Recording an album is broken down into 3 main stages. Tracking (recording), mixing and mastering. The tracking phase is where the actual recording of the material takes place.

Drums are recorded first (often with bass) while the other instruments usually record just scratch tracks (tracks not intended to be used in the final product). Drums are usually expected to play straight through songs. Once drums are recorded on all songs other instruments will be overdubbed on separate tracks. Recording Lair can accomadate a live recording so that all tracks are final takes.

Overdubbing means recording with the artist playing along with what has already been recorded. Once the drums are tracked, other instruments will be overdubbed onto their own tracks while playing with the recorded drums. Often the vocal will be overdubbed last so the vocalist can interact with all the music.

If a take has some good playing in it, but also some sections that are less than desirable, then the less desirable sections can be recorded over while keeping the good parts. The tape will play the music until the desired punch in spot at which time the engineer switches the recorder from play mode into record mode. A punch-out occurs when the engineer switches the recorder from record mode back to play mode. If the punch-in and punch-out points need to be specific they can be programmed.

Each instrument will be recorded onto its own track. This allows for greater control in the mix-down phase. For example: If the engineer wants more of the snare drum, or wants to add some signal processing (such as a compressor or EQ) to only the snare drum, he can apply the settings to the track with the snare drum on it and it will only affect the snare drum track.

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