A 2-track beat is a colloquial music term to say this instrumental is a single stereophonic file of the rendered or exported project. So it doesn't have all the other separate audio files or the bits and pieces that were used to make it e.g., individual drums, virtual instruments, effects, samples, and all that jazz.
However, 2-track mixing is the modus operandi for genres of music like reggae and dancehall. Why? Because both reggae and dancehall styles of music have something in common about them i.e., riddims. In this case, it makes sense to employ the two-tracking mixing technique since you don't want the riddim to end up sounding weird and have too much variation in terms of the beat itself excluding vocals.
It's also efficient and cost-effective because many times dancehall riddims are mixed by the same person from start to finish. In other words, the beat is mixed once and from there you just blend vocals from project to project by creating signature vocal textures that each recording artist is known for e.g., distorted adlibs with reverb, creative delays, and all that cool stuff.
Why is it called that?
It's because, unlike a monophonic audio file, a stereophonic audio file has two channels: the left and the right channel. For instance, if you were to use a hardware mixer you'd most likely need two empty mixer tracks for an instrumental instead of one; unless you want the beat to sound mono. So that's where the term kinda comes from.What is two-track mixing?
This is a mixing session where you only have a tracked-out stereo beat and vocals (or vox) to work with. It's often used by people on the come-up. For example, doing cover songs or recording unauthorized remix versions and then showing off to your buddies and whatnot about how much of a star you are.However, 2-track mixing is the modus operandi for genres of music like reggae and dancehall. Why? Because both reggae and dancehall styles of music have something in common about them i.e., riddims. In this case, it makes sense to employ the two-tracking mixing technique since you don't want the riddim to end up sounding weird and have too much variation in terms of the beat itself excluding vocals.
It's also efficient and cost-effective because many times dancehall riddims are mixed by the same person from start to finish. In other words, the beat is mixed once and from there you just blend vocals from project to project by creating signature vocal textures that each recording artist is known for e.g., distorted adlibs with reverb, creative delays, and all that cool stuff.
