word length, editing question

Recording Techniques, People Skills, Gear, Recording Spaces, Computers, and DIY

Moderators: drumsound, tomb

Post Reply
User avatar
2121TrumbullAve
gimme a little kick & snare
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:44 pm
Location: Denver

word length, editing question

Post by 2121TrumbullAve » Sat Nov 03, 2007 4:02 pm

so i understand that each move you make in an editor, math has to be done and it degrades the quality slightly every time.

so it dawned on me to track instruments, and then save the project file, unedited, and store it away. then save a second project file and mix till my heart's content, saving as presets any plug-in settings.

then open the untouched, 1st project file, and move the faders where they need to be with one movement, and then add the plug-ins and apply the presets, etc, so that this file reaches the same state as mix 2 with the least amount of edit events.

is this a standard procedure for ITB mixing? or am i making way too big a deal out of minimizing edit decisions?

any thoughts / experiences on this matter are appreciated.

- John
*insert pricey DAW specs here

thethingwiththestuff
george martin
Posts: 1296
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:00 pm
Location: philly

Post by thethingwiththestuff » Sat Nov 03, 2007 4:40 pm

well.....to put it nicely, yes. you're being far too careful about this!

i think you misunderstand the "every move you make degrades.." idea. your DAW holds a master file of each recorded track, and everthing you do to it will reference that original bite and apply its math to it. if i pull a fader down from 0 to -3db, then to -10, i did not just make two changes to the file. i made one. the file now plays back at -10dB. this calculation is in real time, so i actually i shouldn't say i changed "the file" itself at all, just how it's filtered upon playback.

had i printed the effect at -3, then printed again at -10, i would be doing two "destructive" processes to it. plug in settings and fader moves are called "non-destructive".

there are many, many other things to worry about during a mix. i have never once heard someone talk about the amount of "edit events" they used in their mix, let alone heard any negative effects. if this was the way one had to work in digital audio, i'd be back to tape in a heartbeat!

User avatar
A.David.MacKinnon
ears didn't survive the freeze
Posts: 3819
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 5:57 am
Location: Toronto
Contact:

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Sat Nov 03, 2007 5:51 pm

^^^^^^^^^
What he said. Do what you have to do to make it sound good and don't worry about it.
In the tape world I've made records with loops and sounds that we're 7th or 8th generation tape bounces or transfers. If it sounds good in the context of the song then it's good. If not, not. That's all that matters.

User avatar
2121TrumbullAve
gimme a little kick & snare
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:44 pm
Location: Denver

Post by 2121TrumbullAve » Sat Nov 03, 2007 6:38 pm

i see - i was hoping this was the case.

it sounds like 100 slider movements only results in 1 calculation: - the most recent one.
*insert pricey DAW specs here

thethingwiththestuff
george martin
Posts: 1296
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:00 pm
Location: philly

Post by thethingwiththestuff » Sat Nov 03, 2007 10:01 pm

yep, you've got it.

smell the freedom!

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: digitaldrummer and 47 guests