It feels very unnatural to me - the guitar is a point source conceptually.
Things like automatic double tracking or stereo detune can sound really cool - no doubt. But I would say they sound inherently unnatural. Sort of like a sci-fi sound.
My music and guitar systems have been through every kind of development you could imagine.
Sometimes bordering on the insane.
However, at some point 20 years ago, I made the distinct move back to single-source guitar - with ambient stereo effects. I wanted it as natural sounding as possible.
This move went right through my whole approach to my music as a whole, and I wanted everything to have realism and a quantifiable familiar identity for the listener. Zappa, The Who, and Allan Holdsworth were helpful to use as reference when setting up my gear. Quadrophenia is incredibly natural throughout. I wanted that. It draws you in and involves you.
I worked hard on my monitoring gear, simplified my guitar amp rigs, and learned much about production as a whole.
The upshot is that now, I feel my music isn’t firing in your face. Still incredibly powerful when wanted, but the mixes have depth and ambience, with everything having its own place and space - but breathing together.
The idea is that the listener gets gently drawn in by the laid back presentation. But once they are involved, it all opens up beautifully for them, with a myriad of detail that you won’t get from a casual listen.
Going to the woods every day, and just sitting there listening - this was really helpful to train my ears away from ‘synthetic’ approaches to sounds. You don’t get birds flying by with an 8-voice chorus effect and harmoniser shimmer on their melodious chirping. Yet it is full of life and dynamic just as it is. You just have to relax for a few minutes, and the sound of nature reveals itself once you are still and quiet.
I wanted my music to do that to people. True escapism, whilst giving them something real and easily identifiable - whilst still being hopefully unique.
