Does anyone rerecord when 2trk mastering?

[CCash]

If mastering your own 2trk material, does anyone rerecord to a new stereo Pro Tools track and then export the file instead of bouncing to disk?

My question is, if you dither the mastered mix to 16bit, bus it out and record to a new stereo track in PT, the new file will be 24bit but the bottom 8 bits will be zeros, right?

[vtone]

that's a good question that I'd like to know the answer to myself. is your idea to then bounce the new 24bit files to one stereo 16 bit file sans dithering? it seems like more number crunching and audio movement than necessary, but I would think that the differences would be virtually undetectable. any comments?

[CCash]

I guess I'm first trying to find out the technical end of it. Just thinking of ways to get around the bounce to disk. I was originally thinking about just using the new files to burn CDs, but I'm not sure if that would be possible.

Of course you could send the newly recorded track (file) out of PT digitally into a DAT or DA-88, etc., and truncate it there, but then you might as well just put the dither plug on a master fader and skip the rerecord.

Maybe you can import the dithered 24bit file into a 16 bit session to make it a 16 bit file. I need to try some things, but wondering about the theory first (i.e., will it really be 16 bits of info in a 24 bit file?)

This was probably touched on in the marathon thread here... but I left off at post 200 or so and need a day [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] of reading to catch back up.

[Dr. J]

We do not master many projects in house, maybe 4 or 5 per year, but when we do, we bounce the session to disk, to achieve 2 tracks, and leave it in 24 bit.

We then open a new session, import the 2 trak version, apply masterX and possibly a couple other plugs, then bounce to disk at "best" setting 16bit.

And we use Masterlist CD to burn our Master CD for duplication.

[davip]

Yes, bounce to disk works fine. If you import a bounced file into your session and compare it with a rerecorded file you will find that they cancel each other out when you flip the phase of one of them. Make sure to compensate for plugin delay if you do this test.

[Jules]

Cant you drag stereo 16 bit PT files into Jam CDR burning software or something?

(previously having RECORDED the mix down by routing to a stereo pair inside PT (not feeding the mix obviously!) - with a 16 bit dither as the final plug on the master fader)

Is that what you mean Cash-meister me old chum?

(never done it but heard about it)

[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[CCash]

Hi there Jules!

I have pulled 16 bit files into Jam and it works great. I just had to make sure the files had a .L/.R designation.

But rerecording to two new tracks in a 24 bit session is still going to give me a 24 bit file, right? I don't think Jam will be able to use it.

I need to try pulling a 24 bit file into a 16 bit session and see what happens. Then, with some experimenting, maybe an app like Jam could deal with it. I'd like to compare this to a bounce to disk, which I haven't been able to do without a DAT or standalone CDR.

[Jules]

Well I know folks record into PT all the time - preferring it to the BTD function.

All we need is one passing to tell us how to get that on to CDR!

[img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

I picked up a Masterlink BTW, I can record 24 bit mixes direct to that now and have IT make Red Book CDR's for mastering if needs be.

Still want to know the answer!

[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Dr. J]

Jules, are you using the masterlink just as a better method of going from 24bit to 16 bit then?

[flymax]

I think it's always a good idea to bounce a 24 bit mix to disk. Then go ahead and master.