what's a punch-in?

[visa]

i have no idea what it is.

a detailed explaination?....anyone?

[Atwork]

It's where you erase an error and replace it with the part correctly played or sung. You can set up the recorder to start and finish at exactly the right points so you don't record over the bits you want to keep.

[rguagenti]

Adding to what Atwork said:

If you recorded a track and are happy with it except for a measure or two, you flubbed a chord change, you hit a bad note, whatever, instead of rerecording the whole track you can punch in at the bad points.

You can set up your recorder to "punch in" at a certain time or measure and "punch out" at a certain time or measure. After setting your punch in and out parameters, arm your track to record, then set yourself up about two or three measures in front of the punch in time. Press "record" and play along with the track. Play a little bit past the punch out time as well. The only part that will get rerecorded is the punch in and out times you have set. If you don't like that take, you can do it over and over until you get it right.

It's a very useful tool.

Hope this helps.

[rguagenti]

BTW you should punch in during the same recording session otherwise you will have to re-create the same conditions that existed at the time you originally recorded the track. Volume levels, etc.

[jskillz89]

couldnt have said it better my self

[dachay2tnr]

Also known as an overdub, if you're more familiar with that term.

[lost studios]

Originally posted by visa
i have no idea what it is.

a detailed explaination?....anyone?

A punch-in is what I did everyday at 7:00AM for the start of my day doing slave labor in a factory before my studio started to support me. Personally, I prefer punching out much more.

[lost studios]

Originally posted by jskillz89
couldnt have said it better my self

You're right... you couldn't.

[Han]

Originally posted by dachay2tnr
Also known as an overdub, if you're more familiar with that term.

Sorry, but I have to disagree. A punch in/out is when you replace for example a couple of bad notes or bars on the same track.
The bass player missed a note and you re-record a small piece of the bass part.

An overdub is an extra track which is added to the already recorded tracks.

If you record a band at once, say drums, bass and guitar and you record a second guitar on an extra track, it's called an overdub.

Punching is only important when recording to tape. It's a special skill. A while ago I punched on a 2" machine, 21 tracks between two tom strokes in a drum brake. You got to have some luck too.

[TexRoadkill]

Thanks god for the undo button on digital recorders. I can't remember how many times I've accidentally punched over the wrong part or track.

I can't imagine the stress of doing it to tape anymore.

[dachay2tnr]

Originally posted by Han
Sorry, but I have to disagree. A punch in/out is when you replace for example a couple of bad notes or bars on the same track.
The bass player missed a note and you re-record a small piece of the bass part.

An overdub is an extra track which is added to the already recorded tracks.

If you record a band at once, say drums, bass and guitar and you record a second guitar on an extra track, it's called an overdub.

Punching is only important when recording to tape. It's a special skill. A while ago I punched on a 2" machine, 21 tracks between two tom strokes in a drum brake. You got to have some luck too.

I have always heard the term used for both cases - recording an additional track into an existing project, AND for dubbing a correction to an existing track. "I need to overdub the guitar in the bridge."

That's not to say it wasn't being misused. Where's the official recording dictionary when you need it?

[dachay2tnr]

When all else fails, search the web:

Here's one definition I found:
OVERDUBBING, OVERDUBS - The process of replacing an excellent recording with progressively lower quality Overdubs attempts.

( Been there, done that.)


Here's another (which supports your definition) :
Overdub - the addition of new tracks layered over others. Overdub presumes that some tracks have already been recorded. You may do some overdubbing with your video projects, if you include both narrative tracks and music tracks.

Punch in - the re-recording of a particular segment. The engineer will "punch in" at a certain point and "punch out" again in order to improve the performance of a given section without changing or re-recording the rest of the performance.


So I'll stand corrected - I guess.

[TexRoadkill]

Punching In is a subset of Overdubbing.

Anytime you add more tracks you are overdubbing. When you add a new piece in the middle of an existing track you are punching in the overdub.