techniques to simplify multiple tracks

A

aerospace1

New member
Hey all,
Quick question for you guys who have had some more mixing experience:

We just got done tracking five songs, and for each song we did roughly 10 good vocal takes for each part of the song.

So I am staring at my multi-track (AACS2) and thinking "how the hell am I going to mix all this?"

Here is my thought: Start with the vocal tracks, and bounce the best parts of each into a single composite track for main vocals. Do the same for a doubling track, and the same for a harmony track. Then I will have three basic vocal tracks.

Same idea with guitars, bounce out one track each for acoustics, electrics, and maybe a third for other riffs, solos.

Now, the question is this: the same idea can be accomplished with creating busses, no problem. But when do you draw the line and bounce to a single track instead of just create a bus?

Any opinions welcomed. thanks gents.

Brian
 
aerospace1 said:
Hey all,
Quick question for you guys who have had some more mixing experience:

We just got done tracking five songs, and for each song we did roughly 10 good vocal takes for each part of the song.

So I am staring at my multi-track (AACS2) and thinking "how the hell am I going to mix all this?"

Here is my thought: Start with the vocal tracks, and bounce the best parts of each into a single composite track for main vocals. Do the same for a doubling track, and the same for a harmony track. Then I will have three basic vocal tracks.

Same idea with guitars, bounce out one track each for acoustics, electrics, and maybe a third for other riffs, solos.

Now, the question is this: the same idea can be accomplished with creating busses, no problem. But when do you draw the line and bounce to a single track instead of just create a bus?

Any opinions welcomed. thanks gents.

Brian
Click to expand...

You seem to have the answer right there. :confused:

Do whatever you are more comfortable with. Personally, I like being able to mess with track automation, "clip" automation, and not worry whether the DAW put plugin latency compensation on the Buss.

So, I would create tracks instead of buss's.
 
a

Ford Van said:
You seem to have the answer right there. :confused:

Do whatever you are more comfortable with. Personally, I like being able to mess with track automation, "clip" automation, and not worry whether the DAW put plugin latency compensation on the Buss.

So, I would create tracks instead of buss's.
Click to expand...

thanks, Ford. I was just trying to get a feel of what more experienced mixers tend to do... the processing and latency is a good point tho!
 
Just found a function in AACS2 "Bounce Bus to Wave" :)

That pretty much solves this issue. Anyone actually use Audition CS2? I'm digging it. Much better than Cool Edit :p
 
I would find a way to keep track of which clips you've used to compile a new track so you can make sure you don't use them again in a backing track etc.
If you don't it will become very obvious when you use the same part twice at the same time.

I personally drag the clips I am going to use to a new track. That way they have been removed from your takes when you go to comp another track.

If you are going to bounce the buss to a new track go back and delete the clips or mark them in some way.

F.S.
 
Freudian Slip said:
I would find a way to keep track of which clips you've used to compile a new track so you can make sure you don't use them again in a backing track etc.
If you don't it will become very obvious when you use the same part twice at the same time.
Click to expand...
I've had that happen a few times. Fortunately, like you said, it's so obvious it can't be overlooked. If, say, you have two vocal tracks panned left and right, and you get to a line that is identical on both, it's like someone grabbed your ears and pulled them towards the middle for a second. It kinda hurts.
 
Give reaper a try. Use the multiple take function.
takessplitnumberedis2.gif


http://www.cockos.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11887
 
Freudian Slip said:
I personally drag the clips I am going to use to a new track. That way they have been removed from your takes when you go to comp another track.

F.S.
Click to expand...

Yup, me too. I always try for the continuity of single takes, but when that's not working after about three takes I create a comp track, lock all audio in time so that you can only drag up and down, not sideways, then slice and drag the best parts of the takes to the comp track. Mute the other vox tracks and loop each verse as you build the comp for that verse, make any level adjustments to get level continuity, then move on to the next part.
 
Hey thanks for the input guys. You are all very correct that organization is important - keeping track of which tracks I already used. I have created basically a matrix with takes on the vertical axis and lyrics on the horizontal; should be sufficient.

Timboz - looks like some great functionality! thanks for posting that demonstration.
 
I pretty much do the same thing as many people are talking about. I do it a bit differently though. Since i mainly just do vocals when recording, once i have all my tracks, i save that project. Then i start to mix. When i feel too much is going on, i might combine a few tracks by rendering them by soloing. Then i save under a different file. That way i can always go back.

If i'm working with one artist, i might combine their main vocals for each verse into one file. If it's mulitiple arists, i don't like to do that so i may render the main vocals with voice overs.

The disadvantage of this is you end up using twice the amount of harddrive space. But, when you are done, you can delete the first file with all the tracks once you are content. I find this way helps aviod mistakes, etc, and gives you an easy place to go back to when you aren't content with the final product.
 
If you're a Logic user, you can quick comp. I.E. it records all the takes side by side (like playlisting in Pro Tools) and you can expand the view to show all of the takes and you drag the parts of each take you want and it automatically adjusts a comp track in real time to reflect what's highlighted in the takes on what take... It's a thing of beauty, probably the best thing about the new update. =D
 
are there some people who work for the developers of reaper on here or something? Almost every single post to do with computer audio there are militant... you have to get reaper... get the real thing with reaper, reaper sucks your dick, reaper will make you rich and famous, reaper owns you, all your audio are belong to reaper.

eh?
 
TerraMortim said:
are there some people who work for the developers of reaper on here or something? Almost every single post to do with computer audio there are militant... you have to get reaper... get the real thing with reaper, reaper sucks your dick, reaper will make you rich and famous, reaper owns you, all your audio are belong to reaper.

eh?
Click to expand...


:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:
I don't think anybody works for reaper but the creator of the s/w.

Before you bash it and the users give it a free try for 30 days.

If you like it you can buy it for as little as $50.
 
timboZ said:
:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:
I don't think anybody works for reaper but the creator of the s/w.

Before you bash it and the users give it a free try for 30 days.

If you like it you can buy it for as little as $50.
Click to expand...

didn't bash it, I've never used it, it's just really hillarious the way people promote it lol... e.g. get the only REAL DAW software, Reaper, etc... Just a little silly, and starts to sound like a sales pitch. I know that it's just some dude doing it and all that, just had to make fun.
 
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