9.2. How to Make Multitrack Recordings

There are several ways to make multitrack recordings. One way is to use a multichannel recording interface and record all of your tracks at one time. Another way is to record new tracks at different times into an existing project; this is called overdubbing. Another way to manage a multitrack project is to run multiple recording sessions, each in its own Audacity project, and then copy tracks from these into a single Audacity project.

For recording larger numbers of tracks at once, I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 26, which is an excellent multichannel FireWire recording interface. It has eight microphone preamps, phantom power, two ADAT banks (16 channels), S/PDIF, 24/192 digital I/O, and a lot of other goodies. Figure 9-5 shows a four-channel recording session in Audacity using the Saffire. As you can see, it doesn’t look special: It’s just four channels all recording at the same time. The Saffire can theoretically handle 26 recording inputs at one time, which Audacity can handle with no problem; the only limitation is what my computer can handle. (Audacity versions before 1.3.8 are limited to 16 inputs at once.)