. Until I studied this video, I had no idea how much went into that one song.

yeah, that's some really great stuff right there. When I get home tomorrow, I am going to dive into his videos for sure.

I am away from home in my truck right now, and watching videos can turn pretty expensive on the broadband thingy.

Everything he was showing on that video, the muted strings, the different levels of distortion, those are all things that I like to do. I can definitely pick up some knowledge from that.

I record 2 for the left, two for the right and one for the center.

Also mix the bass in the center. At minimum.

I have some where I have about different 12 guitar tracks building a wall.

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Sure you're going to capo around on a few. Any thoughts on having someone move to 12string or mandolin? They can really open up crowded string sound even going dark. Might even trying them in a diminished scale/chording type mode.

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Really, I never use a capo, and I especially don't want one on this song, because I want the releases to be as growly as possible. Better to tune down and up as needed IMHO.

As I said, I have 1 guitar that is dedicated to the high strung Nashville Tuning. When you play that along with a regular acoustic, it gives an illusion of a 12 string , but can also go off the wall at times.

I have messed around in a studio some, but generally it's just always been song demos and pretty basic. This time, I want to kick some doors down. Going to use every trick I know and can learn. What the hell.

sounds all good - and reasonable

With just a couple or three I don't capo usually. More when there's a crowd and everyone's already all over the place. I find a capo allows me to be harder (more staccato'y) with a hammer on or pull off (just to stand out a bit in wee places). Or doing covers that were originally capo'ed up.

Guess I'm really thinking more live - not one track at a time where that'd be moot. Never recorded... good luck.

And let us hear.

It depends on the mix. And it somewhat depends on what is being played. If there are bass parts, I always recommend using a P-bass, as those cut into the mix without compression than maybe any other bass in existence.

With several guitar parts, the arrangement is important too. I like recording parts individually with a click track or with the drums and bass already done, but some people I know always record the bass part last, as you can help fill any empty gaps.