bouncing problems with regular & automated panning

[Marvin the android]

HI,
I am running the old 001 and LE5.1 & i am encountering a problem with my panning missing after bouncing to disk.. basically the panning is not there, its all stragiht down the middle .. It is ignoring non automated & automated pan settings..

I do all the automated panning with the auto read enabled..
I am choosing stereo interleaved 24 bit aiff's for the bounce..

& I am getting no pans.

any advice on why this is happening?

thanks

[Phil Ogden]

You do appreciate that parameter changes are not recorded in read mode, right? You need write, latch or touch selected. Can you see/hear the panning movements on playback?


http://www.myspace.com/philogg

[Marvin the android]

NO, i did not know that about read mode.thanks. & yes i do hear the automated panning on playback, but not in the bounced file. Also would that read mode explain why i am not hearing the non automated panning in the bounce?

[andrewSF]

What outputs are you bouncing from ("bounce source" in the bounce to disk window)? Are you hearing the panning while the bounce is running but then not in the resulting file? Have you bounced with panning on this system before? If so, has anything changed recently?

[Marvin the android]

OK,
let me rephrase this question as i have discovered that the stereo interleaved file does have the panning in it after the bounce.. the reason i couldnt hear it is because to import it back into protools for listening it needs to be converted into right & left tracks. I assumed that this conversion would maintain the stereo R&L channels but it obviously doesnt.
I transferred the stereo aiff file to my laptop for a listen & yes the panning is there!
However if i wish to bounce a track that CAN be imported into pro tools with the panning included how the hell do i do that? there seems to be 3 options for bouncing.. mono summed/multiple mono/stereo interleaved . I need to have a stereo 2 track file as i wish to record the whole thing as a stereo 2 track down to tape.. and then back into protools for the final cut...

As theres many ways to skin a cat perhaps u also can be bothered to answer this.. Im wondering how come when you change the output on a track from analog 1-2, S/PDIF R-L (STEREO) to any other output the pan control disappears? I'd quite like to output my tracks out of analog 1 thru 8 so i can direct them into my 8 track tape machine, but i dont want to lose my panning, and who knows what else..... any suggestions appreciated.

[Ziko]

If you bounce as stereo interleaved, create a stereo track and import on to it and you should be fine.
If you bounce as multiple mono, create 2 mono tracks Lnew and Rnew, import the L bounce to Lnew and pan it hard left, import the R bounce to Rnew and pan it hard right.

Re pan control disappearing, if you output a track to a mono output the pan conrtol will disappear, which is quite natural when you think about it.

[andrewSF]

Whew, a bunch of stuff but I'm waiting for a load of laundry to finish so here goes:

the reason i couldnt hear it is because to import it back into protools for listening it needs to be converted into right & left tracks. I assumed that this conversion would maintain the stereo R&L channels but it obviously doesnt.

As Ziko suggests, I'm guessing you just need to pan the left and right tracks left and right. When you import a stereo file into Pro Tools it will split it into dual-mono files, but you can still drop these onto a stereo track, which will automatically pan the tracks hard left and right. If you drop the files onto seperate mono tracks you need to do the panning manually.

However if i wish to bounce a track that CAN be imported into pro tools with the panning included how the hell do i do that? there seems to be 3 options for bouncing.. mono summed/multiple mono/stereo interleaved . I need to have a stereo 2 track file as i wish to record the whole thing as a stereo 2 track down to tape.. and then back into protools for the final cut...

In a case like this I would bounce to disk as multiple mono files at the same file type, sample rate and bit depth as the original session. Also I would check the "Import After Bounce" box. Send the bounce to the Audio Files folder for the session. After it finishes the bounce, PT will ask you whether to import the files to a new track or to the regions list. If you want to play it as a track in your PT session, import it to a new track. Otherwise just send it to the region list. Now that the mix is in your session you can select the files in the regions list and use the "Export Regions as Files" option in the Regions menu. You can create a stereo file and select whatever file type, bit depth and sample rate you like. Save it to whatever location you like by clicking the Choose button.

As theres many ways to skin a cat perhaps u also can be bothered to answer this.. Im wondering how come when you change the output on a track from analog 1-2, S/PDIF R-L (STEREO) to any other output the pan control disappears? I'd quite like to output my tracks out of analog 1 thru 8 so i can direct them into my 8 track tape machine, but i dont want to lose my panning, and who knows what else..... any suggestions appreciated.

As Ziko says, it doesn't really make sense for a mono output to have a pan control. Panning controls the balance between two (or more!) output channels. If there's only one channel, there's nothing to pan. You should be able to assign the output to any pair of channels (Analog 3-4, Bus 7-8, etc.) and preserve the panning, but if you choose a mono output (Analog 5, Bus 9, etc.) the pan knob will disappear.

If you want to send your tracks out of the analog outputs to an analog machine while saving the panning here are two possible ways to do it. Which method you want to use depends on what you're trying to achieve.

So first way is if you want to preserve the panning of each group in the transfer. Use stereo analog outputs for each group. For example, you might send all of your drums out of Analog 1-2, your keyboards out of Analog 3-4, your guitars out of Analog 5-6 and everything else out of Analog 7-8. Be sure to disable any plug-ins on the Master Fader before you mix to the analog machine as these won't be affecting the whole mix but only the tracks that are going out of that output. When you do the transfer you will have 4 stereo pairs on your analog machine. If you pan the outputs from the analog machine so that each odd output is left and each even output is right, you will hear things as panned in your Pro Tools session. When you're done with the transfer switch all of the outputs back to Analog 1-2, reactivate the plug-ins on the Master Fader and everything should be back to normal.

Second way is if you just want 8 mono tracks on your analog machine, but want to preserve the panning in the original PT session. For this you can use the sends. First, mute the output from every track other than the Master Fader(s) in the Pro Tools session so that nothing is going to any analog output. Disable any plug-ins on any Master Faders. Now assign a send for each track to whatever analog output you'd like that track to go to. Make each of these sends pre-fader (click the "pre" button) and set it's output to 0.0. If you have more than 8 tracks and want to combine multiple tracks in a single output, you might want to set the send level to the same level as the fader for that channel. That will preserve the volume balance between the tracks. This method won't transfer the panning that you assigned in the Pro Tools session, it will give you 8 mono tracks. It will leave the panning in place in the original session. When the transfer is done, unmute everything and remove or mute all of the sends you just created. Reactivate the plug-ins on the Master Fader and everything will be as it was.

One more suggestion, if you're going to try either of these transfer methods save your session as a new version so that if something gets messed up you can revert to the un-screwed up version.