An Overview of Multitrack Recording
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MD4—Owner’s Manual
An Overview of Multitrack Recording
This section describes the fundamental principles of multitrack recording.
Basic Multitracking
Monitoring
—This is the process of listening to a sound as it’s being recorded or listening to
recorded sounds as new sounds are recorded to other tracks. See About Monitoring on page 18
for more information.
Recording the First Track
—The first track to be recorded is typically the drum track. A
drum track that starts before other instruments makes a good timing and count-in reference.
If your song starts with several instruments on the first bar, you may find it helpful to record a
temporary count-in on another track, which can be erased later. See Recording the First Track
on page 13 for more information.
Overdubbing
—This is the technique of recording new sounds to empty tracks while listening
to the sounds that you’ve already recorded on the other tracks. Essentially, songs are recorded
track-by-track. This technique is used for most modern studio recording. See Overdubbing on
page 15 for more information.
Mixdown
—This is the final technique in multitrack recording. Here you mix the sounds from
all four tracks, with EQ and effects, into a balanced stereo mix and record it to a stereo master
recorder, such as a DAT, MiniDisc, or cassette tape machine. See Mixdown on page 16 for more
information.
Advanced Multitracking
One-Take Recording
—With this technique, all tracks are recorded in one take. This is useful
for live recording and recording bands that like to record with all members playing together.
Punch in/out and ping-pong techniques can be used after the one-take recording to add and
correct sections. See One-Take Recording on page 57 for more information.
Punch In/Out
—This technique allows you to rerecord specific sections of a track. It’s often
used to rerecord a not so perfect guitar solo or vocal phrase. Punch in/out can be rehearsed
before actually recording to disc. Punch in/out on MD4 can be performed manually or auto-
matically, which is useful when you are playing or singing and operating MD4 all at the same
time. See Manual Punch In/Out on page 21 for more information.
Ping-Pong
—This technique allows you to mix and record several tracks onto another track.
This is often used to free up tracks for more recording. So although MD4 is a four-track recorder,
you can record more than just four tracks using the ping-pong technique. You can also combine
ping-pong with overdub recording. For example, Tracks 1 and 2 are mixed and recorded onto
Track 4 along with a new signal coming from Input Channel 3. Ping-pong can be rehearsed
before actually recording to disc. See Ping-Pong Recording on page 29 for more information.
Synchronization
—This technique enables MD4 and a MIDI sequencer to work together as
a unified recording tool: MD4 for acoustic sounds and MIDI sequencer for MIDI instrument
sounds. See MD4 & MIDI on page 49 for more information.
