Bounce To Disk or Record To Track??? Audio quality...
 

Hi all,

A question weighing heavily on my mind... (ProTools 8 user)

I have always chosen Bounce To Disk as my way for exporting finished tracks / stems / songs - however, a guy I've recently started working with says to NEVER EVER EVER do this and always Record to another track within the Pro Tools session itself - because the audio quality is 'better'.

Now, I've trialled this and I cannot tell any difference - but I have now read that in SOME cases, ProTools - if being pushed - will miss things in Bouncing to Disk...

Has anyone else got any experience in this and is there a definitive answer - it seems there is not one. Has Avid ever answered this conclusively??

Thank you.

Re: Bounce To Disk or Record To Track??? Audio quality...
 

I've heard this alot I'd like to know if its true to :)


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Re: Bounce To Disk or Record To Track??? Audio quality...
 

This is something I was once told. In the past people believed that when bouncing a heavily processed session that had lots of automation and panning etc Pro tools would not bounce automation and panning correctly because of computational errors due to the load on the CPU Memory.

I've never experienced it myself. Some people (myself included) tend to record their mixes within the session as there is no chance of errors happening.

With today's computers I don't think there is much risk and with Pro tools 10 and 11 running from the computers RAM it is now incredibly efficient. In fact PT11 can now bounce tracks in seconds for the first time.

I personally don't get hung up about such things anymore.

Re: Bounce To Disk or Record To Track??? Audio quality...
 

I did null tests on this subject back in the PT 5.0.1 days. The signals cancelled and nulled. This is internet myth.

Ask the person you're working with to demonstrate to you why this should never be done.

Shane

Re: Bounce To Disk or Record To Track??? Audio quality...
 

Back in the day I did get Bounce Handler could not keep up error messages some times.

One thing about RTT vs. BTD, with RTT you can stop, start, and punch in if needed plus it plays the video if you are working to picture. BTD does none of that.

Re: Bounce To Disk or Record To Track??? Audio quality...
 

I disagree as I had first-hand experience with this.

The problem that manifested in PT6HD was that despite everything being routed properly, whole elements that were heard during the bounce did not appear in the bounced file. A second bounce immediately after the first would be fine. Not being able to trust absolutely that what was heard during the bounce actually made it into the file, the facility I worked at adopted the print to track method. Not once has this method failed in insuring that what was heard was absolutely being printed.


Parroted me & Tapasquawk

Re: Bounce To Disk or Record To Track??? Audio quality...
 

...which was a known bug that was even present during playback at times. This known past bug was a very different issue than saying that the audio quality changes.

Shane

Re: Bounce To Disk or Record To Track??? Audio quality...
 

To go slightly off-topic, the audio quality might be the same but there is one reason why recording stems to new tracks - as opposed to bouncing - is still a good option: that is the ability to perform minor corrections on parts, stems, etc, without locking your computer down for the whole duration of the song, scene, reel, etc.

Obviously, with PT11 this is less of a reason.

Still, after working long hours I find myself always finessing things during the final mixdown. I am fairly confident that if/ when I jump to PT11HD I would still go through the same process, unless we are talking about short-form stuff or reaaally tight deadlines.

Re: Bounce To Disk or Record To Track??? Audio quality...
 

it´s a myth, and those who tell you that there is an issue with bounce quality have never really tested to verify there assertion.

Re: Bounce To Disk or Record To Track??? Audio quality...
 

While my bounced files ALWAYS sound the same as I hear in the sessions, I do see a few solid reasons to mix to a new track.
#1-you can actually adjust it on the fly if you like
#2, you can mix a long project in sections(or repair mix mistakes) and then consolidate/export a long project
#3because you CAN:D

I'm sure there are more reasons too, but I will freely admit to loving automation(and I usually step into the next room and listen to the BTD from there for another perspective):cool: