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There are several different formats in use today. The most commonly used one in professional
studios is the 2- inch 24-track recorder. In this format, 24 tracks of information are recorded
onto 2-inch wide tape. Some other formats would be the 2-inch 16 track, 1-inch 16 track, 1/ 2-
inch 8 track, 1/2-inch 2 track, and 1/4-inch 2 track. The 1/2-inch and 1/4-inch 2-track recorders
would be used to record the final mix onto.
Digital Multi-track Recorder
A digital multi-track recorder also records the signals from the mixer onto individual tracks, but
it is a digital representation of the sound wave. There are two basic types of digital recorders:
Tape
: Many digital multi-track recorders record the digital representation of the signal
onto tape. Common formats are VHS tape and Hi-8 tape. These are usually 8-track
recorders and several recorders are linked together for as many tracks as are needed. The
Alesis ADAT is an example of a digital multi-track recorder that records onto tape. This
recorder uses VHS tape for recording. VHS tapes are the kind of tapes that are used in
VCRs. Another common example of this format is the Tascam DA series of recorders.
These are also 8-track recorders but instead record onto Hi-8 tape, which is the tape
commonly used for hand-held video recorders.
Tape-based digital systems as well as the cost of tape are generally affordable. As a result
tape-based digital recorders have become very common in project and home studios.
Hard Disk
: Hard disk based recorders are ones that record onto a hard drive instead of to
tape. There are stand-alone hard disk recorders such as the AW2816, and software
programs that make it possible to record to a computer’s hard drive.
Hard disk recording offers several advantages over tape based systems. First, there is
instant access to points within the song. On tape-based systems the user would have to
wait for the tape to rewind or fast forward to the desired point in a song. Additionally,
hard disk systems, feature the capability of editing digital audio. The AW2816, for
instance, has basic editing capabilities that make it possible to accomplish less
demanding editing tasks. Since it was designed to be a portable digital mixing console,
however, the editing features are not as extensive as what might be found on a software-
based system. Software applications such as Pro-Tools by Digidesign offer advanced
digital audio editing capabilities.
As with any hard disk based system, good housekeeping is important on the AW2816.
This means that since a hard drive is being used, the drive should be periodically
defragmented. As audio is recorded onto a hard drive it can be scattered all over the
drive in fragments. The more editing or punch-ins are done, the more fragmented the
drive will be. This makes it very difficult for the system to locate all of the audio
fragments for a particular song and play them back accurately. Defragmenting a drive
simply places all of the fragments of audio for each song in the same place on the hard
