ONE PRODUCERS GUIDE TO DELIVERING MULTITRACK FILES FOR MIXING:
1) Print your tracks DRY without any reverb, delay, etc. Insert effects (other than reverb/delay) that are a part of the sound should be printed, such as amp simulators, chorus, distortion, filters, etc. If compression and EQ are extreme and part of the sound, then print it – if it’s just to get the sound to fit in your rough mix, please do not print it. Remember to turn off reverb and delay effects on VST instruments BEFORE printing them.
2) Do all of your editing including vocal comps, copying choruses, auto-tuning, trimming up space before and after takes, etc.
3) CONSOLIDTAE all your tracks. Please consult your DAW manual and there are plenty of youtube videos on this topic. There are also instructions for most DAWs at the end of this document. All tracks should be bounced from the exact same starting point. Please attempt to keep stereo tracks stereo and mono tracks mono if your software allows it.
4) Properly label your tracks! Don’t send me ‘track1.wav’, ‘track2.wav’. Label tracks appropriately like, ‘piano’, ‘snare’, ‘chorus vox hi’, ‘V. bkgnd vox’, ‘intro talk’, etc. so I don’t waste your time trying to figure out what is what.
5) Preferred format is WAV or Broadcast WAV, 24bits, 44.1kHz. If you tracked your song at only 16 bits, then keep it at 16 bits – do not convert. If you tracked your song at 48kHz, then keep it at 48kHz. I do not recommend 88.2 or 96kHz without discussing it with me first. Do not send AIFF files unless you have to. Do not send outdated and problematic formats like SD2.
6) Please include the following when delivering your tracks: A) the consolidated files. B) rough mix if you have one. C) A *.txt file with notes including the file format for the tracks, tempo, name and contact info for the engineer and/or producer, and anything else such as what was used to record, problem areas, ideas, influences, etc. The more info the better!! D) lyric sheet (with words to be censored for clean versions highlighted).
7) ZIP all your files and upload them using www.wetransfer.com (or a similar service) t
If ANY of this is confusing at all, PLEASE CALL ME AND ASK! Do not take chances with little mistakes that could cause massive delay; play it safe and ask. There is no such thing as a stupid question; there are only stupid people who refuse to ask questions!
I like to spend all of my time making your mix as good as possible. Following the above guidelines ensures that. The more you deviate from these guidelines, or make mistakes because you didn’t ask for clarification, means I have to spend your mix time fixing stuff or making it compatible instead of actually mixing. So it’s in your best interests to follow the above guidelines.
HOW TO CONSOLIDATE AUDIO FILES IN MOST DAW PROGRAMS:
Please consult your DAW instruction manual for information on how to consolidate your audio files. There are also plenty of youtube videos that demonstrate the process for your particular DAW software.
The following are instructions for how to consolidate files in DAWs. These instructions were generated by people who have used these programs. I do not have first-hand experience with most of these programs, but I have yet to encounter someone complaining that these instructions did not work. However, best practice is always to consult your software instruction manual.
Please select Broadcast Wav or Wav if your software gives you a choice of file formats. Do not send “acidized” files. After consolidating the files, please put them in a ZIP folder and either upload them to me or burn them to a CD or DVD (if using a Mac, make sure it can be opened on a PC!!!!).
Consolidating regions in Pro Tools HD, LE, and M-Powered:
On the Mac -
1. Ensure that the audio tracks are all clearly named.
2. Highlight all the audio in the Edit Window, making sure you've successfully selected before the beginning of the early-most region and after the end of the last-most region.
3. Press and hold Option and Shift, and while pressing them, press "3" (the one above the QWERTY keyboard, not the numeric keypad).
Alternatively, you could select "Consolidate Selection" from the Edit pull-down menu.
4. To export these new files, highlight them all to select them, and press Command + Shift + "K".
Alternatively, you could select "Export Selected as Files" from the Audio Regions List pull-down menu.
Remember to export them as 24-bit wav or broadcast wav files, using the "(Multiple) Mono" format.
On the PC -
1. Ensure that the audio tracks are all clearly named.
2. Highlight all the audio in the Edit Window, making sure you've successfully selected before the beginning of the early-most region and after the end of the last-most region.
3. Press and hold Alt and Shift, and while pressing them, press "3" (the one above the QWERTY keyboard, not the numeric keypad).
Alternatively, you could select "Consolidate Selection" from the Edit pull-down menu.
4. To export these new files, highlight them all to select them, and press CNTRL + Shift + "K".
Alternatively, you could select "Export Selected as Files" from the Audio Regions List pull-down menu.
Remember to export them as 24-bit wav or broadcast wav files, using the "(Multiple) Mono" format.
