What is Comping and How do I use it?

Comping, short for composite recording, is a powerful tool for vocalists, instrumentalists, and producers. It allows you to record multiple takes of a performance, then choose and edit the best parts to build the perfect recording.

Comping is part of a BandLab Membership. Check out all exclusive perks here!

How Do I Record Multiple Takes?

New takes are created whenever you record over an existing audio region, regardless of whether the Cycle bar is turned on or not. The takes are linked to the parent region. Here's how:

Web Mobile
  1. In the Studio, add a Voice/Audio track and create a Cycle area by clicking and dragging on the Time Ruler.
  2. Click to start recording in cycles. Recording more than one take over a region automatically stores them as Takes within that region.
  3. You can show/hide recorded takes by clicking Takes on the region or right-clicking the region and selecting Show Takes/Hide Takes.
  4. By default, the last recorded take is selected and active in the region. To select a different take, click your desired take from the Take lanes. The region's waveform will be updated to reflect the currently selected take.

Note

  • Comping is a Membership feature. Free users can still record multiple takes, but only the last recorded take is accessible.
  • You can't record new takes over regions that are looped, stretched, or pitch-shifted.
How Do I Edit My Takes?

You can edit your takes by applying region actions to the parent region. Certain actions, such as Slice, Move, Normalize, etc., are applied to all takes, while actions like Denoise and Voice Cleaner only apply to the selected take.

Web Mobile
  1. Click on Takes on the region to display the takes, or right-click the region and select Show Takes.
  2. Click on the take you'd like to edit. The parent region's waveform will reflect the currently selected take.
  3. Right-click the parent region, then choose an action. To Slice, place the playhead where you want to cut before selecting Slice.

Note

  • You can Undo or Redo all individual edit actions you perform
  • Voice Changer doesn't affect the recorded takes
How Do I Remove Takes?

An audio track can contain multiple, separate regions with takes, and the takes are stored locally on your device. On BandLab Web, you'll lose your takes as soon as you log out. On Mobile, you lose them when you delete or reinstall the app.

You can manually remove Takes in three ways:

Web Mobile
  1. Right-click on a specific take and click Remove Takes
  2. Right-click on a parent region and select Remove Takes. This removes all Takes under that parent region
  3. Click on the Track Menu and select Remove All Takes. This removes all takes for that track

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