M-AUDIO Pro Tools Recording Studio - Manual (Page 977)

Chapter 43: Mixdown 959
Chapter 43: Mixdown
Pro Tools lets you mix down by recording a mix
to new audio tracks or by bouncing a mix to disk.
Recording to Tracks This is the process of sub-
mixing and recording the submix to new audio
tracks, as you would any other track input sig-
nals. This method requires available tracks,
voices, and bus paths to accommodate the sub-
mix and the new tracks. While recording to
tracks, you can manually adjust mixer or other
controls.
Record to new tracks if you want to adjust mixer
controls during the mixdown.
Bouncing to Disk The Bounce to Disk command
lets you write a final mix, create a new loop,
print effects, or consolidate any submix to new
audio files on disk. This method lets you write
all available voices to disk without holding any
in reserve.
Any available output or bus path can be selected
as the bounce source. Sample rate, bit depth,
and other conversion processes can be applied
during or after the bounce. Though you can
hear the bounce being created in real time, you
cannot adjust mixer or other controls while
bouncing to disk.
Use Bounce to Disk if you need to convert the
bounced files, or if you do not want to manually
adjust mixer controls during the mixdown.
Selecting Audio for Loops,
Submixes, and Effects
Both Bounce to Disk and recording to tracks op-
erate on the current Timeline or Edit selection, if
one exists. This makes it easy to turn multitrack
selections into mono, stereo, or multichannel
loops. Submixes, stems, and other specialized
types of mixes can also be recorded (or
“printed”) to disk using either method, or
played out to another recording, transfer, or ar-
chiving medium.
Printing effects to disk is the technique of per-
manently adding real-time effects, such as EQ or
reverb, to an audio track by bussing and record-
ing it to new tracks with the effects added. The
original audio is preserved, so you can return to
the source track at any time. This can be useful
when you have a limited number of tracks or ef-
fects devices.
AudioSuite plug-ins provide another option
for writing (or “printing”) a plug-in effect to
disk. For more information, see Chapter 37,
“AudioSuite Processing.”