This post focuses on the technique of comping, or creating a composite performance from various elements of multiple performances.
It used to be that in order to get a recording of a performance the performers had to run straight through the material. But ever since the invention of overdubbing people have been changing the way music is made and performed for recordings. In the analog days, tape was cut a spliced together to create edits in the material. Now this process is even easier with computers. A standard practice for many producers is ‘comping’, or the creation of a track that incorporates the best sections of multiple performances. This is in contrast to another common technique called ‘punching’, where a performance is overwritten for a while with new recording passes until the desired performance is captured (at which point the recording continues with the material already on tape).
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