Bounce to Disk Issues.

[Local Traffic]

Hey everyone, Im hoping maybe someone can shed some light on this issue for me.

Its very simple, I have a movie session that I have routed all dialog tracks to a dialog bus, fx tracks to an fx bus, ambience to an ambience bus, score to a score bus. Pretty simple right.

In PT everything is great, bounce to disk sounds fine from PT, play it after the BTD is finished and all the dialog sounds like its doubled. or some one got happy with reverb. Along with that, the tracks seem to loose the "space" then sound a little boxier.....am I missing something? Is this an issue anyone else is familiar with???

Im using PT 8 le on a 2.4ghz Macbook Pro with a 002R.

Cheers.

[ljsantos]

When you say routed, did you use a send? or moved the output to a bus? (i.e bus 9-10)

how did you route your reverb thru a bus? or just insert? If you use a send make sure you have a separate reverb bus for the dialogues, sfx and music.

I suggest this routing:

all Dialogue tracks output to bus9-10
all SFX tracks output to bus11-12
all amb tracks output to bus13-14
all music tracks output to bus15-16

then

bus9-10 output to analog1-2
bus11-12 output to analog1-2
bus13-14 output to analog1-2
bus15-16 output to analog1-2

then on your bounce to disk, bounce source should be analog1-2.

Hope this helps!

JS

[Local Traffic]

Hi JS, minus the bus numbers differing thats how my session is running...Ive heard/read a few people saying that BTD has flaws and to try printing the track within pro tools, then exporting the region as a file.

Thanks for your input. I hope this gets resolved soon.

[Dism]

Originally Posted by Local Traffic

Hi JS, minus the bus numbers differing thats how my session is running...Ive heard/read a few people saying that BTD has flaws and to try printing the track within pro tools, then exporting the region as a file.

BTD to me would be VERY sketchy for bouncing audio to video. Bussing down to a stereo track and then Export Regions as Files, is by far a better way to bounce a track from Pro Tools. For video, it would be much easier to make sure all your syncing is accurate, and that there is no delay caused by plugins.


I NEVER use BTD. It just feels so inefficient to me. The only way I would want to bounce without having some control, is if it was an offline bounce, because in that case I'm usually just making a quick dirty bounce anyway. BTT is the way to go, for sure.

[L-Dogg]

I do not have any answer but I am very curious why each segment.....dialogue, EFX, Score etc is routed to a stereo Bus pair? Can you explain why this is done like this or point me where to go read about it. I ask because I would like to learn more about mixing, writing music for and adding foley and SFX stuff for soundtracks.

I mean, why the busses as opposed to just mixing it all down to a Master to Analog 1-2. Is it to have each stereo pair of these tracks on a single stereo bus fader for automation while mixing? Why not group?

[Dism]

Originally Posted by L-Dogg

I do not have any answer but I am very curious why each segment.....dialogue, EFX, Score etc is routed to a stereo Bus pair? Can you explain why this is done like this or point me where to go read about it. I ask because I would like to learn more about mixing, writing music for and adding foley and SFX stuff for soundtracks.

I mean, why the busses as opposed to just mixing it all down to a Master to Analog 1-2. Is it to have each stereo pair of these tracks on a single stereo bus fader for automation while mixing? Why not group?

There are a number of reasons for making aux tracks. For example, if you want to add a tiny bit of reverb to all of your vocal tracks... instead of putting a dozen instances of dverb... bus them all down to an aux and put a single dverb on the aux.

It's a good way to simplify levels, as well. You can drag one fader to move all the vocals up, or the score, etc. While grouping has it's advantages, you do constantly have to turn them on or off if you need to make small adjustments to individual sounds. An aux will allow you to turn everything up and down at once, while still giving you range of each fader. This way, you also don't have to write automation for a dozen different tracks... just the one. Aside from that, if you need to make small adjustments to individual tracks that already have automation... you then have to adjust the automation itself, instead of just tweaking the fader... which could then lead to having to adjust the automation on all the other tracks. Auxes add a level of precision that can save a lot of time and resources when mixing.

[Local Traffic]

Originally Posted by Dism

There are a number of reasons for making aux tracks. For example, if you want to add a tiny bit of reverb to all of your vocal tracks... instead of putting a dozen instances of dverb... bus them all down to an aux and put a single dverb on the aux.

It's a good way to simplify levels, as well. You can drag one fader to move all the vocals up, or the score, etc. While grouping has it's advantages, you do constantly have to turn them on or off if you need to make small adjustments to individual sounds. An aux will allow you to turn everything up and down at once, while still giving you range of each fader. This way, you also don't have to write automation for a dozen different tracks... just the one. Aside from that, if you need to make small adjustments to individual tracks that already have automation... you then have to adjust the automation itself, instead of just tweaking the fader... which could then lead to having to adjust the automation on all the other tracks. Auxes add a level of precision that can save a lot of time and resources when mixing.

+1 for the answer, I also do it so its easier to mute certain aspects, for example when the director wants a M&E track, or just the dialog, all I have to to do is route the bus in question to an audio track, and print it(it has not already been done)

[daeron80]

I've BTD with video many times and never had a problem. What you're describing is unrelated to various complaints lodged about BTD over the years. You've got some kind of double bussing going on. Almost certainly, your dialog tracks are arriving at the bounce bus by two separate routes. Probably by the track outs and a send.

[Local Traffic]

So, I feel like a dumbass here, but amongst the myriad of tracks there was a lone compressor sitting on a hidden send, it was bypassed, but still delayed the track. Causing all those issues it was.

Thanks for all the help, btw, I did some test doing BTD, Export Region as Files, and I have to say, I dont think ill be bouncing to disk again.

Cheers

[L-Dogg]

This has been an interesting thread so far albeit short. Thanks for the answers about why to bus in this situation..it certainly makes sense as far as a different level of precision. I am going to go try all these ideas out. I have always just BTD.