hi everyone, I want to mix down a song to a WAV or Mp3 on the console panel I have a few audio track and I have two guitar tracks, on those tracks I have an effect sent to a bus. now my question is this. when I highlight the tracks I want to mix down, do I highlight and send the bus that has the guitar effects by itself by muting the guitar tracks of do I highlight everything (guitar tracks AND bus) before I export it to the "export audio box"
does that make any sense?
thanks so much   

Sure, your question makes sense.
 
So, you only have to highlight the tracks and the range in the tracks you intend to bounce (if not the entire range). Keep in mind that you can slip edit the bounced track if you want to.
 
You should route all your tracks and busses to ultimately come out of a single master bus. This will make your life easier. So, there should only be 1 bus outputting audio to your audio interface (sound card).
 
1. Select the tracks you want to bounce (any track you do not select a track will be excluded from the bounced track whether it is routed to busses or not).
2. Select the range you wish to bounce. If you have markers for the beginning and end of the song, you can just click between the markers in the timeline ruler at the top of Tracks View.
3. Execute bounce to tracks and let it create a new audio track for the bounced track. Normally, new tracks will route to the master bus, but in this case, you do not want to re-apply the FX on the master bus, so you route the signal to your interface.
4. Route your new track directly to your audio interface and solo the track.
5. Click play to listen to your track and make sure it is what you want.
6. If there are areas of your bounced track that use 100% of the available headroom and you are not using a limiter on your master bus, you may have clipping. In this case, change volume envelopes to cut the loudest moments so they do not clip.
 
hint: When you are auditioning (before bouncing to tracks), you can see the final wave form of the master bus by clicking the show wave form preview button on the bus itself. Then as you listen, a green wave form will be drawn in the bus. If clipping occurs, you will see a red vertical line where the clipping occurred.

Just highlight the tracks you want to for mixdown. For the mixed track, whether you routed it on a bus or not just highlight the mixed track and export. Try to save before mixing down and save before exporting. Sometimes its exciting to experiment how things work but sometimes its faster to get ideas in this forum. I love this forum its like a family helping each other . Good luck & enjoy your mixing!

I use the WHAT YOU HEAR  preset in the export box.  I select the tracks by double clicking until that all indicate (by color change) to be selected. If there are tracks I specifically do NOT want in the mix I MUTE them. In some mixes I have multiple tracks muted. I check carefully to be sure I have everything I want ....and click OK.
 
I understand that some of the newer DAW's do not have the WHAT YOU HEAR preset in them any more. So simply select and mute tracks as needed.

thank you all very much, I too really like this forum, I get loads of good advice here and quickly as well. again, thank you

Double click any of your tracks and they will all be highlighted!! Make a folder just for your bounced tracks. So they will be easier to find later? & Don't forget to give yourself some headroom in the master bus for mastering the stereo track.

Buses won't highlight for mixdown (I think) and you don't have to.  Just highlight the tracks and choose all buses on the bounce options.  It will capture the mix.
 
@

Just select all your tracks and highlight the timeline. Then use entire mix as your export source. No need to highlight buses and main outs
 
Cj

I just click on the track pane and then choose "select all." My busses are all routed to the Master so it all comes through on the export.
 

If you have the WHAT YOU HEAR option available, you only need to highlight ONE audio track in the project and it assumes the rest for you. Muted tracks will not be added to the mix because it is WHAT YOU HEAR.
 
No need to try to highlight busses or to try to drag on the time line unless you only want a specific part of the song exported....then you would use the time line.