Any tips on keeping large numbers of vocal tracks singing chorus bits under control

Schwarzenyaeger said:
It's still used for normal audio exporting from a DAW, like when you are finished with a project.
Some DAWs like Logic do have "Bounce in place" function that can help save processing power when you're doing your beatz and you've got like a hundred tracks of sub drops and wub wubs and fifty different synth plugins.
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Another name for this is Freeze. Used often for a track that has heavy processing. It is technically a bounce/render, but it does it much easier, you can still adjust volume and to unfreeze is pretty simple. This can come in handy on a large project with lots of processing.
 
"Bounce", in the old tape/limited track days meant combining multiple tracks into one to free up more tracks. What's described as 'bouncing' by others here (not Masta) is rendering/freezing tracks - it doesn't free up any 'new' tracks, it just reduces processor load.

Reason has no folder/group function? What a PITA that would make my mixing! I almost always use folders for drums, instruments and vocals to get the overall balance right for different sctions of the song - automate the volume of the group rather than each track individually.
 
mjbphotos said:
"Bounce", in the old tape/limited track days meant combining multiple tracks into one to free up more tracks. What's described as 'bouncing' by others here (not Masta) is rendering/freezing tracks - it doesn't free up any 'new' tracks, it just reduces processor load.
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Thank you. I didn't want to get into a 3 page discussion based on semantics, but what most of you guys are describing isn't "Bouncing" in the traditional sense of how the word was used for years when it comes to recording. "Bouncing" used to (and still should) mean exactly what it sounds like. You're "bouncing" tacks 1,2, and 3 onto track 4 so that you now have all 3 tracks mixed together on track 4, and now tracks 1, 2, and 3 are free to use again.

All this other shit ain't "bouncing", Betty. :D
 
Ableton has grouping and it is really nice. When I record with Reaper (since I use it for live work). I group the drums together, get it mixed then adjust the volume of the complete group with the mix.

Ableton uses the word render whether it is a down mix or track(s). Unless your doing collaboration, I rarely render individual tracks and I never bounce. ;)
 
When you render a single track in Reaper, its called 'stem rendering', and the only reason to do it is having a VSTi which is processor-heavy (and/or you have a ton of VSTi tracks using up all your processor capability). In Reaper, like Ableton, you 'render' the mix down to a stereo master file.
 
Actually (just looked) Reaper has both options. I haven't used it, but I would assume the render option for external use and freeze keeps it in the DAW?
 
Never saw it listed as 'freeze', maybe that's a shortcut to 'stem render AND insert rendered file into new track'?
 
For individual tracks, Reaper has several similar options which actually do quite different things.

Apply track FX as new take will do exactly that. On the original track, it creates a new take which sounds exactly like the original with all the take envelopes and fx applied. I think you then have to bypass all of the FX on the track, else it ends up processed twice. If you want to change something after, you can unbypass those FX, and select the original take as active. This doesn't work for "bus tracks" that have no audio items of their own, because you have to be able to select an audio item to apply it to. It maintains the sends from the track, but they will all be essentially "Post FX" since the FX are on the audio item itself.

Render (mono/stereo) stem tracks and mute original will make an entirely new track which sounds exactly like the original track with all the envelopes and insert fx applied, and then mute the original. If you want to change an effect or something down the road, you have to basically delete this new track and go back to the original. This works also for "bus" tracks that don't have any actual audio items on them but are only receiving from other tracks, but it pretty much breaks any sends from the original track.

The Freeze options do not create a new track. What they do is render a new audio item on the original track that sounds like what was coming through it with all the envelopes and FX applied, removes all the original items from the track, and bypasses all of the FX and envelopes. By default it also locks the new item so that you can't really edit it or change it at all. If you want to make changes, you have to unfreeze it, which should cause the track to revert back to exactly where it was when you hit freeze to begin with. I think it is possible to unlock the items that freeze creates, but I'm not sure what happens if you modify them and then unfreeze. I would expect it to be a bit unpredictable, but haven't tried it. It also works for "Receive" tracks, and I believe it maintains the sends from the track, but they will be "Post FX" like in Apply FX above.

So basically Freeze should be seen as your temporary solution to save CPU when you're pretty sure you're going to want to change things later. Render to Stem Track is good when you're pretty sure you're done messing with the track, and want to free up resources, but want to keep the original tracks for archival purposes or "just in case". Apply as New Take is a weird one. I use it sometimes when I know I don't ever want to go back to the original (even though it still exists until you clean directory and/or delete all your backup projects), but I'm having a hard time right now coming up with a time when it might be more appropriate than Render to Stem.
 
RAMI said:
Thank you. I didn't want to get into a 3 page discussion based on semantics, but what most of you guys are describing isn't "Bouncing" in the traditional sense of how the word was used for years when it comes to recording. "Bouncing" used to (and still should) mean exactly what it sounds like. You're "bouncing" tacks 1,2, and 3 onto track 4 so that you now have all 3 tracks mixed together on track 4, and now tracks 1, 2, and 3 are free to use again.

All this other shit ain't "bouncing", Betty. :D
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This ^

And it's OK, I finished the track weeks ago ... you can all stand down / demoblise... :laughings:
 
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