Take (music)
In audio engineering , the term take ( English "record" ) is used for a preliminary section or the preliminary total recording in the gradual recording of a piece of music in a recording studio . The term take is also used in the film industry for a recording sequence.
history
Preliminary recording sequences have only existed in sound engineering since the introduction of tape. Before that, the complete music recordings were pressed directly onto a record using a sound recording device and were therefore final. The American company Presto Products Company began selling such devices in 1915. Over the years, the company developed well, because customers were not only recording studios, but radio stations and private households as well. The first advertisement from Presto Recording Corp. dates back to October 15, 1934.
All recording studios were equipped with such recording devices until the tape revolutionized recording technology with the invention of magnetic sound recording. The first mass-produced tape machines ( AEG and Ampex ) were on the market from 1948 . The recording studios gradually began to convert to the new technology. Sun Records introduced magnetic sound recording in 1951, and in 1954 the first Ampex 350 tape recorders were purchased here.
Recording technology
Due to the magnetic sound recording, sound recordings no longer had the final character as with the Presto process, but could be cut as desired (hence the term " cut "), thus rearranged, changed or (partially) deleted. Further technical improvements were the introduction of the delayed recording (so-called slapback technique), the multitrack technique and overdubbing . The slapback method gave the listener an echo impression by recording audio signals just above the perception limit of individual repetitions (from 30 milliseconds or more). The multitrack process made it possible to record individual musical instruments in isolation and allowed unwanted audio tracks to be eliminated without having to re-record all instruments. In addition, multitracking was a prerequisite for the stereo recordings used from 1957 . The music producers were offered by these technical improvements variables that significantly reduced the shooting costs, quality defects more easily eliminate helped and listening experience of music significantly altered. If the sound engineer can switch between different takes on a single track section by section without changing the source material, this is called take comping .
In the recording studios, the various takes were documented by numbering consecutively recorded takes of a title for easier identification during later assembly. It has become a practice in all recording studios worldwide to record pieces of music in several takes. Exceptions were and are songs that were recorded in One Take . The million-seller The House of the Rising Sun by The Animals in 1964 is one such example of a single continuous recording. For Tibor Kneif, it is not clear whether the reference to a one-take error should excuse or arouse admiration. The opposite is the case with recordings that required a large number of takes to perfect. In Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys from 1966, 26 takes were required to complete a rough music track ( backing track ), a total of over 50 takes, which were produced in 22 recording sessions and were created in six recording studios in Los Angeles. The Beatles with their producer George Martin were true masters of take use . This put Strawberry Fields Forever together in the studio into one of the most complex and intricate songs that the Beatles have ever released. From November 24, 1966 to January 2, 1967, 26 takes were made, of which two different takes were combined. Take 26 but was faster and a semitone higher recorded as the first and had to later in the pace slowed, which is also the pitch belittled, so that the interface between two possible could not be perceptible. This interface is in the song exactly after one minute. Before that, 5 seconds were glued in from take 7, from which the beginning of the song was also taken. A take can also be created without re-recording, as Strawberry Fields Forever demonstrates. On December 9, 1966, takes 15 and 24 were merged into take 25.
The quality and content of the individual takes are, on the one hand, the result of the work of the sound engineer , who, on the instructions of the music producer, discusses different versions with the artist, and, on the other hand, often the result of the artist's daily form. Often, takes are also used to specifically create alternatives when different versions of a title are to be mixed. The original take is usually the version intended for the first release. Another take is also called an alternative take or alternate take . For example, there is an Alternate Take # 48 of Elvis Presley's Doncha 'Think It's Time - an indication that almost 50 takes were necessary to perfect the recording. The interrupted recording of a track is known as a short take .
Once the takes to be used for the final mix ( edit or final mix ) have been determined, they are acoustically harmonized during the edit and immortalized in this form on a master tape . This ultimately forms the basis for the plate or CD pressing. Recordings not used for this purpose are called outtakes and in a few cases are the subject of historically important sound recordings for special recordings ( Elvis Presley ; CD Studio B: Nashville Outtakes from December 2008).
Trivia
Not infrequently, jazz musicians tend to prefer the first take because it often shows a higher degree of spontaneity and ingenuity . Takes that were originally not officially published are now and then coveted collectibles (such as Bob Dylan's The Basement Tapes ). Dave Brubeck's Take Five , however, is after his 5 / 4 - stroke named and indeed incurred in two takes.
literature
- Roland Enders: The home recording manual. 3rd edition, Carstensen Verlag, Munich, 2003, ISBN 3-910098-25-8