Recording Essentials: Comping Audio Takes Explained

Our AudioPedia series breaks down the core techniques and terminology involved in the production process into bite sized chunks to make them easier to understand. This video from the course AudioPedia 107: Editing And Signal Flow sees expert producer Joe Albano get down to the business of compositing, or comping, audio takes. 

Small errors or imperfections in an audio part - typically vocals - can become magnified the more someone listens to it. Comping is a way of selecting the best parts of several takes or versions of the same part and then seamlessly stitching them together so that the end result - unbenown to the listener - is a perfect blend of multiple different passes. Be sure to explore the other videos in this course to learn even more about editing and signal flow in audio production.  

AudioPedia 107: Editing And Signal Flow

Our AudioPedia series is a comprehensive video dictionary of audio terminology. Created by audio expert Joe Albano, this encyclopedia of technical terms is the ultimate audio reference tool. Here are the topics covered and defined in the seventh installment of this authoritative series:

Editing | Automation:

• Splicing | Scrubbing
• Comp | Comping
• Beat-Mapping | Beatmapping
• Time-Shifting | Flex | Elastic Audio
• Autotune | Auto-Tune | Autotuning
• Pitch-Shifting
• Quantization (Audio)
• Automation (Mixing)

Signal Flow:

• Console | Mixer | Board | Desk
• Channel Strip
• Channel Fader
• Pan | Pan Pot | Panning
• I/O | i/o
• Insert
• Plug-In | Plugin
• AudioUnit | AU | VST | AAX
• Bussing | Buss | Bus
• Send & Return | Parallel Processing
• Send | Pre-Fader | Post-Fader
• Subgroup | Mix Group | VCA Group
• Mix Bus | Stereo Output | Master Fader
• Bounce (to Disk)

So join audio expert and trainer Joe Albano and get a deep understanding of audio terminology with the AudioPedia series!