Ping-Pong Recording 29

MD4—Owner’s Manual
Ping-Pong Recording

The ping-pong recording technique (also known as bounce down) is used to free up tracks for

further recording. This is accomplished by bouncing down (i.e., mixing and recording) one or

two existing tracks to an unused track. Those tracks are then used for further recording.

Although MD4 is a four-track recorder, effectively you can record more than just four tracks

using this technique. The only drawback is that once several tracks have been bounced, you can-

not adjust the individual sounds. You can, however, balance the levels and apply EQ and effects

during the actual ping-pong operation. The following illustration shows the ping-pong tech-

nique.

Tape-based multitrackers always need at least one unused track for ping-pong operations. MD4,

however, provides four-track playback with ping-pong. So you can record on all four tracks and

then bounce them down to one of those tracks. This is possible because MD4 is able to read

audio data from a track before writing new audio data to it. When the ping-pong operation is

complete of course, the previous audio data in that track is lost. However, you can rehearse

ping-pong operations. The following illustration shows four-track playback with ping-pong.

Destination Track
Source
Tracks
GAIN
LINE MIC
1 2
3 4
AUX
010
HIGH
–12 +12
MID
–12 +12
LOW
–12 +12
PAN
L
ODD R
EVEN
PB MIC/
LINE
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
GAIN
LINE MIC
1 2
3 4
AUX
010
HIGH
–12 +12
MID
–12 +12
LOW
–12 +12
PAN
L
ODD R
EVEN
PB MIC/
LINE
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
23
GROUP ASSIGN
GAIN
LINE MIC
1 2
3 4
AUX
010
HIGH
–12 +12
MID
–12 +12
LOW
–12 +12
PAN
L
ODD R
EVEN
PB MIC/
LINE
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1
GROUP ASSIGN GROUP ASSIGN
Track 4
Track 3
Track 2
Track 1
Track 4
Track 3
Track 2
Track 1
Destination Track
Source
Tracks
GAIN
LINE MIC
1 2
3 4
AUX
010
HIGH
–12 +12
MID
–12 +12
LOW
–12 +12
PAN
L
ODD R
EVEN
PB MIC/
LINE
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
GAIN
LINE MIC
1 2
3 4
AUX
010
HIGH
–12 +12
MID
–12 +12
LOW
–12 +12
PAN
L
ODD R
EVEN
PB MIC/
LINE
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
GAIN
LINE MIC
1 2
3 4
AUX
010
HIGH
–12 +12
MID
–12 +12
LOW
–12 +12
PAN
L
ODD R
EVEN
PB MIC/
LINE
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
234
GROUP ASSIGN
GAIN
LINE MIC
1 2
3 4
AUX
010
HIGH
–12 +12
MID
–12 +12
LOW
–12 +12
PAN
L
ODD R
EVEN
PB MIC/
LINE
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1
GROUP ASSIGN GROUP ASSIGN GROUP ASSIGN
Track 4
Track 3
Track 2
Track 1
Track 4
Track 3
Track 2
Track 1