I don't bounce down to audio whilst arranging a piece. Not because of cpu overload but because my hearing becomes fatigued during the process of laying tracks. It's called "temporary threshold shift". Going back several steps to fix a buggered up bounce-down adds hours of work to the project.

I find that bouncing down gets in the way of slamming down the song structure whilst the muse is with me. So, in the back of my mind I keep an idea of how the final mix is going to work but I don't tackle that part of the job until my ears have rested a while.

 

This, bouncing down its more like a Necessary Evil.
if bouncing down sounds different in a way that you can't predict is not audio fidelity,

so what is happening here?
some would/should ask themselves. Maybe rendering itself isn't donr properly by the daw
(think about pdc or/and I have seen DAW's that put the rendered file post the fader it just came out off
I think something simple as 0.3 db gain can fool the best of us, (it happens to me all the time)
or time shifts of 1 or 2 ms which lets the phase respond differently to the rest of the mix.

then there are also options like notify about render mode (which in itself should be debated if it's useful by my opinion)
This option can enable higher oversampling, or diffrent algorithms which then again can translate to diffrent volumes and time shifts.

 

There was a time when Bouncing was a must, it was how i learned on my lil Tascam Porta Studio 4 track.. then i got into the world of computer recording and even there i had to bounce ( CPU & ram being the reasons) its 2015 now and even a moderate priced computer & sound card can do wonders. Do i bounce now, not so much unless a VSTi is done and i know i won't change something ill freeze it which still leaves me the option to go back and tweak if need be. but my normal mode is 1. Track & Save ... Mix & Save with "MIX" in the file name and so on with Produce & Master that way i leave bread crumbs back to where i started which comes in handy when i hand a project over to another producer they're not handcuffed on what they can do. If i do bounce its always at the same bitrate as the project. all this parameters are adjustable in your setting or should be at least.

 

Sorry, didn't notice your reply earlier. Wrong daw? I'm using Logic Pro in 64bit mode so I guess not ;-) Did I something wrong? Well, I just listened/compared (to) the results. Btw, I'm not talking about phase cancellation but the response from plugins to instruments * and audio files. And just to be clear: HQ plugins. This is my experience so I won't reconsider my findings. Saying something like "wrong facts" is a bit exaggerated don't you think?

* Synths for example have always some kind of processing/movement/modulation going on, an audio file = an audio file.

 

When mixing my own stuff I tend to mix inside the project. Though I've found that I tend to put in placeholders in the writing process that somehow stays and ends up in the final bounce. Reverbs that I'm not entirely happy with etc.
Might start bouncing things and see how I like it

 

Bounce out to audio first yes - You'll notice that the timing of all your tracks sounds tighter once you have - also Compressors and EQ reverb and Distortion all sound better on Audio tracks rather than midi tracks - On my final bounce down I even bounce the Bus returns ---

Remember if you use Logic X you have the freeze button:

When you freeze a track, the track is bounced to an audio file. The freeze file includes the output of any plug-ins on the track and any track automation. While the track is frozen, the freeze file plays back in place of the original track, which is temporarily deactivated...

 

A phase cancellation means there were no physical differences in the signals. It don't matter whether you route a stream from the output into a plug-in or save it first and then route it to the same plug-in.

If there are real differences (and not just believing in them), then either because some effects/instruments have randomization (like round-robin sampling) or some bugs in the software.

 

It is essential to bounce your projects to wav because, inevitably, there will come a day when:

• You've done a fresh OS install, or OS upgrade
  
• You've got an entirely new machine
• You're using someone elses machine
  
• A plug-in is no longer compatible with your upgraded DAW software
  
• A plug-in itself has upgraded and now behaves differently
• You need to use different DAW software

Future proofing. You'll thank yourself later.

Personally, I always print my final output from the standard workflow, and only after I've sent it off to mastering and it's 100% final, I'll go and bounce each track down and save that as a separate project. Later, at any time or place, I can import those WAV files into any DAW anywhere and make any essential alterations or whatever. I've got projects from 15 years ago which I can still open today even though I've totally changed software and platform.

 

Yes it does. But different opinions about this subject are fine with me.

Exactly.

 

Yeah your right but try heavyly distorting a bass sound or a kick drum being generated from a synth - then bounce the sound out reapply the distortion again - it'll sound different - better in fact -

 

In the STUDIO :
Yes, I commit final vsti sequences to audio and archive the midi file. When you render the vsti to audio, you are, in a way, bypassing the playback anomalies of certain plugins. Some plugs don't function at 100% potential until you bounce down, or they have a setting that you have to adjust in options if you click around. Some plugs also have a heavy oversampling that taxes cpu too (adjustable). You also are committing to a "sound" by locking in the LFOs, modulation properties, and special FX, so you know what to expect every time you playback. Phase relationships/masking are concrete, completely predictable, and will be the same every single time you playback (can be dealt with once) - when you render, which is extremely important! Commit to a sound.

 

Last edited: Dec 26, 2015

Hi,
im new here ... well..
i make my all tracks on ableton live (electro, classical, pop..) .. i try to have a very good track and being happy// after that i bounce all my audio tracks one by one
re-import in logic pro and mix so i can focus on sound only.. just my "way to produce"

see ya! and sorry for poor english...

 

rarely . Im blessed to have a i7 based build with 16gigs of ram . usually people would bounce some tracks when low on cpu.

 

I bounce/consolidate after (when I get around to it) so I have a multitrack (audio) master I can play on anything and tracks for inevitable remixes etc. Worked at a mastering/tape baking studio for a while and spent most of my time consolidating logic/protools sessions for major labels (the masters are their physical property)...

 

Yep I agree with D-Music, I feel it sounds different when it is processed live or on a bounced track. Maybe it is all in my head and it is in fact the same, but that's not what I hear. And I like to separate the two process, so not only do I bounce before mixing, but I also produce in one DAW (reaper) and mix in another one (samplitude). I have plenty of ressources and I don't need to, but it makes the change of hat from producing to mixing easier for me, and I just think the result sound better. If I have to go go back to what I have produced, I do, it's longer and a bit more complicated but that's what works best for me.

 

Pro tools have by far the best Freeze option on 12.4. Took ages..but they have the best.