In
sound recording
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...
, dubbing is the transfer or copying of previously recorded audio material from one medium to another of the same or a different type. It may be done with a machine designed for this purpose, or by connecting two different machines: one to play back and one to record the signal. The purpose of dubbing may be simply to make multiple copies of audio programs, or it may be done to preserve programs on old media which are deteriorating and may otherwise be lost.
One type of dubbing device combines two different storage media, such as an audio
cassette deck
A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio cassettes that does not have a built-in power amplifier or speakers, and serves primarily as a transport. It can be a part of an automotive entertainment system, a part of a ...
that incorporates a
Compact Disc
The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...
recorder. Such a device enables the transfer of audio programs from an obsolete medium to a widely used medium. It may also simply be used to transfer material between two types of media which are popular in different settings, so that material originating in one type of environment can be used in another. An example of the latter would be the dubbing of a Digital BetaCam videocassette to DVD.
Another type of dubbing device is designed to rapidly produce many copies of a program. It may combine a single playback unit with multiple recording units to simultaneously create two, four, eight, sixteen, or more copies during the playback of a single original program. This type of device can often perform the copying process at many times the standard playback speed. Typical
multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
dubbing decks of either analog (
cassette
Cassette may refer to:
Technology
* Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback
** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...
) or digital (CD) programs can operate at 48 times the standard playback speed, thus producing complete copies of a program in sixty or ninety seconds. Sometimes this high-speed dubbing incurs some loss of quality compared to the best normal (1×) speed dub.
The
verb
A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
"dub" as used here long predates and is unrelated to the
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
n musical style
dub music
Dub is an electronic musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican re ...
; the origin of both words stems from the
dubplate
A dubplate is an acetate disc usually of 10 inches diameter, traditionally used by studios to test recordings prior to mastering for the subsequent pressing of a vinyl record, but pioneered by reggae sound systems as a way to play exclusive music ...
. It is also different with the term dubbing, which is mostly a type of
frottage dance usually found in the Caribbean clubs.
Victor S/8
Some of the earliest dubbings were made by the Victor Talking Machine Co. In 1916, Victor developed an acoustical dubbing process to create new masters from pressings where damage had occurred to the originals. Such dubbings are marked with the symbol “s/8” stamped in the inner rim. These are occasionally (but not always) noted in the New York files. Pressings made from these dubbed masters are sonically inferior to the originals.
See also
*
Lip dub
A lip dub is a type of music video that combines lip synching and audio dubbing to make a music video. It is made by filming individuals or a group of people lip synching while listening to a song or any recorded audio then dubbing over it in p ...
*
Overdubbing
Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...
*
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...
References
Music production
{{Music-stub