Prerequisite to this tutorial Before you read this tutorial it will be helpful to have read or have an understanding of: What is Multitrack Recording? The Fundamentals vTake stands for Virtual Take (Sometimes known as Virtual Track). Think of the word 'Take' like it's meaning in Film making - "Scene 0ne. Take one" but we are using "Track one. Take one". It refers to a wonder of digital recording that allows us to record many times to one Track without erasing what is already recorded, allowing us to choose the one we prefer later. The difference in using a new vTake than a new Track when overdubbing a new part of a song is that only one vTake of a Track can be played back at any one time, where as using a new Track you would be able to play back both the new recording and the old recording simultaneously, but using a vTake will not take up a precious Track. Practical use of a vTake To explain further it is useful to go back to our previous analogy of Tracks as Dictaphones and our simple song we recorded in the 'What is MultiTrack Recording' tutorial. Quick summary: We were using a theoretical recording device comprising of Multiple Dictaphones for the Tracks controlled by Status Keys and a main unit for the Play, Record, rewind etc features.
The Solo was giving us some trouble but after some overwriting we got it like we wanted it. But now we listen to all four Tracks and have an idea for a different bass line, but don't want to overwrite our first bass line in case we change our minds again nor do we want to use a new Track as we are going to need these for more instruments later. Perfect situation for a vTake. Now we need to get hold of a bunch of extra tapes for our Dictaphones. Ten for each Dictaphone we are using. Each one of these Tapes represents a vTake. We need to get our Tapes/vTakes into some kind of order before we start mucking around with them. Lets add a Tape holder to our setup. One rack for each Dictaphone, each rack can hold ten Tapes. Label the rack's slots 1, 2, 3, 4.... 10. Leave Slot 1 empty on all the racks but fill the others with new, blank tapes. Ok, lets swap some Tapes around! To preserve the original bass line but save us using a new Dictaphone/Track we are simply going to:
In this manner you can see the limitations and possibilities associated with vTakes.
Moving vTakes. OK, so we just said that we couldn't listen to two vTakes at once. Now we are going to break that rule!
We can now hear:
But we also have a vocal recording tucked away safely for later. This is getting complicated! Thank goodness for digital! The main rule for the tape rack system is that there must always be 9 tapes in each rack and one tape in the Dictaphone. Apart from that you can move them around as much as you want.
Editing vTakes There are a number of other options we have with vTakes. Have a look in your Manual to see what you have, now that we understand the basics they should all be quite logical. The most common are:
Erase vTake Need I say? Wipe the contents of one vTake Copy vTake Copy the contents of one vTake to a blank tape, leaving you with two identical recordings. Move vTake See above A note on digital time and memory In our Fantasy setup we have not mentioned how long our Tapes are. Theoretically we could use any length tape to give us unlimited recording time. But in a digital MultiTrack Recorder we are limited by the amount of memory we have. Different MultiTrack Recorders have different memory sizes. Some use memory cards which come in a variety of sizes. All your recordings use memory, regardless of where they are - Being listened to, stored for later, etc. If we recorded on 1 Track for 20 minutes, this would use 20 minutes of recording time. If we were to record on 4 Tracks for 5 minutes, this would also use up 20 minutes of recording time. Equally, if we were to record 4 vTakes of 5 minutes each on 1 Track , this would also use 20 minutes of recording time. This is also true for combinations of Track and vTakes. I.E:
Summary
See vTakes for extra info. |