Mixing Template
I frequently get asked to print stems after finishing a mix, particularly to use for live performances. As a Pro Tools user, there are several different routes to accomplish this, but none of them quite worked for me. I wanted something that will allow me to group things together (who needs a snare bottom stem?), but I also wanted to capture any automation and inserts on my routing folders.
Soloing tracks and bouncing them one-by-one captures bus processing, but is time consuming.
Right-clicking on all my tracks and bouncing them from there creates too many audio files and doesn’t capture any processing.
Bouncing all my busses from the right-click menu will capture track processing, but will bounce the tracks prior to bus processing.
So… I created a template to accomplish just that.
You can download that template here.*
The magic in this template is through utilizing the I/O set up, routing folders, and sends. For every routing folder, there are essentially two I/O paths. One labeled “- DRUMS BUS” and one labeled “DRUMS”. Each routing folder has a hidden send to its associated un-hyphenated bus. In the bounce window, users are able to bounce multiple busses in one pass, allowing for quick export of all of our instrument groupings with their processing… And it works nearly as fast as a single bounce. There are some extra goodies as well, such as a Kick SC bus to make routing and finding your kick in the sidechain menu that much faster for that classic EDM pumping effect.
I hope you enjoy this template, and it helps you make your final delivery much quicker. And don’t be afraid to make it your own! Add or delete routing folders as you see fit. Show sends F-J and customize the stems that you need. Create more paths in the I/O window and organize them in a way that fits your workflow. By the way, here’s an extra tip… The busses appear in the sends/input/output dropdowns in the same order as your I/O window. So if you typically put vocals at the end of your session, move the vocal busses in the I/O window to the end of the routing folder busses.
*Please note that multi-stem export is currently only available to Pro Tools Studio and Pro Tools Ultimate subscribers, making the main stem export feature unavailable to Artist and Intro users.
