<<< Is it not true that Tom is talking about a very common practice in the old analog studios that was known as "punching in?" >>>


It's not wrong to call the technique that but it's my understanding where Tom would re-record the entire 6th verse to be more accurately termed overdubbing. The two terms are frequently used interchangeably and it wouldn't be at all unusual to hear someone say "we'll come in tomorrow and punch in the 6th verse." Your explanation of "punching in" accurately describes the punch in/out process.

If I were assisting Tom with his recording, I would start the recording at the first bar of the 6th verse and record the entire verse. I would continue to record several additional takes of that verse and then review the various takes in small sections and choose the best section from each take and comp those various sections into a single rendition to compile the total verse. That's overdubbing when recording the tracks and comping when editing to create a single track from the combined tracks.

In this example, assume after recording and saving four takes of the 6th verse, there was still a two word phrase in each take that was unsatisfactory. I would have Tom record just that two word phrase by punching in and out between the start and ending of the phrase to correct that specific phrase in the verse.

That's how I differentiate between the two terms.

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