Best way to bounce stems with effects and also completely dry for a very large session?

[Gogo240]

Hey there,

 

I have a Logic Pro X session I've been producing. I need to send off the stems to a mixer. There are over 100 tracks in this session, and I have a feeling it's going to take me forever to send these to him. Looking for a little advice here, on ways to simplify this

 

Because many tracks in this session have some intricate effects on them (automation on volume/filters, etc), the mixer wants me to send him both the tracks with effects (most excluding reverb/delay) unless they are a true part of the unique sound. And then also a DRY version. This way, if he wants any more control of the sound, he can reference the dry version of the track.

 

Here are a few simple questions:

 

1) A good amount of these tracks are going through some bus routing and sends. To bounce these tracks out, do I have to solo them one at a time and bounce them out individually? This is the only way I know. I wish there was a faster way.

 

2) For the dry tracks, would going to export all (shift, command, E) be the fastest way for the bouncing drys? Even if they are going through bus routing.

 

3) Because when I was producing this track, I had Ozone (mastering plugin) and a compression plugin on the master bus, I assume it would be smartest to take those off when bouncing., naturally As far as levels go though, the levels of the tracks would be bounced then at a much lower volume. Would it be smartest to bring all of those levels higher or up to 0 DB on the individual track faders, or is it normal to just send everything off "as is" even if they bounce at a much lower level?

Just want to be mindful of noise floor, etc.

 

4) This is more of a subjective personal question. But when bouncing the tracks with effects, do you usually take off the EQ and leave everything else on for the mixer? I tend to high pass most instruments and voice in my productions. I plan on leaving off all the EQ for the DRY tracks.

 

Thanks so much in advance.

[triplets]

1) Correct on your assumption.

 

2) For dry tracks, disengage everything unless it's part of sound design. Kill busses that go to effects.

 

3) Take all the Ozone stuff off. Put the tracks back to zero unless they're clipping. Don't leave anything that maximizes your mixes or makes it louder on the stereo out.

 

4) Leave everything on as reference. That way the mixer knows what you had in mind.

[Gogo240]

Thank you. Is there no easier to bounce tracks out with effects, than the solo button one at a time?

 

Also, what's the worst thing that could happen if I then bounce out the Dry stems at the same level and not at 0? The reason I am asking is because I'd like to make it as easy as possible for the mixer to not have to guess the levels when comparing the dry's to the wet stems.

[triplets]

Thank you. Is there no easier to bounce tracks out with effects, than the solo button one at a time?

 

You can try Export all tracks as audio files. But if there's any panning or automation going on, you have to include that and you'll get stereo files.

 

Also, what's the worst thing that could happen if I then bounce out the Dry stems at the same level and not at 0

 

Remember that bouncing will result in stereo files, even on mono tracks.

So use Export All Tracks as Audio Files and check Bypass plugins. Don't include Volume and Pan automation to avoid mono tracks to convert to stereo files, which a mixer dreads.

[Gogo240]

Interesting. Do you mean if I turn off the automation when exporting, it automatically goes to 0?

 

Also, are you saying that everything exports as a stereo track no matter what I do when bouncing or exporting?

 

I should mention most of the tracks with effects will have no panning on them, but some will have volume automation on them. And some will have stereo reverb on it.

[triplets]

Do you mean if I turn off the automation when exporting, it automatically goes to 0?

 

No, I said if you include automation, the file will be stereo automatically.

 

Also, are you saying that everything exports as a stereo track no matter what I do when bouncing or exporting?

 

No, an export is different than a bounce. A bounce will always be stereo. An export will be mono if the original track is mono.

 

but some will have volume automation on them. And some will have stereo reverb on it.

 

Those will become stereo automatically when you include the automation and/or plugins in the export.

[Gogo240]

Thank you!! I didn't know this before. Can I ask, if a track has automation on it and I decide to export with no automation what then becomes the default volume of that track? Does it revert to 0?

[triplets]

It keeps the original volume of the file.