Editing Les Paul (section)

===Multitrack recording===
Paul first experimented with sound on sound while in elementary school when he punched holes in the [[piano roll]] for his mother's [[player piano]]. In 1946,  his mother complimented him on a song she had heard on the radio, when in fact she had heard George Barnes, not Paul.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kane|first1=Brian|title=Acousmatic Fabrications: Les Paul and the 'Les Paulverizer' |journal=Journal of Visual Culture|date=August 2011|volume=10|issue=2|page=216|doi=10.1177/1470412911402892|s2cid=193109700}}</ref> This motivated Paul to spend two years in his Hollywood garage recording studio, creating his unique sound, his New Sound. Paul stunned the music industry with his New Sound in 1948.

Paul recorded several songs with Bing Crosby, most notably "[[It's Been a Long, Long Time]]," which was a number-one single in 1945.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Waksman|first1=Steve|title=Les Paul: In Memoriam|journal=Popular Music & Society|date=May 2010|volume=33|issue=2|page=271|doi=10.1080/03007761003707944|s2cid=191470269}}</ref><ref name="SoundOnSound"/>

After a recording session, Bing Crosby suggested that Paul build a recording studio so he could produce the sound he wanted. Paul started his studio in the garage of his home on North Curson Street in Hollywood. The studio drew many vocalists and musicians who wanted the benefit of his expertise. His experiments included microphone placement, track speed, and recording overdubs. These methods resulted in a clarity previously unheard in this type of multitrack recording. People began to consider his recording techniques as instruments—as important to production as a guitar, bass, or drums.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Waksman|first1=Steve|title=Les Paul: In Memoriam|journal=Popular Music & Society|date=May 2010|volume=33|issue=2|page=3|doi=10.1080/03007761003707944|s2cid=191470269}}</ref>

Capitol Records released "[[Lover (When You're Near Me)]]", on which Paul played eight different parts on electric guitar,<ref name="SoundOnSound"/> some recorded at half-speed, hence "double-fast" when played back at normal speed for the [[master recording|master]]. This was the first time he used multitracking in a recording. His early multitrack recordings, including "Lover" and "Brazil", were made with [[acetate disc]]s. He recorded a track onto a disk, then recorded himself playing another part with the first. He built the multitrack recording with overlaid tracks rather than parallel ones as he did later. By the time he had a result that satisfied him, he had discarded some five hundred recording disks.

As a teen he had built a disc-cutter assembly using the flywheel from a [[Cadillac]], a dental belt and other parts from his father's car repair shop. Years later in his Hollywood garage, he used the acetate disc setup to record parts at different speeds and with delay, resulting in his signature sound with echoes and birdsong-like guitar riffs.

In 1949, Crosby gave Paul one of the first [[Ampex]] Model 200A [[Reel-to-reel audio tape recording|reel to reel tape recorders]].<ref name="Les Paul In His Own Words"/> Paul invented sound on sound recording using this machine by placing an additional playback head, located before the conventional erase/record/playback heads. This allowed Paul to play along with a previously recorded track, both of which were mixed together onto a new track. The Ampex was a monophonic tape recorder with only one track across the entire width of quarter-inch tape, and therefore, the recording was "destructive" in the sense that the original recording was permanently replaced with the new, mixed recording. He eventually enhanced this by using one tape machine to play back the original recording and a second to record the combined track. This preserved the original recording.<ref name="aes.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/sel-sync/snyder_sel-sync.pdf |title=Sel-sync and the "Octopus": How Came to be the First Recorder to Minimize Successive Copying in Overdubs |work=ARSC Journal |access-date=March 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519105331/http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/sel-sync/snyder_sel-sync.pdf |archive-date=May 19, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1952, Paul invented the [[flanging|flange effect]], wherein two recordings of the same sound run slightly asynchronously, causing phase cancellations that sweep through the frequency range. The first example of this can be heard on his song "Mammy's Boogie".<ref name="Bode">{{cite journal |last1=Bode |first1=Harald |title=History of Electronic Sound Modification |journal=Journal of the Audio Engineering Society |date=October 1984 |volume=32 |issue=10 |page=730}}</ref><ref name="Thompson">{{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=Art |title=Stompbox: A History of Guitar, Fuzzes, Flangers, Phasers, Echoes & Wahs |date=1997 |publisher=Miller Freeman |location=San Francisco, Calif. |isbn=0-87930-479-0 |page=24}}</ref>

Observing film recordings inspired Paul to design the stacking of eight tape recorders. He worked with [[Ross S. Snyder|Ross Snyder]] on the design of the first eight-track recording deck built for him by Ampex for his home studio.<ref name="Garage">{{cite book |last=Lawrence|first=Robb |title=The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy, 1915-1963|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NqIgLrXaA6QC&pg=PA19 |access-date=May 10, 2011|year=2008|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn=978-0-634-04861-6 |pages=19–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/sel-sync/snyder_sel-sync.pdf |title=Sel-sync and the "Ocotpus": How Came to be the First Recorder to Minimize Successive Copying in Overdubs |work=ARSC Journal |access-date=March 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519105331/http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/sel-sync/snyder_sel-sync.pdf |archive-date=May 19, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="aes.org"/> Rein Narma built a custom 8-channel mixing console for him.<ref>{{cite journal |title=2007 AES Report – Where Audio Comes Alive |url=http://www.mixonline.com/ms/aes2007/2007aes-web-report/ |journal=[[Mix (magazine)|Mix]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140917154520/http://www.mixonline.com/ms/aes2007/2007aes-web-report/ |archive-date=2014-09-17 |quote=After the event, Narma, who also designed and built Les Paul's 8-track recording console, was reacquainted with Les, as the two had not seen each other since 1973.}}</ref> The mixing board included in-line [[equalization (audio)|equalization]] and vibrato effects. He named the recorder "The Octopus" and the mixing console "The Monster".<ref>{{cite journal |author=Richard Buskin |title=Classic Tracks: Les Paul & Mary Ford 'How High The Moon' |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan07/articles/classictracks_0107.htm |journal=[[Sound on Sound]] |issue=January 2007 |access-date=September 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720032654/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan07/articles/classictracks_0107.htm |archive-date=July 20, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> The name "octopus" was inspired by comedian [[W. C. Fields]], who was the first person to hear Paul play his multi-tracked guitar experiments. "He came to my garage to make a little record (in 1946)," Les recalled. "I played him the acetate of 'Lover' that I'd done. When he heard it, he said, 'My boy, you sound like an octopus.{{'"}}<ref>{{cite web |author=Bill DeMain |title=The Best of the Capitol Masters (90th Birthday Edition) |url=http://www.puremusic.com/61les.html |work=Puremusic.com |access-date=November 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209230021/http://www.puremusic.com/61les.html |archive-date=February 9, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>