Before multitrack recording, disc orchestration was basically a affair of capturing a living harmonious performance on tape. The musicians assembled in a tape studio, tape rolled and the unabridged performance was captured as it happened, warts and all.
Though many purists argue that this might be the most conscientious and congenital journey to symbolize a mellifluous performance, it is a somewhat limiting wealth of vinyl. Provided one musician or singer in the ensemble makes a bantam fault, the integral record suffers. Not single that, any mismatched levels in album between instruments and voices are establish in stone once the tape is mythical.
The advent of multitrack cd enabled producers To possess govern access and government of all the individually recorded parts. Whether one specific call or instrument makes a flub, the track in investigation can be redone or edited without having to retake the entire performance. This method remains the way that nearly all popular music is recorded.
History
In the 1950s, Les Paul pioneered what is known as multitrack recording, when he used 1-inch analog magnetic tape on an eight-track Ampex tape machine to layer tracks in his recordings. This was a revolutionary development in sound recordings--one that would prove to be artistically liberating for music artists of the next decade.
In the 1960s, The Beatles and their groundbreaking recordings were at least partially responsible for further advances in multitracking technology. With guidance from their producer, George Martin, their masterful use of the multitrackers of the day--from the two-track machines used on "Please, Please Me" through the eight-track ones used to capture "Abbey Road"--certainly dictated how popular music would be recorded in the future.
The 1970s saw the advent of portable cassette tape players, and in the 1980s, musicians and would-be engineers alike benefited from the introduction of portable cassette multitrackers. The most famous of these was the Portastudio by Tascam, and it sparked a home-recording revolution. Reasonably priced, these four-track cassette machines afforded musicians the luxury of multitrack recording on a budget.
The mid-1990s saw the introduction of digital hard disk recorders and computer-based digital multitracking with flexibility and features that would have been all but unimaginable to the early pioneers of multitrack recording.
Significance
Multitrack recording played a huge role in the influential pop recordings of the 60s from pioneering artists like the Beach Boys and The Beatles. The power of this technology certainly led the aforementioned acts to become more studio-oriented as opposed to live performers. Recorded music became more of an art form where sonic experimentation was rampant, often to the point where the results were impossible to replicate on a stage.
If the creative freedom afforded bands was significant, for solo artists it proved to be a revelation.Stand-alone digital multitrackers offer a nice compromise in this regard. They're very compact, portable units, have the editing benefits of hard disk recording, yet also have physical control knobs and faders for a hands-on recording experience. They're also usually all-in-one units with special effects like reverb, delay and limiting built into the device.
There may be truth to that observation, but the trade-off is the convenience and staggering flexibility of computer-based multitracking options. Most of these computer-based software recording platforms allow for an unlimited number of tracks to be recorded and played back, all without the need for a huge 24- or 32-channel mixing desk to process and mix the tracks.
Another gripe voiced by fans of vintage tape machines, mixers and hardware effects processors, is that computer-based recording relies on the tedious clicking of a mouse rather than the literal hands-on approach of using knobs and faders on hardware equipment.
Multi-instrumentalist superstars like Stevie Wonder were able to piece together albums where they sang and played most, if not all of the instruments themselves.
Types
Multitrack recording can be done using analog tape machines, ADAT (Alessis Digital Audio Tape) and hard disk systems. Fans of vintage analog recording equipment insist that hard disk recording often suffers from a sterile and somewhat harsh, lifeless sound, preferring the perceived warmth of tape-based analog recordings. Many also have on-board CD burners and mastering effects, enabling the user to produce a mastered CD as proof of their multitracking endeavors.Companies such as Roland, Korg,Yamaha and Tascam all make highly rated and very cost-effective 8-,12-, 24-, and even 32-track units (see price comparison article linked below).
Features
Along with inputs for connecting instruments and microphones to the unit, each channel on a multitrack recorder will have its own designated EQ (equalization) controls to adjust the tonal quality of the recorded signal, a gain control to set the level of the recorded signal, a sliding fader control to adjust the playback volume level when mixing and a send and return level for optimum use of the effects being used.
When all the tracks have been recorded, they can then be edited as desired, using cut-and-paste, copy, erase and move functions, much in the same way that copy is edited in a word processing program on a computer. At the mixing stage, all of the tracks are played back and adjusted for tone, balance and panning until a cohesive sound for the song is achieved.
Warning
When selecting a digital multitracker, it's a good idea to pay attention to the data compression. Data compression, which is also used in the creation of MP3s, results in compromised sound quality. Recording music using the 16-bit or even 24-bit technology offered by many multitrack recorders is counterproductive if the data is being compressed. Look for a unit that offers uncompressed audio.
