tlw
Same familiar sorry tale as CD releases really, with the same problem that the sound engineers can only do what the customer wants and the customer wants LOUD.

Indeed and that was an interesting look into current day audio for film mixing (pretty much what I expected and have perceived based on newer productions). I hadn't considered the surround sound mix consequences though. That's particularly cruddy that they make the assumption most are going to own a system to replicate such things. Does seem pretty simple to have an intern slap a limiter on it, dump it down to stereo and do some level automation... but alas that's film industry I guess.
 
Despite some of my other idealistic inclinations I am certainly a believer in (responsible) capitalism. It sure does seem to get in the way of quality and common sense sometimes though and has a tendency of accumulating into an inescapable cycle of suck (like the loudness wars).
 
The hyper critical layman consumer angle doesn't help either. Back when I was running retail type setups the motto actually became "The customer is always WRONG!"... at least until they were right. It put off some people and perhaps lost some sales but all in all it resulted in better, regular customers (who could actually pay) and less shrinkage/lost man hours due to unreasonable demands.
 
I guess that kind of ties into the premise of this thread. If I ever become skilled enough to become a commercial producer I'd like to think I'd be able to accomodate whatever a client wants/needs but I could definitely see myself not completely bending over for outright silliness.
 
IME anyone who makes those types of demands in life are generally more hassle than it's worth dealing with anyway... and from some of the stories I've read here and elsewhere that seems to hold true (if not more so) in the music production biz.
 
A real artist/musician though generally will have a good sound in their head that deserves to be reproduced accurately. Helping them get there would, to me, be a joyful experience.

Well ,Well,Well
We have got rid of the tech Heirarchy.
 
It all comes down to   ---    EARS!!!! The ultimate all In one solution!!
 
anyone fancy a Mars Bar!!!

Enjoying those tunes immensely, Konrad. Clean, clear and radio-ready. ABBA would have been happy with the mastering on "Fifteen Minutes of Fame". My 14-year-old grandson just killed his first elk yesterday...I'll have to play "Bambicide" for him.
 
Yes, Tom, I am listening. Thanks for the reminder.

Some sage advice here.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAK1ZzM4iNI

Thanks, John!

Going back to the original post, one thing that wasn't touched upon at all and that I don't really get is why it is such a big deal to export "dry tracks". I suppose you would need to disable some plugins (most EQ and compression) and keep others active (signature delays etc) but other than that it's an operation of a few clicks and perhaps a cup of coffee if it's a particularly large project. Maybe I'm misunderstanding or maybe the OP is taking some unnecessary detour?

I totally understand a producer wanting to work in his preferred environment by the way. If I'd have to mix/remix someone's stuff I'd ask for stems and put them in Sonar too. It's just quicker for me. Even though I'd use the same combination of FabFilter/Waves/whatever plugins. And for others, especially if the DAW is relatively unknown in top level circles (like Sonar), it's understandable that they'd say "no" because they don't know if the platform is "pro enough" to get it to their level. Basically, they're insecure. But I'd be too if someone asked me to deliver release quality stuff and they started their project in Magix Music Maker.

jatoth
 
The OP stated, he had the project 80% mixed and was happy with what he had done that far. He just needed some help with the last 20%. Exporting "dry tracks" would mean starting the "mix" over again from scratch. I don't think he implied it was too difficult to do the export.

Time consuming, yes, difficult, no.  However, depending on how much time he wanted to book it may or may not have been worth the studio's time to take on his limited project using his own laptop.  Splitting the raw tracks insures more work (time) for the studio but may have not really been what the OP needed.

Somehow it sounded to me as if he exported each track individually. But that's just an assumption on my part.