Help! (Mixdown Mode)

[J_bus]

Hey everyone,

Just got the DP-24SD and am overall loving it. I finished up my first song in terms of tracking/mixing, but now I can't seem to figure out mixdown mode. On my old Fostex MR-16, I would just mix everything down to the final stereo track, and then there was an option to save that stereo track as a wav file that I could then pull off the recorder via usb/computer. The manual's instructions for mixdown mode have me a bit confused. For starters, when I set an in and out point(which is required for mixdown mode) it says "track too short", so I haven't even been able to attempt a mixdown yet(I assume I am just not setting the in and points right, but I'm not even sure why I have to do that in the first place).

Basically what I want to do is do a live mix(there are parts of the song that require me to mute tracks while it's playing/fade things in etc) and then save that mix as a stereo track. Is mixdown mode the correct way to do this, and if so can anyone give me a brief tutorial? I assume that bouncing everything to the last stereo track is not the right way to go about this, but that's how I always did it on my old machine. Any help is appreciated. Sorry if this is obvious!

 

[Phil Tipping]

Hi. Don't worry about the question - it's only obvious if you know the answer
You can bounce or mixdown. They both allow you to 'live mix' as you say and adjust faders, EQ, etc. on the fly. You can listen to either during the process by selecting bounce or stereo with the Monitor Select button. The difference is where the mix is stored on the sd card, which impacts how you play it back and what you can do with it.

When you're bouncing, you go into Bounce mode. Individual track files on the sd card are played back as normal through the track faders & EQ etc., but the mixed result is recorded to your nominated bounce track, i.e. it creates a normal track file on the sd card. This means you can go back to multi-track mode and treat the bounced track just like any other.. because it is just like any other. To transfer it to a computer, use the normal Export function which converts it to 'fit for public use' format in the AudioDepot folder.

When you're mixing down, you go to Mixdown mode. As with bounce, individual track files still pass through the track faders & EQ, but the mixed result creates a special mix/master file on the sd card. This file cannot be played back in multi-track or mixdown mode. If you press play in these modes, you're playing back individual track files as before... although this does mean you can repeat the mixdown process if you want another shot at it.

There is only one mix/master file for each song, so if you repeat the mixdown process, it overwrites the mix/master file. To transfer it to a computer, do not use the Export function (this is only for 'tracks'), so you can just copy it out from the Song folder - its name is based on the song name. There may be one other file with a similar name, but with an additional lower-case 'z'. This is the undo file so leave that alone.

The only way to play back the mix/master file is in Mastering mode. If you press Play in this mode, the file is played back through the mastering FX only, i.e. none of the track faders or EQ etc. will affect the outcome. If you press Record in this mode, the mix/master file is fed through the mastering FX and overwrites the mix/master file. Note the file is always passed through these mastering FX, so you need to turn them off to preview your mastered file otherwise you'll get a double dose of FX. The option for normalising should only be done as the final operation on this file, otherwise you may get distortion - this processes the file off-line so is fairly quick.

The In and Out times are used to define the start and stop points for the mixdown process. When you press Record, the individual tracks are skipped to the In position, then they start playing, and the mix/master file starts being written to. When they reach the Out position, the mixdown process stops automatically. Both points are shown on the screen so you should be able to confirm their values (top of page 55). The gap between them must be greater than 4 secs. otherwise you'll get the 'track too short' message.

 

[J_bus]

thanks so much this was a big help!

 

[Doodle46]

I know how stupid this might sound to you Phil, but I don’t understand the term “Bus.” What does “Bus” mean to someone like me, whose knowledge of the Tascam DP-32sd is limited?

 

[Phil Tipping]

It's a very sensible question. A bus is a central 'connection point' where lots of signals can be joined together. It's more of a 'concept' as opposed to real physical soldered joints, but the idea is the same.

All the signals are added together (or mixed) at this point, and the output of the bus is the result. It's really the core of a mixer as this is where the mixing actually takes place. Most of the functionality of a mixer is to process & route signals onto the bus, and then route & process the output.

On the dp-24/32 there are a few buses. The main one is the stereo bus, which is really 2 buses, one for left signals, the other for right (you can see the L & R at the top of the vertical lines on the block diagram). The outputs from these buses go to the main stereo outputs. All the 8 inputs and all the 24/32 tracks and the internal send effect can be routed to this bus. The pan/balance controls define how the signals are split between left & right.

 

[Doodle46]

Thank you for your expedient reply, Phil. Your explanation cleared-up a lot for me. I also watch/listen to your Tascam tutorials on YouTube, and they are packed full of valuable information. Thank you for all you do to help folks like me.