Handbook for Sound Engineers

828 Chapter 25

25.2.3 Overdubbing and Foldback (Cue)

While broadcasting lends itself to explaining the need
for individual channel monitoring, original material
generation onto tape serves best to explain another
crucial auxiliary signal path.

It didn’t take long before studios were using more
than one tape machine in a technique known as over-
dubbing. Briefly, this involved recording a backing
track (for instance a rhythm section) on one machine
and then playing that back while vocalists sang or solo-
ists played along with it; the whole was mixed together
and recorded on a second machine (bounced) as shown
in Fig. 25-10. This could be carried on until the subse-
quent machine-to-machine generation losses became
too objectionable (although that never seemed to bother
many early producers!). (Generational losses occur
because the tape machines of the era were less than
perfect, what came out of them being noticeably ropier
than what went in!) Naturally, it was essential that the
musicians in the studio were able to hear via loud-
speakers or headphones that to which they were suppos-
edly playing along; this is where foldback (cue) comes
in. In its simplest form, it could be a straight derivative
of the main mix output, since this output has basically
everything necessary in it. This system, however, has a
few shortcomings due primarily to conflicts between
what the final mix is intended to be and what the
artist(s) needs to hear to perform satisfactorily. A prime
example of this dilemma is in the recording of the
backup vocalists sections; usually they take a fairly
minor part in a mix, being balanced well down.
Contrary to this is the need of the vocalists to not only
hear the track played back to them but to hear them-
selves sufficiently well—usually enhanced—to pitch
and phrase themselves effectively. These conditions are
next to impossible at the final mix. A solution lies in
Fig. 25-11 where a separate balance of the relevant
sources is taken and fed separately to the performers,
giving them what they most need, a foldback mix. The
takeoff for the foldback feeds is almost invariably
prefader so that the artist’s balance remains unaffected
regardless of what modifications may be necessary for
the main mix.

25.2.4 Echo, Reverberation, and Effects Send

The move (regrettable as it may seem) from natural
performing acoustic environments to the more cultured,
drier, closer miced techniques brought with it many
problems attendant to the advantages. How do you
make a sound seem as though it was recorded in a great

concert hall if it was done in a small studio? Rever-

berant chambers were an initial answer, being relatively

small rooms acoustically treated to have an extended

reverberation time (bathroom effect). Driven obliquely

at one end or corner by a loudspeaker(s) and sensed by a

microphone(s) at the other end, which is amplified and

balanced into to the main mix, a fairly convincing large

room reverberant effect can be achieved. Simplistically,

all that’s needed to feed the loudspeaker in this room is

Figure 25-10. Overdubbing/bouncing, a previous micro-

phone mixer recorded on tape 1 may be played back along

with a further microphone mixer onto tape 2 and vice versa.

Figure 25-11. Foldback mix.

Tape 1

Tape 2

Buses

Foldback

Faders

Main

Foldback

Main

mix amp

Main

output

Foldback

mix amp

Artists

headphones

Main