Consolidating regions in Logic:
From the Arrange page choose File > Export > All Tracks As Audio Files
Remember to export them as 24-bit wav or broadcast wav.
Consolidating regions in Cubase/Nuendo:
1. Select the Range Tool, and highlight all tracks from 0:00:00.000 through to the very end of the very last region.
2. From the Audio menu, select Bounce and Replace Events.
3. From the File menu, select "Save Project to New Folder" or "Backup Project", and all the new consolidated files will be available in that new project's Audio Files folder. Just be sure to check the box labelled "Remove Unused Media" to ensure only the consolidated files appear in the Audio Files folder.
Consolidating regions in Sonar:
1. Highlight all clips in the first track, right click, and select "Bounce to Clip".
2. Highlight all clips in the second track, right click, and select "Bounce to Clip".
3. Repeat these steps for the remaining tracks.
4. Once all clips have been consolidated, click File > Export > Audio
5. Set audio to export as 24-bit RAW Broadcast Wave Files. Be sure not to use "Fast Bounce".
Consolidating regions in Garage Band:
1. Disable all automation, plugins, etc.
2. Solo the first track, and select "Export Song to Disk" from the Share pull-down menu.
3. In the subsequent dialog box, make sure that the Compress box is left unchecked, click Export, and name the file according to the solo'd track's contents.
4. Solo the second track, and select "Export Song to Disk" from the Share pull-down menu.
5. In the subsequent dialog box, make sure that the Compress box is left unchecked, click Export, and name the file according to the solo'd track's contents.
6. Repeat the steps for the remaining tracks.
Consolidating regions in Digital Performer:
1. Put a piece of audio at 0:00:00.000 on every track.
2. Select all the audio in all the tracks, and be sure.
3. Select Merge Soundbites from the Audio pull-down menu.
Note that this will create new files, which can be retrieved from the Audio Files folder. Just sort the files by Date Created so that they are grouped together.
Alternatively, after merging the soundbites, you could go into the Soundbites Palette and select the merged tracks to be exported, then choose "Export Soundbites" from the palette's mini-menu. This will bring up a dialog from which you can select the desired format, resolution, and destination. Remember to export them as 24-bit wav or broadcast wav files.
Consolidating regions in Reason:
Simple Method (yields lower quality audio):
1. Set start marker to Bar 1.
2. Set end marker to the end of the song.
3. Turn off all effects on the mixer, as well as any effects modules you may be using (reverbs, delays, etc) and set all levels to unity gain. Just make sure none of the channels are clipping. If they are, turn the fader down on that channel, or turn down the output of the module feeding that channel.
4. Solo the first track, preferably using the sequencer, not the mixer.
5. From the File menu, select "Export Loop As Audio File".
6. Choose the export format. Remember, use 24-bit wav or broadcast wav.
7. Click "Save".
8. Repeat these steps for each track.
Advanced Method (yields higher quality audio):
If you have a compatible host DAW, it's best to use the ReWire protocol to pipe the Reason tracks into the host DAW. This will bypass the Reason 14:2 mixer, yielding higher quality audio. Be sure to bypass any effects, and record the audio into DAW. Then just Export the new audio files from the DAW.
Consolidating regions in Reaper:
1. Highlight from 0:00:00.000 to just past the end of the song.
2. Solo the first track.
3. From the File Menu, select "Render".
4. Un-solo the first track, and solo the second track.
5. From the File Menu, select "Render".
6. Repeat this with every track until all tracks have been rendered.
Once you've rendered all tracks, you can select them from the Audio Files folder; I recommend copying them to a new folder for ease of transfer.
Consolidating regions in Fruity Loops:
1. Split all the instruments or sounds onto their own mixer channels.
2. Name each channel according to the sound it's playing back and bypass effects inserts on each channel and the master channel.
3. Put the file in SONG MODE.
4. Clear any region set in the playlist.
5. From the File menu, select "Export"
6. Ensure "Split Mixer Tracks" selected and "save Acidized" is NOT selected, then export as wav or aif files.
WARNING: DO NOT SEND "ACIDIZED" FILES! Make sure "save Acidized" is NOT checked.
Naming the base file "[the name of your song]" will help to organize the exported files by grouping them by your song's title. For example, the Drums track would be called "[the name of your song] Drums", the Bass would be called "[the name of your song] Bass, etc.
Consolidating regions in Audacity:
1. Name all your tracks.
2. Select "Export Multiple" from the File pull-down menu.
3. Set Export Format to WAV, Split files based on Tracks, and Name files Using Label/Track Name.
As far as a lot of bass goes, we could theoretically get away with recording at 22.05kHz, which would functionally only capture frequencies up to ~11kHz. Marcus Miller might need 48kHz for his fresh zingy string pops, but most of us don't need it.