Les Paul, a pioneer of multi-track recording.

Overdubbing is a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously taped musical recording. Image File history File links Les Paul This is a copyrighted promotional photo with a known source. ... Image File history File links Les Paul This is a copyrighted promotional photo with a known source. ... A recording studio is a facility for sound recording. ...

The overdub was first used by inventor and guitarist Les Paul on his 1947 "Lover (When You're Near Me)", featuring eight different electric guitar pieces. His later work would be seminal in the popularization of multi-track recording. Les Paul Les Paul (born June 9, 1915) is best known as a guitarist, and as one of the most important figures in the development of modern electric instruments and recording techniques. ... 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Overdubs can be used for a variety of reasons. One of the most obvious is for convenience; for example, if a bassist is temporarily unavailable, the recording can be made and the bass track added later. Similarly, if only one or two guitarists are available but a song calls for multiple guitar parts, a guitarist can play both lead and rhythm guitar (such as in Cream's hit, "Sunshine of Your Love", when it would have been physically impossible for Eric Clapton to solo and play rhythm at the same time). Singers who also play an instrument find overdubbing a convenience, since it allows them to focus on one role at a time. Fender Precision Bass Bass Guitar is a popular term that refers to electric and acoustic basses - stringed instruments similar in design to the guitar, but with longer scale and tuned lower in pitch. ... The classical guitar typically has 3 nylon and 3 nickel-wound strings. ... Cream album cover Cream was a seminal 1960s rock band which featured the guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce, and drummer Ginger Baker. ... Sunshine of Your Love, by British supergroup Cream, is from the Disraeli Gears album. ... Eric Clapton at the Tsunami Relief concert in Cardiffs Millennium Stadium, January 22nd 2005 Eric Patrick Clapton CBE (born March 30, 1945) is a British guitarist and composer. ...

In other cases, overdubbing can be used to enhance the quality of a track, such as adding orchestral pieces (i.e. "A Day In The Life"). Obviously, the alternative (fitting an entire orchestra into a recording studio) would have been less attractive. The members of Queen overdubbed their voices to create the chorus effect for Bohemian Rhapsody. A Day in the Life is a song composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded for the Beatles album Sgt. ... The Queen crest, designed by Freddie Mercury Queen is a British rock band which came to popularity during the mid-1970s, and have amassed an enormous worldwide fanbase that continues to exist to this day. ... In classical music a chorus is any substantial group of performers in a play, revue, musical or opera who act more or less as one. ... Bohemian Rhapsody is a song written by Freddie Mercury, originally recorded by his band Queen for their 1975 album A Night at the Opera. ...

Numerous recording artists have made albums with only (or mostly) themselves performing, using overdubs to serve as their own 'one-man band', including Paul McCartney (McCartney and McCartney II), Todd Rundgren (Something/Anything?), and Prince, on many of his 1980s classics. A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ... Paul McCartney, as photographed by John Kelley for the 1968 LP The Beatles (aka The White Album). Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is a British singer, musician and songwriter, who first came to prominence as a member of The Beatles. ... McCartney is the first solo album by Paul McCartney and was released in 1970. ... McCartney II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Rundgren in his 20s Todd Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is a American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer born in Upper Darby, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Rundgren was a founding member of the 1960s band Nazz, who gained minor recognition with the songs Open My Eyes... Something/Anything? (released in 1972) is Todd Rundgrens third solo album, and is often regarded to be the singer/songwriters magnum opus. ... The term prince (from the Latin princeps), for a member of the highest aristocracy, has fundamentally different meanings - one generic, and several types of titles the female form is princess // Abstract notion The original but least common use is as a GENERIC (descriptive, not formal) term -originating in the application... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 60s and 70s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ...

Overdubbing can at times have a negative connotation, when it is seen as being used to artificially enhance the musical skills of an artist. The early records of the Monkees were made by groups of studio musicians recording backing tracks to the songs (often in a different studio, and some before the group was even formed), which were later overdubbed with the Monkees' vocals. While the songs became hits, many critics cried foul, and Michael Nesmith in particular disliked having to "duplicate someone else's records" for their television show. No cheating was intended in the practise (with the emphasis on the TV program, and the four members not an experienced group, it was felt that using studio 'ringers' would be more efficient), and numerous other singers and groups had studio help, but this didn't save them from critical and public scorn. The Monkees in 1968 (left to right): Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith and Davy Jones The Monkees were a four-person band who appeared in an American television series of the same name, which ran on NBC from 1966 to 1968. ... Michael Nesmith in the Monkees, circa 1967. ...

See also

• Multitrack recording