Mixing 7 guitars help

Greetings all!

 

I have a song with 7 tracks at the end and am having a hard time getting them all heard.

 

There are three rhythm tracks (hard L/R and a center track accenting the low note), two clean arpeggiated tracks, and 2 lead tracks or maybe 3.

 

Any pointers?

Brian Eno (I guess) once said: "An arrangement is when not all the instruments play at the same time." Wise words. Do you really need all the tracks ? Do they actually serve the song (rather than the guitar player) ?

Each guitar should have its own identity, its own role. If you're trying to mix 7 ballsy, edgy and full-range in your face heavily distorted guitars it will be nearly impossible but if one guitar is very trebly, the other midrangey, the next bassy, another has a sharp attack while another yet is more of a sustained drone etc... then it should become easier to mix. And in between those two extremes, there's a world of possibilities.

If it’s all the same guitar player, it helps to use different guitars, amps, mics, etc.

 

If it’s something like country music that needs that

many guitars and you have to use them all, look into Nashville producers. Many good tips there.

It’s a rock song. It is chill piano and the end come in with drums, bass, guitars, and vocals

If you feel the need to have that many guitars, tips from the Nashville guys are still useful. One of the trickiest parts to producing country is making 85 guitars sound good together.

 

But that raises the question, do you really need 7 guitars? Does each one really contribute an essential element to the whole? You could try choosing two or maybe three that are the most distinct and worry about getting those to stand out in the mix and mix in the rest as a bed of sound (as in not trying to make each of them stand out individually).