how many of you track out like this?

so ive been away from my audio interface for awhile, but i wanted to track out my beats, almost done tracking my first one right now. this is what ive been doing.


1. load up my beat
2. arrange the structure of your song in song mode
3. mute everything except the track you want to export (be sure to mute every other track because solo doesnt work), now push mixdown! youll be left with a huge sample of whatever track is playing. now just repeat the process until you have all your tracks out.

be aware that since the sample is so big (however long the song is) your going to have to have a seperate folder called "mpc multitracks" and in that another folder called "beat 1" or whatever.
when you are done with your first mixdown you will have to save it to your mpc multitracks folder and then into the beat 1 folder, then you have to go back to your program data in your mpc and delete the sample so you dont run out of RAM space when multitracking the next file out.

also if you have a snare thats layered 3 times be sure to look at the level of each of them, and turn two to zero, then when you have multitracked 1 of them, turn that one down and another one up, this enables you to have full control of each element of your snare sound (or whatever layered sample) in your daw.

hope this helps some of you.

it is kind of a long process as you have to export each piece in real time, but if you have a half hour to kill, this will organize your files nicely for when you dump them into your DAW or multitrack recorder for further mixdown or tracking.

You're definitely going about this the long way.

Do you really need all those snare layers separated for the entire duration of the track? I don't think so.

If you're piecing this back together in a DAW all you need is the component parts or loops. Nothing more.

So taking the snares as an example... you could get away with having a bar or two of each snare loop, then just record the main outs for each variation you may have.

Is there even enough ram in the 1k/2500 to hold 3 full passes of a full track in stereo?? I don't think there is...

So in essence you will end up with a number of smaller recordings that you then have to stitch back together in the computer.

People should take the time to learn how to seriously manipulate audio in a DAW. Reconfiguring a full track from a series of smaller chunks is lesson 1.

i feel you there, i just dont want to piece it together, thats why i did it this way. i like being able to just drag and drop.

the reason i track each snare separate is so i can add eq/compression during mixdown, that is vital to any mix so you dont get phasing or buildup of certain frequencies. but i do do this the long way because i could section it out, i just dont want to.

damien907 wrote:the reason i track each snare separate is so i can add eq/compression during mixdown, that is vital to any mix so you dont get phasing or buildup of certain frequencies.

My advice is if they sound good layered in the MP then track them out as a single file. A subtle change to one of those layers can throw the dynamic off altogether, and you can end up killing hours just trying to rebalance what sounded good in the first place.

ive been having to do that since my delta1010 is broken.. i just make 4/8 bar loops of each sound. i transfer them to my DAW and loop and piece them together... with snap enabled in the daw its pretty easy..

BTW dame, what type of audio interface are you working with & how many input channels does it allow at one time?

If you're going about it with just two channels at a time, that in itself is like putting a dagger in the whole concept because it kills the workflow and dulls the creative juices imo.

Without multi-out to multi-in capability, you'll have no other choice but to layer it like Coz said, since the benefits you're after were to keep the balance & tonal structer that you were seeking in the first place.

i have a tc electronics impact twin, i beleive it has 6 inputs, but right now its in another state so i tried this out yesterday.

i would have to disagree though, i think tracking out each layer separate is the best way, you can get it sounding 1000 times better in the mix than you can in the mp, and even if it did sound good in the mpc then when you laid vocals over it or some other live instruments over your beat in the daw then you could introduce masking/buildup of certain frequencies that can be undesirable. in essence isnt that what mixing is all about? getting the best sound in the context of all the other sounds. i like to be able to manipulate whatever i want in the daw.

although i did hear a funny fact, when the guy (cant remember his name right now) made the beat for hard knock life, he just gave the mix engineer a 2 track of the drums because he said "he cant have the mix guy messing up the sound of the drums"

i think you guys are lucky with the 4k though because if im not mistaken, you can nudge each layer a sample or 2 over if you are getting phase or something like that.

anyway didnt want to start a debate, just wanted to open some eyes to this technique if some people havent tried it yet.

i would slash my wrists if i had to track this way

Limited number outputs or inputs?

Track using stems if that can work for you.

Just using SPDIF I solo each track to protools ...prest protools to number of bars for sequence + 2 empty bars (four)... then play that way and (re) arrange in PT... basically with the 4 bars you hit duplicate or repeat... and do as you likie

I mixdown everything in the box and then track out the left and right channels to two tracks.

i sample stuff into my mpc, layer , tune, then sample into the sp 303 and midi trigger the sounds back and sequence them. when i track out, i track out sounds separately (kicks on pass 1, snares on pass 2, bass on pass 3, etc) and re-arrange in the pc. i have a reverb plugin that i prefer over the mpc and 303 reverb, so i just turn off the reverb before tracking out and then once i get everything re-arranged in the pc, i apply the reverb seperate to each sound and then turn it all into .wav/mp3/burn to cd, etc.

i turn a "count-in" click on so that my stuff lines up properly, then i just go back and mute the clicks and everything lines up just right.

and i have "loop" turned off, so that all the tracks will stop on time and so i'll know exactly where the sequence stops and where the next sound should start.

Coz wrote:Do you really need all those snare layers separated for the entire duration of the track? I don't think so.

I always separate my tracks, I don't only look at as a beat making stand point I do it for mixing purposes. I like to have complete control over my session.

Tha_Skywalker wrote:I always separate my tracks, I don't only look at as a beat making stand point I do it for mixing purposes. I like to have complete control over my session.

You didn't really take in what I wrote did you?

Coz wrote:If you're piecing this back together in a DAW all you need is the component parts or loops. Nothing more.

The part about tracking all his snares together was a side issue to the technique being used to track out.

[/quote]
The part about tracking all his snares together was a side issue to the technique being used to track out.[/quote]

Yeah my bad I skimmed through it !