Bounce to disc vs record to track?
Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:05 pm
There is support for recording the mix to a track instead of using the DAWs bounce feature (at least for protools). This can either be routed through an internal bus, or externally using a patch from the D/A output to the A/D channel inputs.
Here is a strong endorsement for internal routing - http://www.audiomidi.com/classroom/prot ... ner_22.cfm.
This raises some questions:
1. Why does it matter, especially if routing internally (routing externally, you could argue that the D/A and A/D hardware impart some curve smoothing or other processing). But internal bussing?
2. Where can you dither if you want to downsample the bit depth (if bussing externally, I presume you couldn't dither at all during this bounce, but would dither as a later step).
3. if just mastering a stereo file (one track of source material instead of 40 tracks), is it still important to record to track or is bounce to disk just as good?
OK - a separate issue:
Does it make sense to apply as much mastering as possible within the actual mix project (on the master fader) since some truncation will occur when you first bounce your mix. For example, a high pass filter, analog tape simulator, pultec eq, or even multi-band compressor (I know that using harbal before a multiband compressor helps the compressor work better, but) - is there some argument to applying these before the first bounce of the mix (ie is protools really 48 bit internal bus and how much truncation occurs when bouncing to 24 bits)? Harbal will always be critical, especially for analysis and developing an eq filter profile, but maybe it makes sense to do as much on the first pass as possible?
I am trying to decipher this article which I suspect contains much of the answer.: http://akmedia.digidesign.com/support/d ... _26688.pdf
Thanks!
Here is a strong endorsement for internal routing - http://www.audiomidi.com/classroom/prot ... ner_22.cfm.
This raises some questions:
1. Why does it matter, especially if routing internally (routing externally, you could argue that the D/A and A/D hardware impart some curve smoothing or other processing). But internal bussing?
2. Where can you dither if you want to downsample the bit depth (if bussing externally, I presume you couldn't dither at all during this bounce, but would dither as a later step).
3. if just mastering a stereo file (one track of source material instead of 40 tracks), is it still important to record to track or is bounce to disk just as good?
OK - a separate issue:
Does it make sense to apply as much mastering as possible within the actual mix project (on the master fader) since some truncation will occur when you first bounce your mix. For example, a high pass filter, analog tape simulator, pultec eq, or even multi-band compressor (I know that using harbal before a multiband compressor helps the compressor work better, but) - is there some argument to applying these before the first bounce of the mix (ie is protools really 48 bit internal bus and how much truncation occurs when bouncing to 24 bits)? Harbal will always be critical, especially for analysis and developing an eq filter profile, but maybe it makes sense to do as much on the first pass as possible?
I am trying to decipher this article which I suspect contains much of the answer.: http://akmedia.digidesign.com/support/d ... _26688.pdf
Thanks!