Mastering / Mixdown to WHAT?

[Appleluza]

Today I do all my music production on a single Mac using DP5.  When I mixdown to stereo, I do that in my DP5 project by creating a new stereo track and bussing everything to it, then exporting that track to MP3 or WAV or whatever.

This has the limitation that my stereo mix is always the same resolution as what I recorded in.  So if I recorded and mixed all the tracks at 44kHz-16bit, then the stereo mix-down track will be the same. (At least, that is my understanding of how this works and how it is limited.  Maybe more knowledgeable Mac/DP5 users know differently.)

I now have a second Mac, a new PowerBookPro.  I was going to sell the old Mac (and can still get decent money for it), but I was think maybe there would be some benefit in keeping the second machine to use as a mix-down platform.  That way, I could send a stereo signal out from my DP session on machine A to another DP session on machine B and record at greater bit depth to generate more elbow room for mastering.  Of course, I could use different software, like Peak Bias or something more suited to stereo mastering.  Alternatively, I could sell the older Mac and buy something like a DAT recorder (or an old analog tape machine). 

What do you all do and what do you recommend?

RT

[Cary]

Mark G will have much more info on this, but I would have to assume that DP has the ability to 'render' or 'mix down' a project into a target resolution.  Even N-track gives you to option to specify what resolution your mixdown will be.  I'm fairly certain that all DAWs can mixdown into the highest resolution the interface will allow.

Another little know fact.  Once you make any changes (during the mixdown) to your 16 bit files - adjusting EQ, adding reverb, etc, the wordlength gets larger to match the operating resolution of the DAW.  That's why you should always mix down to 24bit (or 32 bit float) even when working with 16 bit tracks.

[Letizia]

Another little know fact.  Once you make any changes (during the mixdown) to your 16 bit files - adjusting EQ, adding reverb, etc, the wordlength gets larger to match the operating resolution of the DAW.  That's why you should always mix down to 24bit (or 32 bit float) even when working with 16 bit tracks.

funny, i was just thinking about this yesterday. do you even have to make any changes? if the DAW soft has a native processing resolution, doesn't the wordlength get larger to match the operating resolution of the DAW by simply running it through the mixer and subsequently exporting, rendering, bouncing or mixing down?

anyway, until Mark shows...

in this situation, the only benefit i can see to having two machines, would be if the AD and DA converters on both machines are really good and you prefer the AD/DA conversion to your softs (or plugs) dithering process/quality.

internal vs. external bounce: no need for two machines... you can simply export/bounce/mixdown/render... (lol etc.) to a 24 or 32 bit wav file, then create a new project/session to master that file. couple of benefits over the internal mixdown you're doing now...

- more clearly seperates the mixing and mastering processes. keeps the workflow cleaner.

- helps you avoid double dipping of the master fx. if you mixdown, to a track within the session, without turning off the Master fx, when you later export to wav/mp3, it will go through those Master fx a 2nd time.

- you can free up any cpu/ram that the multitrack session was using.

anyway, as Cary said (or implied), your limitation is self imposed. whatever work method you choose, internal or external (to the session not the machine), mix to 24bit (or 32 bit float)

general note about dither... most DAW softs have their own dithering process and it's usually enabled by default. check to see if it's on and which method it's using. if it is on, there's no need to insert a 2nd dither plugin on the Master.

[Gerk]

Cary is correct.  In DP5 you can "bounce to disk" in whatever bitrate you want.

My mixdown process for a stereo track (usually) goes like this:

- make sure my mix is where I want it.
- bounce to disk a stereo file at 24bit (usually split SDII but the format doesn't matter really as long as it's losless)
- create a new project
- import the mixed file into the new project to master
- export (bounce to disk) the final mixed track

Also most times now if I'm doing a larger project I mix down to stems (think of them as submixes).  Typically something like: a stereo mix for all the guitars, a stereo mix for all the drums, a stereo mix for all the other instruments, lead vocals (usually mono), a stereo mix of all the backup vocals.  Using stems gives you better control over the final master, especially when there are a lot of things going on.  Midrange is at a premium and this makes it easier to bring out different bits and pieces as needed _after_ the final mix.

With stems I then do the same process for mastering, bringing in all the stereo and mono tracks into a new project and master from there.

I usually do my mastering right within DP, but sometimes I also bring it into Bias Peak occasionally.  I do all my full CD mastering in Peak ... it does a very nice job assembling the actual CD into a DAO master.

HTH

Mark

[Appleluza]

Thanks

This was very helpful.  It also sounds like I don't have a mixing-mastering reason to hang on to the old Mac, so eBay, here I come.  (I bought it on eBay actually.)

RT

[Gerk]

Yep no real dvantage going to a different machine in this day and age with fast hard drives and the like ... at one point I used to mix down to a different machine, but mostly because I was already taxing my poor DAW beyond it's comfort level

Have fun!

Mark