Multi-track Recording and Mixing

Multi-track Recording and Mixing

Introduction

Multi-track recording is a method of sound recording that records multiple sound sources separately and then assemble them into a whole. It is the most common way to record music today. In the year 2000, the software regarding multi-track recording became very popular and at present, it is the core of multimedia industry. In addition, audio mixing has become a complementary tool to multi-track recording. The audio mix is the operation technique by which, in the film, the music and radio, a number of different sound sources are mixed to achieve a unified sound continuity, by intervening on the level, timbre, or the spatial dynamics of audio signals. Mixing is done in studio or auditorium for the film and recorded music, and is essentially used in live public events such as concerts.

Sound recording began its development and use of the phonograph when people started to study sound waves. Later, this unit was adapted to perform and record and playback. This opened the doors to the most familiar forms of recording; technology for recording and playing music. Multi-track recording and mixing has become a common phenomenon and is used from professional to personal point of view. Audio mixing is a wide field in the multimedia industries and extends to varying narrowed dimensions(Alexander, 68).The paper discusses various approaches to mixing processes and looks at the essentials of producing a great mix. Further, it discusses the evolution in multi-track recording and mixing in the context of technology, techniques and innovation.

Discussion

A brief overview of the history of recording technology and music

The first devices were recording devices for research used to catch and study sound waves. These devices were capable of recording voices and other sounds long before the phonograph. The most famous of these was the phonograph in 1857 by Leon Scott. This device used a cone to direct the sound to a flexible diaphragm placed in the small end. The diaphragm was attached to a pen and a lever, which allowed the item to scratch a line on a rotating cylinder below it. The cylinder was covered with “lamp soot," which allowed accumulating carbon(Fortner, 40).

Research found the original phonographs not a lot of units before the invention of the machine. The device lacked the sensitivity to record tracks with enough detail to allow modern technology to reproduce the recorded sounds to them. Entries were also very short - often less than 1 second. In 1874, Alexander Graham Bell experimented with phonograph, shortly before the invention of Edison trying to discover how the ear catches the sound; he used a human ear (including internal components) from the body by attaching a pen to the eardrum to record. The use of ear Bella was very unusual change in the underlying technology (Siljanin et al, 2988). The mechanism of entry was the human ear. By removing a piece of the skull, separating the inner ear of the human body, and attaching the pen to the moving parts of the ...