"Locking" or "Freezing" Tracks?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rokket
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Rokket

Rokket

Trailing Behind Again
southSIDE Glen said:
Id recommend getting into the habit of locking or freezing your tracks during mixing (which it's called depends upon your brand of DAW software), and just unlocking or unfreezing only those couple of tracks you're specifically working on at any given time.

"Locking" or "freezing" a track causes the software to temporarily render a copy of the locked/frozen track including all real-time effects you have applied. You are not committing to anything you have done; anytime you want you can unlock the track and undo, edit or otherwise modify anything you may have done to the track previously. But by locking/freezing tracks to temporarily pre-render them, you are freeing up the CPU of having to run the effects in real-time every time you hit the play button. You still hear them, you're just not using using the CPU to render them on the fly every time.

It's fast and easy, and it's a nice way of ensuring that you don't accidentally modify the wrong track. There's not one of us who hasn't accidentally edited the wrong track in the middle of a long list of tracks at least once. Well, if the track is locked, you can't edit it until you unlock it again. So having only those tracks you're currently working on unlocked helps guard against such mistakes.

G.
Click to expand...

Does Reaper have this feature? I just read this in a thread I started in the Mixing / Mastering forum, and I don't have it with me to look.

I've never used a feature like this, but I want to see how it does on my laptop.

So how do I lock or freeze the track?
 
In a way. Search "freeze" in the reaper forums.

Just got new per item locking as well with 2.4
 
You have a few ways to do it... reaper doesn't have freeze as you are used to. It is a bit more flexible which some folks hate, but I prefer. You can render individual items or the whole track as stems... I usually render the parts so they are in the same track and then disable effects on the track. Here is a typical scenario for me.

I have a snare track. I load up an EQ, comp, maybe a second comp, and a gate. I tune the snare to where I want it and find the track is a pig. So I select all item in the track, render to new takes, and disable the effects for that track. What I really like about this is that I can then further effect things. So I have my tracks 99% there, but maybe I want to throw on an exciter to see what it does in the mix. Instead of the whole unfreeze/refreeze, I can just throw on the exciter next to the disabled plugs.

if you want really quick and dirty... just select all parts in the track, render to new takes, and disable effects. That is essentially freeze. To undo, Select all active takes, delete active takes, reenable effects.
 
bubbagump said:
You have a few ways to do it... reaper doesn't have freeze as you are used to. It is a bit more flexible which some folks hate, but I prefer. You can render individual items or the whole track as stems... I usually render the parts so they are in the same track and then disable effects on the track. Here is a typical scenario for me.

I have a snare track. I load up an EQ, comp, maybe a second comp, and a gate. I tune the snare to where I want it and find the track is a pig. So I select all item in the track, render to new takes, and disable the effects for that track. What I really like about this is that I can then further effect things. So I have my tracks 99% there, but maybe I want to throw on an exciter to see what it does in the mix. Instead of the whole unfreeze/refreeze, I can just throw on the exciter next to the disabled plugs.

if you want really quick and dirty... just select all parts in the track, render to new takes, and disable effects. That is essentially freeze. To undo, Select all active takes, delete active takes, reenable effects.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a bit of work. I think I'll try it, though, and see what happens.
 
It is quick and easy as pie. Do it twice and you'll have the hang of it and wonder why you ever wanted traditional freeze.
 
I always just right-click the waveform and go to "Render effects as new take"...there is a choice for mono or stereo. Then I just click the little "Off" word next to the FX button to disable effects.

I don't know what stems are.
 
bubbagump said:
It is quick and easy as pie. Do it twice and you'll have the hang of it and wonder why you ever wanted traditional freeze.
Click to expand...
OK, I did something wrong, because when I rendered as a new take, the tracks just doubled on themselves and everything got really hot and clipped. Did I miss a step?
 
Rokket said:
OK, I did something wrong, because when I rendered as a new take, the tracks just doubled on themselves and everything got really hot and clipped. Did I miss a step?
Click to expand...

is it possible you didnt bypass the fx afterwards?
 
Rokket said:
Yeah, it is entirely possible... :o
Click to expand...
OK, so that I understand this, and please bear with me, I know this is probably very obvious and I am just being dense...

But rendering to a new track renders with the effects and all still there, and just simply creates a duplicate track within the track I render. I bypass the fx on the track, and the effects that I put on there are now there, but rendered so that they are no longer being played real time, and therefore freeing up the RAM on my machine? And I am also able to then add new effects to the tracks?

Wow, what a concept.... :)
 
Err, you lost me. Keep in mind, you don't render to a new track... you render to a new TAKE. Check it out:

Right click the Item and choose Apply Fx as new take. Once it is finished rendering, click the little button next to FX to disable FX for that track. (Alternately, open the FX and disable FX one by one... this leaves the ability to add FX to the rendered track later but the old effects are no longer using resources)
ApplyFX1.gif


So in the end this is what you have:

ApplyFX2.gif


Please note, you have two LANES... the one on top is the old uneffected track left in its original condition. The bottom is the rendered track. If you can't see things in lanes, type Ctl+L (or go to Options -> Show All Takes in Lanes) to display lanes. Dig?
 
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