How were movies and songs edited/mixed before computers?
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My band recorded a CD in 1992. Before we started we had to buy 2 huge reels of recording tape. It was maybe an inch thick and maybe a foot diameter. Before we started playing, the engineer loaded one reel onto the recording device. The studio had a 32 channel sound board and the recording device had a recording head that could simultaneously record up to 32 different inputs on the recording tape.
Before we started recording we’d spent hours getting all the levels correct. Then when everything sounded pretty good, we’d record as a whole band. But the goal of the first pass was just to get the bass and drums right. Everyone else was playing just to make the bassist and drummer feel they were playing the whole song. So in the first pass, maybe 10 tracks got recorded. Before the engineer would hit record, he’d select the 10 tracks that end up on the recording tape (bass drum, snare, tom, tom, cymbal, high hat, bass guitar, …)
Then rest of the tracks (guitars, vocals, kbd, odd noises) were recorded 1 at a time. The engineer would rewind the tape reel to the beginning of the song, select which of the 32 tracks would end up on the tape (remember, tracks 1 to 10 are already recorded on the tape so don’t overwrite those) and he’d hit record and we’d hear the already recorded tracks and the ones that were being recorded would be written to that same tape reel.
After all the tracks are written to tape, the engineer and band would go over and over the recorded songs tweaking knobs to get levels and sound right for each track. When everything sounded good, he’d hit play and record again and the recorded music would play as we fade in and out parts that are supposed to end up on the master and ones that are not. And that would be recorded on the 2nd, unused reel.
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