How to Use overdub in a Sentence

overdub

noun
  • There are some overdubs but [most] of that song was one live take, everyone in different iso booths.
    — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 1 May 2026
  • Plenty of producers are going to tell you what kind of keyboard to use on that overdub.
    — Sarah Rodman, EW.com, 13 July 2019
  • It was recorded in only six hours, with additional time spent on overdubs.
    — Michael Hamad, courant.com, 2 June 2017
  • And there are overdubs, of course there are overdubs, and there is a complexity to the way the album is produced.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Just myself, one guitarist, one bassist, one drummer with minimum overdubs.
    — Steve Baltin, Forbes, 12 Mar. 2025
  • Then Lee would edit the results into cohesive songs and add overdubs.
    — John Lingan, Washington Post, 10 Mar. 2023
  • There were virtually no overdubs or thoughts about production.
    — Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 6 Sep. 2024
  • The entire album was recorded live in one room with no overdubs in two-hour sessions after six months of whipping the songs into shape at rehearsal.
    — Ed Masley, The Arizona Republic, 7 June 2023
  • For a Broadway cast album, many producers and engineers like to record the orchestra first and then have the singers come in and overdub.
    — Diane Snyder, Billboard, 31 May 2017
  • The final touches were provided by Gideon Klein, a musician that Rimes hired to arrange strings and overdub all of the parts.
    — Tom Roland, Billboard, 30 Apr. 2025
  • Some beautiful guitar, Fender Rhodes, and keyboard overdubs.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Arrangements were often figured out through improvisation, while the songs were recorded live with minimal overdubs.
    — Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 3 June 2025
  • Marlowe wasn’t crazy about it, so Huff blended in an overdub of the same line from Jacob Naggy, the fiddler from Marlowe’s road band.
    — Tom Roland, Billboard, 16 July 2025
  • Steel guitarist Justin Schipper slid a bundle of leading tones into the mix during overdubs that knit the production together.
    — Tom Roland, Billboard, 7 Feb. 2024
  • Morgan recreated the groggy morning voice as Johnson produced overdubs, though that wordy chorus presented a challenge.
    — Tom Roland, Billboard, 17 Apr. 2024
  • The new EPs are captured from live recordings that McCraven later reworked through editing, overdubs, and post-production.
    — Eric Torres, Pitchfork, 19 Aug. 2025
  • While the overdubs, particularly the backing vocals, were overly elaborate and robbed the recording of some of its atmosphere, they’ve been dialed back on subsequent reissues.
    — Jem Aswad, Variety, 3 July 2023
  • Most of the music involved overdubs, with Batiste and fellow multi-instrumentalists Bellion and Tenroc handling most of the work.
    — Bill Beuttler, BostonGlobe.com, 14 July 2023
  • But Buckley, a virtuoso rock performer, possessed a soaring vocal range, supple across multiple octaves and able to achieve euphoric liftoff without the aid of angelic overdubs.
    — Stephen Metcalf, The Atlantic, 17 Sep. 2024
  • Recorded live with no overdubs or edits, the performance is paired with the acoustic ambience of dripping water, echoes and natural resonance as atmospheric lighting spotlights the band.
    — Tyler Jenke, Billboard, 14 May 2025
  • Their relationship turned professional when Page, with both an album deadline and a tour looming, arranged for Manning to assist with overdubs and mixing of the band’s third album.
    — Jim Beaugez, Rolling Stone, 27 Mar. 2025
  • Hoffman said the group pretty much finished the basic tracks during the first session, leaving vocals, harmonies, overdubs and other embellishments as the main remaining tasks for the second recording session.
    — Alan Sculley, sacbee, 26 Oct. 2017
  • On the earlier recording, the three of them added overdubs to elaborate tracks Fennelly had already cut using a pedal harmonium, synthesizers, and electronics.
    — Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader, 21 Mar. 2018
  • The credits for this new version include Steve Van Zandt and Ron Aniello on guitar, confirming there were recent overdubs on the original studio recording.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 22 Aug. 2025
  • Farr recorded the album on vintage TASCAM multi-track recorders and did his overdubs on reel-to-reel tape, a finicky process that stretches the tape and imbues the music with the ghosts of previous takes.
    — Jayson Greene, Pitchfork, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Far from completing the album in the druggy haze of a French basement, the band spent six months on overdubs at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, where Jagger contributed many of his vocals.
    — Marc Ballon, Los Angeles Times, 20 Apr. 2026
  • Getting the deceptively simple song down on record would prove to be a complex endeavor, involving an orchestral score from George Martin and overdubs from an unwieldy primitive Moog synthesizer.
    — Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE.com, 1 Oct. 2019
  • This compilation reveals the session of June 1970 to be a seismic event, stripping the tracks of their overdubs and focusing on the craft of the musicians and Elvis’ genius for capturing lightning in a bottle.
    — Liza Lentini, SPIN, 24 Nov. 2023
  • Between the Buttons, however, is a fetchingly bespoke potpourri of pop styles, its sound largely shaped by Jones jumping around the studio laying down overdubs of dulcimer, kazoo, tuba, recorder, accordion, and vibraphone.
    — Al Shipley, SPIN, 17 Oct. 2023
  • Fiddler Jenee Fleenor heightened the track’s lonely quality in overdubs, and drummer Aaron Sterling was asked to reimagine the original percussion, transitioning the kit from a time-keeping tool to a more atmospheric element.
    — Tom Roland, Billboard, 23 June 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'overdub.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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