recording

Pluralrecordings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A reproduction of sound or video stored on a permanent medium so it can be played back later.

   The studio released a remastered recording of the 1965 concert.

   Several recordings of the speech survive in the national archive.

   Similartape, track

   Note

   Where the act of recording is a process, this sense names the thing it leaves behind, so it can be counted: a recording, two recordings. It reaches beyond music and television. In physiology, a recording is a captured trace of nerve activity, judged by its signal-to-noise ratio. The physical medium once mattered too: a wartime ban on shellac and vinyl could keep a recording from ever being released.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of capturing sound or video and storing it on a permanent medium.

   The recording of the symphony required three separate sessions.

   Live recording captures the energy of a concert that studio work often loses.

   Similartaping, filming

3. 3
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of record.

   The journalist was recording every word of the testimony.

   Recording the lecture helped her review the material later.

   Note

   One spelling does two grammatical jobs. After a form of be it builds the progressive (was recording every word). At the head of a clause it acts as a gerund that still takes a direct object (recording the lecture helped). Once it needs of before its object, as in the recording of telephone calls, it has become the noun for the act.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The act of entering something on an official register; registration.

   The recording of the mortgage protects the lender's claim.

   County offices handle the recording of property transfers each day.

   Similarregistration, filing

   Note

   Here the word belongs to public records rather than to sound. The verb behind it can mean giving something legal status by entering it in an official public record, and this noun names that act. Mortgages, deeds and property transfers are what typically get recorded. Keep it apart from the playable copy: the recording of a deed is something done, not something kept on a shelf.

Showing meanings only. Show all 4