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Do Project Alternatives retain their Master Channel strip settings?


Maestro777

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I am doing some Mixing & Mastering Sessions for different Streaming platforms and trying to find a consistent repeatable workflow that I can use to quickly reproduce the same consistent result for all the material I am working on.

 

The primary concern being that during the Mix and/or Mastering sessions; after I've set the appropriate LUFS, True Limits and etc. for a composition. (For example, lets say Spotify)

I want to be able to save those settings for that in a Project alternative, then create another version with the LUFS and etc. set for maybe Apple Music and after I've gotten the Loudness perfected for it; be able to switch between those 2 Project alternatives without need of touching a single plugin in the chain and reproduce either Master knowing the the Levels and etc. are retained with the Project Alternative.

 

As opposed to having to again tweak settings for each every time I need to bounce down another Master.

 

Possible? Will the Project Alternatives retain those Master Channel settings per Alternative or will those types of things be lost.

 

If they are not retained, is there another way to achieve what I'm attempting to accomplish aside from saving the entire Channel Strip configuration per song per corresponding Streaming platform. Which in my opinion is truly overkill.

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I would guess that saving an Alternative, which, in essence, is another version of the Project, is *way* more overkill than saving a Channel Strip Setting fro the Stereo Out. Imagine your client calls and wants the intro of last weeks song cut to half its length. Easy right ? But you'd need to redo this edit in every Alternative just to be able to master for the different platforms.

 

I'd take Channel Strip Settings over that any day.

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I would guess that saving an Alternative, which, in essence, is another version of the Project, is *way* more overkill than saving a Channel Strip Setting fro the Stereo Out. Imagine your client calls and wants the intro of last weeks song cut to half its length. Easy right ? But you'd need to redo this edit in every Alternative just to be able to master for the different platforms.

 

I'd take Channel Strip Settings over that any day.

Hey, thanks for the response and input. I get what you're saying and given that particular example where there is a change to the arrangement or any other similar modification; it clearly would be more viable to create and save a different channel strip setting for each platform to minimize the actual mods to the structure of the song.

 

But for me, knowing the song is in it's final form and certain that no further change to the arrangement is going to be happening; seems to be a more logical workflow to simply switch between the alternatives and not have to be concerned with loading a separate channel strip for each platform.

 

I suppose there are pros and cons to either of those scenarios, but having a different channel strip setup for each streaming platform multiplied by each song seems a bit much. Especially considering the settings of the channel strip are likely only going to be applicable to a specific song due to the changing dynamics between the songs.

 

So if I construct Song A and would like to Stream to 5 different platforms. That could potentially be 5 different Channel Strip configurations for 1 song but the concern I would have is that those Channel Strips would likely be useless when applied to another song having a different set of dynamics. So if I follow the same methodology for Song B, I now have 10 Channel strip settings catered for delivery of just 2 songs.

 

Whereas if I have 5 different Project alternatives for each targeted Streaming platform, I'm not creating Channel strips whose use is really only applicable to the songs for which they were created. Instead I have 5 alternatives which for all intent purpose are all using the same files since there is no structural change happening..... I don't know, 6 of 1 and 1/2 dozen of the other type of scenario maybe???

 

But you see where I'm going with this? If I could utilize only 5 channel strip settings and apply them to any song to target the 5 Streaming platforms for which they were created; then I'm totally sold on the Channel strip approach. I just don't think that would work, or am I wrong???

 

I just want a nice streamlined approach that is somewhat dynamic and repeatable without creating modules that are tied specifically to the song, if that makes sense.

 

Thanks

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Why not mix everything to a bus (meaning that you change the routing of any channel strip that have their output routed to "Stereo Out" to for example "Bus 64"), then create 5 different Aux channel strips for your 5 different mastering chains, and mute 4 of them. Then all you have to do is unmute the Aux corresponding to the mix you want to playback or export.

 

Like this:

 

mastering.png.ff89d1a81b9574a741ab8ecb2047e804.png

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David,

 

You're amazing man....That is such a simplistic yet innovative approach!!! I love it. I don't know why it never crossed my mind to do it that way but that definitely addresses my concerns.

 

It's repeatable and flexible from project to project. I will obviously have to do some additional work to determine the best way to implement it since all my tracks are split between some going directly to the stereo out and others being bussed to FX chains on other Aux channels before the Stereo out; so it's not as simple as you've illustrated for my setups but I think I can make it work if I just think it through.

 

Thank you!!!

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You're welcome! :)

 

all my tracks are split between some going directly to the stereo out and others being bussed to FX chains on other Aux channels before the Stereo out; so it's not as simple as you've illustrated for my setups but I think I can make it work if I just think it through.

Yes, all you have to do is make sure that all your channel strips are visible in the Mixer, and Command-click* or Shift-click* all the channel strips that have their output routing set to "Stereo Out" to select them. Once you've selected all of them, set the output of one of the selected channel strips to Bus 64 (for example). Leave all the other routing alone. Done. :)

 

*Command-click allows you to add non-consecutive channel strips to the selection.

*Shift-click allows you to add multiple consecutive channel strips to the selection.

 

You can combine Command-clicking and Shift-clicking to make your selection:

 

1674799985_assignoutputs.gif.03a14d08c0e856adb3301f004975d937.gif

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