Ping-pong recording

Ping-pong recording (more commonly known as "bouncing tracks" or "bouncing down") is a multitrack audio recording technique which takes advantage of magnetic tape’s rewritable nature in order to circumvent its limited number of tracks. The process involves combining multiple previously recorded signals onto either a single track (monophonic) or a pair of tracks (stereo), thus freeing up additional tracks for further overdubs. The process can be continued indefinitely, although additional machine noise, tape hiss, and tape saturation will be added to the recording with each consecutive bounce.

The technique has been commonly used in analog music production prior to the advent of digital recording technologies which allow for a near infinite number of individual tracks.

Examples

• The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, was recorded entirely on a 4-track machine. To achieve the rich orchestration the band envisioned, producer George Martin would frequently bounce down individual tracks, slowly layering overdubs to achieve the Beatles' desired sound.
• Freddie Mercury's backing vocals on Queen's 1975 single, Bohemian Rhapsody, were bounced down from three individual harmony tracks to a single mono track.

• For much of the production of the album Pet Sounds (1966), Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson recorded the instrumental portion of the album using a 4-track recorder. He then bounced (printed) these recordings onto a single track of an 8-track tape, using the remaining tracks for vocal overdubs. In 1997, the engineer Mark Linett mixed the original instrumental stems and overdubbed vocals for the compilation The Pet Sounds Sessions creating a stereo mix of the album.

Other terms

Ping pong is also a term of derision, in particular applied to early commercial stereo recordings of the late 1950s to mid-1960s which do not have a convincing stereo image or sound-stage. Such recordings were often made in two-track form for mixing in mono, but released as authentic stereo recordings.

References

See Also

Portastudio

Multitrack recording

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