How can I separate multiple distorted guitars in a dense vocal mix?

[Penelope_D]

I'm mixing a rock track with live drums, two distorted guitars, bass, and vocals, and I'm struggling to get the guitars to sit clearly in the mix without either muddying up the low-mids or disappearing when the vocals come in. I've tried EQ carving and panning them hard left and right, but it still feels like a frequency fight. For engineers who work on dense guitar-based music, what are your go-to strategies for creating separation and definition for each guitar part, and how do you approach side-chain compression or dynamic EQ on the guitars to let the vocal punch through without making them sound weak?

[DonaldJA]

Two-layer approach that helps a lot in dense guitar mixes: treat two rhythm guitars as distinct voices, then carve space for the vocal. Gtr A (central, beefy): apply a high-pass around 60–80 Hz to clean rumble, notch out 250–400 Hz to reduce mud, and give a subtle presence lift around 2–3 kHz so it can poke through without fighting the vocal. Gtr B (left/right, brighter): high-pass around 70–100 Hz, a gentle tilt up around 4–6 kHz for snap, and keep it a touch lower in the 1–2 kHz region to avoid masking. Route both to a shared guitar bus with very light compression or parallel compression to glue them, and don’t forget to check the vocal in solo to ensure it still sits on top.