Exported track doesn't keep sends and effects

[Breenfactor]

Well, I do have some issues playing back lots of MIDI tracks with heavy cpu usage plugins. And of course you don't wanna have them, especially when mixing and mastering, so that's why I always prefer audio tracks.

 

With "live" you mean mixing and mastering directly inside the same project I composed the cues on?

[fisherking]

Well, I do have some issues playing back lots of MIDI tracks with heavy cpu usage plugins. And of course you don't wanna have them, especially when mixing and mastering, so that's why I always prefer audio tracks.

 

With "live" you mean mixing and mastering directly inside the same project I composed the cues on?

 

yes.

 

you could freeze midi tracks, or bounce-in-place (then disable the midi plugin on the original track). you can try the reboot-only-open logic trick. i did all of these things a lot on my previous macbook pro (2015 13", 8gb ram), and that helped a lot.

[Breenfactor]

Alright, that sounds good

[fisherking]

Alright, that sounds good

 

keep us posted, let us know how this goes. good luck, have fun!

[Breenfactor]

I will!

[Breenfactor]

In the meantime I thought of something.

Some composers uses the "Print method" to transform their midi sum stacks as audio. For example, I have my STRING sum, I make it the input of an audio track called "Print Strings" and hit record. So now I have an audio track with all the strings in it.

 

Question: does it retain all of the effects that were in the sum, like inserts (EQ, comp) or sends (reverb, delay and such)?

[fuzzfilth]

Again, it will have all the effects that are part of the signal at that point. If you use a Send to a reverb which goes directly to the Stereo out, it will not be part of the String print. Note that the print will happen in realtime which can get tedious in a quiet five minute cue of flute and coranglais.

[Breenfactor]

Ok, got it.

So in order to incude that send what would you suggest doing?

[Breenfactor]

I really need to establish a method for being able to have audio file which are identical copies of midi tracks who went through inserts and sends.

[fuzzfilth]

We're going in circles here. Re-read the thread so far.

[David Nahmani]

Ok, got it.

So in order to incude that send what would you suggest doing?

When you bounce a project, what you hear when you press play is what gets bounced. So solo whatever tracks you want to include until the sound you're hearing is what you want to include in the bounce then choose File > Bounce > Project or Section to create a stem that includes all the effects you want.

[fisherking]

this has gotten so complicated. if it were me, and i wanted to work this way (ie midi etc to write, then audio files only in a separate project for mixing), i'd save ALL 'global' effects (ie reverbs, delays) for the AUDIO PROJECT; then, all you have to do is bounce out the midi tracks, each with their own sound, eq, compression, or whatever, and no shared effects (which you could then do in the 'mix' project).

[Breenfactor]

Ok, so now it's starting to make more sense.

So for example, taking into consideration what David suggested, In order to have a perfect audio track of a processed MIDI one I should solo it (or select it, don't really know how bounce project or section works with single tracks and not with the whole project) and also solo the reverb bus it's sent to, is that right?

 

As far as what Fisher said, instead, I find it like a possible "solution", assuming he meant that we're gonna leave all time based and global effects be used in the mixing project and use only inserts in the writing project. And those inserts I HOPE they are gonna be present in the audio track if I bounce it or export it.

I mean, if I now got a handle on all this, then they MUST BE, ahah.

[fisherking]

Ok, so now it's starting to make more sense.

So for example, taking into consideration what David suggested, In order to have a perfect audio track of a processed MIDI one I should solo it (or select it, don't really know how bounce project or section works with single tracks and not with the whole project) and also solo the reverb bus it's sent to, is that right?

 

As far as what Fisher said, instead, I find it like a possible "solution", assuming he meant that we're gonna leave all time based and global effects be used in the mixing project and use only inserts in the writing project. And those inserts I HOPE they are gonna be present in the audio track if I bounce it or export it.

I mean, if I now got a handle on all this, then they MUST BE, ahah.

 

i think it's the most 'logical' idea. this way, you have control over any shared effects (ie, you can decide, during mixing, that you don't want reverb on something you thought you did, or you want more on something else, etc etc).

 

keep each track discreet, with it's own eq, compression... or reverb (IF that works in a particular instance), and it's easy to bounce out ALL tracks without any fuss; all global (ie shared) effects can then happen in the mix project only.

[Breenfactor]

Yep, that's what I was thinking.

It kinda resolve the situation. Surely saves lot of time and headaches, haha

[lookatthisguy]

Late to the game, but a fellow screen composer here.

 

I agree with fisherking wholeheartedly: I always mix the original project, with MIDI still running. Granted, I can do that right now because I've got a highly specced-out 16" MBP and an NVMe drive for my sample libraries, and nothing I've written in the past year and a third that I've owned it has been a challenge for the setup (it had been a while since I could say the same for the 2008 Mac Pro I was running before this…), but it's the most efficient way to work in my experience.

 

I only ever print stems if I know I have someone playing live for me. I do use the print method because it allows me to keep track mentally of what effects are in or out of the stem, and it's essentially the method I was taught in my graduate program (which, if I understand correctly, they in turn got from Sean Callery): sort instruments by choir or mixing group, put them into summing stacks, route the output of the stack to a bus and make that bus the input of a new audio track, engage input monitoring and record enable all the stem tracks, and then record. I set my range with autopunch markers and repeat the busing process for a printed mixdown as well. It's not necessary but it keeps the mixdown in Logic in case I decide I need to do anything else to that print. Caveats are that you have to print stems in real-time and once your routing is done, you have to switch to solo mode if you're soloing anything, but I've worked around those issues (and even realized while typing this that sending to buses instead may get around the soloing matter).

 

If you really want to keep things mentally sandboxed for the whole workflow, using screensets may help. I save screensets for each phase of the process: spotting/timing, tracking/MIDI editing, mixing/automation. I may quickly pop into a tool from one of the other phases when not in that workspace (for instance, opening the piano roll and tweaking CC data while in my mixing screenset), but this generally allows me to compartmentalize my thoughts while still being able to step back and change something elsewhere if I realize that's what I need to do.