Problem w/ song length when using Pro Tools for mastering....
 

Help.

I want to bounce one of the tracks in my session to disk and have it come out just the length of that track. I can't seem to do it as it always comes out the length of the longest track in the session.

Here's my problem:
Using David Franz's new book "producing in the Home Studio with Pro Tools" I'm using his suggestion of Mastering with Pro Tools.

I have 8 songs saved in stereo wav files on my hard drive. I open a new pro tools session, then I import each song into a stereo track. I create a master track. I tweak each song for volume, eq, compression, etc. When it's ready, Franz's book says to then bounce each song individually to disc as a stereo wav file so you can then use CD burning software to burn your master CD. Problem is when I solo and "select" one song (ie a stero track) and bounce it to disk, the bounce length seems to default to the length of the longest song (track) in the session. Since the longest song (track) in the session is 5 minutes, all the bounced song wav files will be 5 minutes long. This will leave blank space in all the other song's wave files. I can't find the work around for this.

So my question is: How do I get Pro Tools to bounce just one of the tracks and have it only just the length of that track, and not default to the longest track of the session?

I tried highlighting the track to be bounced in the edit window as Franz says, but it still defaults to the length of the longest track.

Thanks, Mark G.

Re: Problem w/ song length when using Pro Tools for mastering....
 

You need to select the range by click and draging in the min/sec/beat display at top. This way you could select the entire or a partial section. Use this for a complex arrangement.

But your situation is easy (because it's one long file) just select the contents of your desired track and this will dictate to protoolsLE just what to bounce (time wise).

Re: Problem w/ song length when using Pro Tools for mastering....
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Mr_Seven:
You need to select the range by click and draging in the min/sec/beat display at top. This way you could select the entire or a partial section. Use this for a complex arrangement.

But your situation is easy (because it's one long file) just select the contents of your desired track and this will dictate to protoolsLE just what to bounce (time wise).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Darren,

Thanks. I may be doing something wrong, but I think I tried this. I selected the track contents in the edit window by using the hand grabber which highlighted the entire track. But when I then bounce to disk, the length of the bounced file still comes up as the length of the longest file in the session, not the length of the selected file.

Am I missing something here?

thanks again,

Mark

Re: Problem w/ song length when using Pro Tools for mastering....
 

Mark,

Just highlight the song (all tracks) by dragging from the beginning point on the left(cursor on top), all the way to where you want it to stop (the whole Edit Window should be black. If not, post back). BUT, simply solo just the track you want.

That's the only track that will be bounced to a WAV, and it will be just the length you highlighted.

Roy

Re: Problem w/ song length when using Pro Tools for mastering....
 

Mark,

Click on the 'end of song' button within the transport window. Hopefully this will the genuine end of your song, but I had experiences where this was at bar 8000. This rendered the bounce to disk inoperable, even if I only wanted to do a single track bounce (although I wanted to bounce the whole song). The solution was to cut the spare bars at the end of the song to a more realistic time.

Worth a shot.
Si

Re: Problem w/ song length when using Pro Tools for mastering....
 

Selection or track length
"If you make a selection in a track, the bounced mix will be the length of the selection. If there is no selection in any Track, the bounce will be the length of the longest audible track in the session."

page 400. Pro Tools Ref Guide 5.1

Re: Problem w/ song length when using Pro Tools for mastering....
 

I always use the grabber tool and click on track I'm bouncing to select it. It always comes out the right length for me.

Re: Problem w/ song length when using Pro Tools for mastering....
 

Ok, I got it work, but, strangely enough, not by highlighting the audio track. Mr_Seven, thanks for digging up the quote in the manual, unfortunately, it still wouldn't work. If I highlighted the waveform audio track and the solo button, it would bounce that track only, but default to the length of the longest track in the session. I can't say why this works for you guys but not for me.

Here's how it did work: you have to highlight the solo button to get just that track's audio to play, but apparently, to specify the length of the bounce, you have to highlight the proper length in the "time line" bar at the top of the window by dragging the position arrows. If I just highlight the audio track by clicking on the waveform, it doesn't automatically highlight the time line. Maybe it does with you guys or my settings are different. But apparently it's the highlighting of the "time line" that determines the length of the bounce.

So problem solved. Thank you all for your input.

Mark

Re: Problem w/ song length when using Pro Tools for mastering....
 

Sorry I got onto this rather late.Im sorry if i sound like an idiot or if I missed it,but did you consider that that little uparrow-downarrow button on the top left corner,just above the tracklist,might be unselected.If it was selected,then you would be able to select a track and its lenth by simply selecting it with the grabber tool.

I am only mentioning this cause its my favourite little button and I love it,and would use any excuse to talk about it.It makes life so much easier. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Problem w/ song length when using Pro Tools for mastering....
 

Your welcome, Mark. Did you read my first post. This is exactly what I suggested you try first. Glad you getting it. Now. Make music! [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Peter: I wondered what that was for???!!!