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forgive my ignorance but I am having a problem with bouncing tracks to wav files in Pro Tools.

I have tried to bounce a few projects to wav files about 50 times now and have been successful 2 times. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? I have tried creating a master track and bouncing that as well as selecting all tracks that I am wanting to bounce but that hasn't worked either.

is it my settings or some other small thing I am missing? Thanks for any help you can offer! I am just looking to bounce to wav so I can burn to CD and bring upstairs to my PC to convert to mp3 for our website.

thanks,
Ben
http://www.sidewalkprophets.com

Comments

anonymous Fri, 03/24/2006 - 10:37

This may not be the correct forum for this posting, but alas...

Do you have a Digi 002 rack and Mac OS 10.2.9 ? Known problems.

Workaround! Do not bounce to disk. Other options are,

1. route all your tracks and auxes to 2-buses instead of the analog outputs of PT. (Bus 1-2, 3-4, whatever is open). Create a new stereo track with it's input as those two buses. Roll and record, and the same two signals which arrived at your stereo bus will be printed to that track. Then export the file via region Bin.

2. Even easier. Make sure SPDIF mirroring is enabled. Grab an RCA cable, and connect your PT interface's SPDIF output right back to the SPDIF input. Now create a new stereo track with it's input as SPDIF L/R. MAKE SURE you mute the track before you record-arm it, or you will get runaway feedback. Finally, make sure your system is wordclocked to the SPDIF digital input (session setup window, clock source). Arm the track, roll and record, and again your first two stereo outputs of PT will be printed via SPDIF to the track.

anonymous Fri, 03/24/2006 - 14:11

David French wrote:

1. Roll and record...

Why not? It takes the same ammount of time anyway :roll:

Why not? Oh, I usually leave my system set up like this (SPDIF loopback), so I can just make the stereo track, set input, clocking, and roll, without having to reroute. I usually want to avoid rerouting because I am often using the busing with aux tracks to utilize subgroups, so using the option modifier to globally route everything to say bus 7-8 would screw up my subgroup busing. Then I would have to go in and manually route a lot of tracks individually. So for me, the SPDIF loopback ends up being faster (after the first time I set it up).

I have also encountered errors in the printed audio when using the busing method! But this may also be due to the instable 002 / 10.3.9 setup (oh yeah sorry I meant 10.3.9, I bet you did too) So you sir, swprophet, may wish to avoid the busing method as well.

Also worth mentioning, there are some who claim a sonic difference between a bounce to disk vs these methods of printing your 2 track mix.

jdsdj98 Fri, 03/24/2006 - 19:37

I don't believe that for this user's desired outcome, either of timblaze's methods will work. While those methods do create a stereo track of the mix within PT, ultimately the only thing created will be 2 mono files (1 left, 1 right) within the session's Audio Files folder. swprophet needs to create true stereo files that can be burned to CD.

To that end, he needs to be able to bounce to disk or record the mix to a separate recorder.

swprophet - When you tried to Bounce to Disk, did PT go through the motions?
Did the Bounce/countdown window pop up while you heard the mix playback?
Did you keep track of where you told PT to save the .wav file?

Be a little more specific. What exactly do you mean when you say, "it didn't work"? What happened, and what leads you to believe that it didn't work? I find it odd that you did get it to work twice, but couldn't get it to work the other 48 or so times.

anonymous Sat, 03/25/2006 - 06:23

a humble response

Well..I was able to get the audio tracks using the methods posted above. But as also posted above...the tracks that I was able to export were only mono tracks and didn't have any of the pans or other edits I had made.

As far as the bouncing through PT - It goes through all the motions - and doesn't give an error or anything. It just doesn't save them..it's a bit wierd. I have been working with computers for a long time just not PT. So it seems like there is a bug...because sometimes the tracks will bounce and most of the time they won't. I figured since I have gotten to work a couple times that it was something I was doing that was causing problems but that may not be the case. At any rate - I feel like after investing 15,000 dollars in to all this stuff, I should not have to be finding loopholes around glitches. If anyone has detailed information regarding a bug and or fixing it that would be appreciated. I opted not to connect the Mac to my home network and keep it dedicated to processing my recordings. but if need be I can hook it up and download updates.

thanks again for any help!

TVPostSound Sat, 03/25/2006 - 11:29

Bouncing in Protools has never been a good idea.
Automation seems to never track perfectly, and some plugins tend to choke.
I always rerecord in Protools, and export after if necessary.

Timewise its the same, by roll and record method, if you hear a problem,
you can stop, backup, fix, and do a destructive record, and continue on.

Yes Protools rerecords in dual mono, but isnt that the basis of stereo, one left and ne right channel!!!
You can do an export of those files, interleaving IS an option during export.

If you are haaving problems with bouncing, and rerecording in the box, may I suggest studying your signal flow a little more.
Also make sure your all your automation is set to "read" prior to printing.

Feel lucky you dont have to do 5.1 as I do!! Including a downmix to LCRS, through SRS or Dolby surround tools to create an LTRT.
All done in the box without bouncing!!!

jdsdj98 Sat, 03/25/2006 - 11:30

David French wrote: But can't he make an interleaved file with any free little two track editor? How about Audigy?

No, it's not ideal, but it will work for the time being.

Yeah, but he wouldn't be able to directly export/bounce the mix from PT into a separate piece of software, as far as I know. What I was thinking when I mentioned an external recorder of some type was to play the mix out while recording it on/in the recorder, then playing it back into his 'puter to create an interleaved .wav file (not in PT, but a separate application). The only other way, which I've done to create interleaved files in Audition, is to create a new stereo file, then copy and paste each corresponding mono file to the left and right channels of the stereo track. That's definitely not an ideal scenario, but I have done it.

But, as he pointed out, and as I felt when I first read his problem and the replies, it's not right to have to find work arounds for a software function that should work as intended. None of our suggestions actually address his problem; they just provide necessary headaches to get around the problem.

15,000 invested sounds like a TDM system?? Try contacting Digidesign. Perhaps their tech support could lend you a hand. I think we're all just taking stabs in the dark at it.

anonymous Sat, 03/25/2006 - 18:57

thanks

yeah I think calling digidesign slipped my mind. With the internet being such a handy do it yourself tool - I totally forgot how to get support the good ol fashioned way. As far as 15,000 - that was for all the studio stuff in my basement PT being a big part of it..but that includes the powermac, mics and digi002, monitors etc...

I think all your suggestions will at least help me learn more ways to use PT. I appreciate the help. I am actually trying to get all the terms and abberviations figured out. There is so much slang and I am fairly new to digital recording. Its fun and exciting and these forums rock.

Thanks,
Ben
http://www.sidewalkprophets.com

anonymous Wed, 04/12/2006 - 04:30

jdsdj98 wrote: I don't believe that for this user's desired outcome, either of timblaze's methods will work. While those methods do create a stereo track of the mix within PT, ultimately the only thing created will be 2 mono files (1 left, 1 right) within the session's Audio Files folder. swprophet needs to create true stereo files that can be burned to CD.

I think you must have overlooked the last step of the method - "Export File via Region Bin" (this can be done hitting shift-cmd-K with the audio file selected). When exporting files this way to be separate from the rest of the session, you have the option to interleave the file, as well as change wordlegnth and sample rate.

anonymous Wed, 05/10/2006 - 14:51

timblaze wrote: This may not be the correct forum for this posting, but alas...

Do you have a Digi 002 rack and Mac OS 10.2.9 ? Known problems.

Workaround! Do not bounce to disk. Other options are,

1. route all your tracks and auxes to 2-buses instead of the analog outputs of PT. (Bus 1-2, 3-4, whatever is open). Create a new stereo track with it's input as those two buses. Roll and record, and the same two signals which arrived at your stereo bus will be printed to that track. Then export the file via region Bin.

2. Even easier. Make sure SPDIF mirroring is enabled. Grab an RCA cable, and connect your PT interface's SPDIF output right back to the SPDIF input. Now create a new stereo track with it's input as SPDIF L/R. MAKE SURE you mute the track before you record-arm it, or you will get runaway feedback. Finally, make sure your system is wordclocked to the SPDIF digital input (session setup window, clock source). Arm the track, roll and record, and again your first two stereo outputs of PT will be printed via SPDIF to the track.

So can you do this in windows based protools? I did the busing and all that, but then how do I get the track with all the recorded bused files out of protools without bouncing?