Multitrack

The Multitrack is a sound recording device that allows the recording of multiple discrete recordings in parallel and/or series.

The multitrack allows a musician to record a piece of music one of the tracks, and then record another performance to another track while listening to the orginal perfomance. Both performances can then be played back perfectly syncronised, as if they had been played together. This is called overdubbing and can be repeated until all of the tracks are used up.

Originally invented by Les Paul the earliest multitracks were analogue tape recorders with 4 tracks. Today multitracks can be analogue or digital, and have many more tracks. Analogue multitracks can have up to 24 tracks and have tape widths up to 2 inches wide. Digital multitracks can record to a number of mediums including Digital tape, Hard Disk, and Magneto-optical disk.