Offline bounce to disk issues

[noiseboyuk]

I'm on 12.4 HD, but I've had this issue since the feature was introduced in 11. I use a template where aux channels get routed to audio channel inputs, which I then use to print mixes and stems. All works fine in normal bounce, but not in offline bounce when I select the same source as the audio channels in the Bounce To Disk dialog. It always works on my main stereo mix just fine, but doesn't work for the individual stem channels. I can't see any logical reason for the discrepancy - the signal paths are similar, and they all behave normally in real time. Any ideas, anyone? Thanks in advance.

[WAXLTD]

One possible work around might be to select only the aux channels you are hoping to make stems from, and then choose "commit". That should bounce them all down and include them in the session as new tracks. You could also route them (the aux channels you have routed to audio tracks in your template) all to a single stereo aux and bounce that in the same manner, which would be a sum of them all.

You wouldn't need to route them to audio tracks as you have in your template.

I suspect you may have some issue w/ your i/o settings or the bounce source you are choosing in the dialog box.

Might be helpful for those who could help if you could post a screenshot of your session as well as your i/o settings (bus i/o in particular)

Hope that makes sense. Best of luck!

[noiseboyuk]

Thanks for the suggestions - my project has multiple routings so its hard to know what to screengrab that would be useful.

I've made some progress however, in that I think I see why things are behaving differently. With my stems, they get routed to audio tracks with some limiters in, and then to their own audio print tracks. With the main mixes, they go via a 2nd aux with the plugins, then a print track. The problem with bouncing is that it disables input monitoring, so with the stem tracks those audio tracks with plugins go to nothing, while the aux tracks are unaffected.

Moral of the story - don't chain 2 audio input tracks, or else you can't bounce.

This is the template I've been using for a while now on these TV projects. Knowing what I know now, I'd have used more auxes all round, as it is I'm kinda stuck. I did some quck commit tests, and the way I have this set up they don't really help either. So either I suck it up and print stems in real time, or what I might do is save a dummy project with some auxes which replace my stem input limiter channels, then import them to each project when I need to print the final stems.

(EDIT - and just to report that importing those 6 new auxes and deleting the 6 old audio tracks works without a hitch. I can't make the Bounce on right click on the track header work successfully either on or offline for some reason, but Bounce To Disk offline from the menu now works perfectly).

[Eric Seaberg]

I do multiple stem bounces at once, and have a 'limiter' inserted as you do, BUT have it on an AUX. The output of the AUX feeds another buss that can be selected as the INPUT source for realtime bounces. If I do an offline bounce, I select the same aux buss as the source.

Sorry I'm not in front of my system for a screen capture of the mixer, but it works. When I'm working, the outputs of the AUX feed my monitor outs. When I'm ready to bounce, they're all re-routed to the aux's.

By the way, I'm doing 7-stereo stems and 2-mono stems... all offline and VERY fast. (PTHD 11 on MacPro)

Hope this helps...

[noiseboyuk]

Originally Posted by Eric Seaberg

I do multiple stem bounces at once, and have a 'limiter' inserted as you do, BUT have it on an AUX. The output of the AUX feeds another buss that can be selected as the INPUT source for realtime bounces. If I do an offline bounce, I select the same aux buss as the source.

Sorry I'm not in front of my system for a screen capture of the mixer, but it works. When I'm working, the outputs of the AUX feed my monitor outs. When I'm ready to bounce, they're all re-routed to the aux's.

By the way, I'm doing 7-stereo stems and 2-mono stems... all offline and VERY fast. (PTHD 11 on MacPro)

Hope this helps...

Hi Eric, if I understand you right that's exactly how I've just modified my template. It's working great now in Bounce to Disk, but I'll need to experiment more to get it working on a right-click track bounce. The problem with the Bounce to Disk dialog is that AFAIK you can't batch process.

Offline bounce was about 12x speed for my first sync stem, all the others were more like 25x.

[Eric Seaberg]

I don't do a right-click track bounce, but select the entire session in the edit window and do a Command-Alt-B. A new window comes up where you select the channels to bounce... Make sure you select your AUXs and not the OUTPUTS, based on your mixer setup. (I'll remind myself to do a capture of my mix desk tomorrow and send to you). Hit the '+' to add as many busses as you need, then select OFFLINE (checkbox), confirming WHERE it's going to put your new files.

Note that your TRACK NAMES will be added to the files, so have it make sense, i.e. SFX, MZK, DLG, VO, whatever.

[noiseboyuk]

Thanks Eric, I'll give that go - really appreciate the tips!

[Eric Seaberg]

Here's a couple of screen grabs that, I hope, will help.



Notice how, on the IO-BUSS page I've created busses for the multiple versions I have to do... US, CAN, UK, BRD (US/CAN border), and NZ parts (New Zealand).

When you see the US sub, CAN sub, etc., these are the busses that I assign individual channels to. The AUXs then add processing and are output to busses US, CAN, UK, etc., for bouncing... either OffLine or within the session where TRACKS take input US, CAN, UK, etc., and output to the interface.

The busses labeled OUT 1, OUT 2, etc., are the monitoring outs from my interface to my monitoring system where I can select what I want to listen to. If I'm doing a realtime bounce and want to listen to my US version, I assign it to OUT 1, CAN may be assigned to OUT 2, etc., then I can monitor those different mixes while doing a realtime bounce.



This shows my mixer setup, which may not make as much sense as the previous. However, if you're understanding what I've shown above, you'll recognize that if I want to do a realitime bounce, I simply arm the tracks with input US and output OUT 1, CAN and OUT 2, etc.

If I want to do an OFFLINE is select US, CAN, etc., busses to bounce from. Regardless, my final processing is involved wherever it goes.


Good luck. Contact me in a PM if you need more... it's really quite simple if you look at one path at a time.

[noiseboyuk]

Eric, I do apologise, I missed this incredibly helpful reply - I'm sure others will benefit from this too.

I hadn't noticed the "+" box in the bounce to disk - what a great feature. Doubly good, I just drag the busses I need to the top of the I/O list first, then in Bounce To Disk select the first. After that, just hitting + automatically defaults to the next one(s) in the list. Hats off to Avid, that's a really slick implementation.

And it all works! A great time-saving feature, thanks again Eric.

[Eric Seaberg]

Glad it works. The other beauty of this setup is you can create multiple busses, i.e. FX, DLG, SurrRear, etc. If they aren't used in the mixer, they aren't available to bounce to, so you don't have to worry about skipping over them with the + sign... just keep clicking the + until you get to the last buss you want to bounce.