Converting Midi to Audio in the Mix before Mastering....

Ok, so I read this article that I lost, but have also seen it said in a few other places that during the mixing process, for example; I use Steven Slate Drums and Midi Drum Grooves for my Drum Tracks. It is said that I should convert those by bouncing them to an Audio Track during mixing, before going to the mastering process... 

That true?

I've tried doing that in Sonar 8.5 (have yet to try it in X1) and when I bounced my drums from the Midi Track to an Audio Track, the Audio Track when played back, just did not have the same punch and loudness that it did in the Midi track...

What am I doing wrong? 

Any help would be much, appreciated... And I have pretty much moved on over to X1 finally.. So advice in the X1 context would be cool.. Thanks in advance!

Sometimes it's beneficial to convert MIDI to audio first before mixing when you're using synths that change their performance (such as evolving timbres over time, which can be different for each playback). In these cases, it's easier to mix when you have a "frozen" performance that you know won't change.

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com
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Hey CJ, what should my bounce settings be? Want me to post up a screen shot of what I'm doing?

CJaysMusic

I've tried doing that in Sonar 8.5 (have yet to try it in X1) and when I bounced my drums from the Midi Track to an Audio Track, the Audio Track when played back, just did not have the same punch and loudness that it did in the Midi track...

This means that your bounce settings that you set where not correct. Your source may have been wrong. I dunno, but all you need to do is look at your gain stage and signal chain to make sure its all ok and make sure you select the correct bounce settings. Sonar does exactly what you tell it to do when bouncing
 
CJ

Hey Stratman70, would you mind posting up a Screen shot of what you're talking about.. Sorry, dude, I am one of those extremely visual learners. Not always ideal. Which is why I always buy tutorial vids and never books.. 

stratman70


I have SSD Plat 4 also. Bounce is as everyone said-identical.
 
I bounce this way:
Every checkbox is checked (except the last which are grayed out here anyway when you select fast bounce)
In source I use Tracks and Mono and dithering none. Been doing that way forever. I am on X2 now, but I believe that dialog box has not changed

TheEdster75


Hey Stratman70, would you mind posting up a Screen shot of what you're talking about.. Sorry, dude, I am one of those extremely visual learners. Not always ideal. Which is why I always buy tutorial vids and never books.. 

stratman70


I have SSD Plat 4 also. Bounce is as everyone said-identical.

I bounce this way:
Every checkbox is checked (except the last which are grayed out here anyway when you select fast bounce)
In source I use Tracks and Mono and dithering none. Been doing that way forever. I am on X2 now, but I believe that dialog box has not changed

I pm'd you the picture

I'm still thinking this might be a simple volume thing, as long as the OP hasn't commented my suggestion.

 It bothers me what kind of bounce/export settings could decrease the "loudness and punch", as described in the firts post? Either there are FX involved or not, in this case I think not. If there's problems with dithering, sample rate or bit depth, it's not reflected in punch or loudness. Whether the routing goes through Master Bus or directly to soundcard, it's all the same, as FX are excluded.

If you guys wanted to decrease the punch of a drum track using only export settings, what would you do? I don't have a single idea. 

All I said was you can bounce 1 drum track or all the drum tracks-it's your choice and it's your choice if you use mono or stereo.
Pretty straight forward
 
Just trying to help-I'll be quiet now

I rarely bounce/freeze anything these days.

If I do feel the need, then I'll always freeze the synth (not the track)

Using this method, all my Fx are still live & available for tweaking, and freezing the synth is much, much quicker than doing a bounce.