Overdubbing

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Overdubbing

Overdubbing (also known as layering)<a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a> is a technique used in audio recording in which audio <a href="/en/Audio_track" title="Audio track" class="mw-redirect wl">tracks</a> that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more available tracks of a <a href="/en/Digital_audio_workstation" title="Digital audio workstation" class="wl">digital audio workstation</a> (DAW) or <a href="/en/Tape_recorder" title="Tape recorder" class="wl">tape recorder</a>.<a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a> The overdub process can be repeated multiple times. This technique is often used with singers, as well as with instruments, or ensembles/orchestras. Overdubbing is typically done for the purpose of adding richness and complexity to the original recording. For example, if there are only one or two artists involved in the recording process, overdubbing can give the effect of sounding like many performers.<a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Audio recording technique</div>
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In vocal performances, the performer usually listens to an existing recorded performance (usually through <a href="/en/Headphones" title="Headphones" class="wl">headphones</a> in a <a href="/en/Recording_studio" title="Recording studio" class="wl">recording studio</a>) and simultaneously plays a new performance along with it, which is also recorded. The intention is that the final <a href="/en/Audio_mixing_(recorded_music)" title="Audio mixing (recorded music)" class="wl">mix</a> will contain a combination of these "<a href="/en/Dubbing_(music)" title="Dubbing (music)" class="wl">dubs</a>".<a href="#cite_note-bartlett-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;">[4]</a>

Another kind of overdubbing is the so called "<a href="/en/Multitrack_recording" title="Multitrack recording" class="wl">tracking</a>" (or "laying the basic tracks"), where tracks containing the <a href="/en/Rhythm_section" title="Rhythm section" class="wl">rhythm section</a> (usually including drums) are recorded first, then following up with overdubs (solo instruments, such as <a href="/en/Musical_keyboard" title="Musical keyboard" class="wl">keyboards</a> or <a href="/en/Guitar" title="Guitar" class="wl">guitar</a>, then finally vocals). This method has been the standard technique for recording <a href="/en/Popular_music" title="Popular music" class="wl">popular music</a> since the early 1960s. Today, overdubbing can be accomplished even on basic recording equipment, or a typical <a href="/en/Personal_computer" title="Personal computer" class="wl">PC</a> equipped with a <a href="/en/Sound_card" title="Sound card" class="wl">sound card</a>,<a href="#cite_note-bartlett-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;">[4]</a> using <a href="/en/Digital_audio_workstation" title="Digital audio workstation" class="wl">digital audio workstation</a> software.

Because the process of overdubbing involves working with pre-recorded material, the performers involved do not have to ever have physically met each other, nor even still be alive. In 1991, decades after her father <a href="/en/Nat_King_Cole" title="Nat King Cole" class="wl">Nat King Cole</a> had died, <a href="/en/Natalie_Cole" title="Natalie Cole" class="wl">Natalie Cole</a> released a "virtual duet" recording of "<a href="/en/Unforgettable_(Nat_King_Cole_song)#Natalie_and_Nat_King_Cole_version" title="Unforgettable (Nat King Cole song)" class="wl">Unforgettable</a>" where she overdubbed her vocals onto her father's original recording from the 1960s. As there is no limit in timespan with overdubbing, there is likewise no limit in distance, nor in the number of overdubbed layers. Perhaps the most wide-reaching collaborative overdub recording was accomplished by <a href="/en/Eric_Whitacre" title="Eric Whitacre" class="wl">Eric Whitacre</a> in 2013, where he edited together a "<a href="/en/Eric_Whitacre#Virtual_Choir" title="Eric Whitacre" class="wl">Virtual Choir</a>" of 8,409 audio tracks from 5,905 people from 101 countries.<a href="#cite_note-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;">[5]</a>

Overdubbing  In vocal performances, the performer usually listens to an existing recorded performance and simultaneously plays a new performance along with it, which is also recorded. The intention is that the final mix will contain a combination of these "dubs". Another kind of overdubbing is the so called "tracking" , where tracks containing the rhythm section are recorded first, then following up with overdubs . This method has been the standard technique for recording popular music since the early 1960s. Today, overdubbing can be accomplished even on basic recording equipment, or a typical PC equipped with a sound card, using digital audio workstation software. 