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> Pro Tools Mastering and Down Converting Tutorial (Part 2)
Pro Tools Mastering and Down Converting Tutorial (Part 2)
- Next open a brand new session at the same sample rate and bit depth as your master mix session. Save your new session, and select a destination.
- Go to File>Import>Audio and then navigate to where the internal bounce of you master mix session is.
- The tracks will be in the audio files folder as two separate files (Bounce_01.Lwav and Bounce_01.R.wav) select both so they both appear in the “Regions in Current File” box.
- Then click the button to the left of that box that says “Add ->”. Click that button and they will go into the “Regions to Import” box and then click “Done”.
- Another dialogue box will pop up. Click on New Track. Now your master mix session’s internal bounce will be on one stereo channel in the open session.
- Here you can master your track a little by adding some Compression and EQ (NO LIMITING!) to the overall mix. DO NOT PUT ANY PLUG INS ON THE MASTER FADER CHANNEL STRIP!
- After you have finished mastering your track, Go to File>Bounce to…>Disk… Here is where we convert the sample rate from 48kHz to 44.1kHz by clicking on the Sample Rate drop down box in the dialogue window and select 44.1kHz (if your audio is already 44.1kHz, then don’t worry about it, leave it alone). Sample Rate stays the same (that will be converted when we Dither). And again bounce as Multiple Mono.
- When you have selected the correct Sample Rate, click “Bounce…” Name it and save it somewhere you will be able to easily find.
- Next we are going to open another New Session, With the Sample Rate at 44.1kHz and the Bit Depth at 24 and label it “Limiting Session”.
- Import the mastered bounce of your song (that we just did) into this session.
- On the stereo audio track channel strip, insert a limiter Plug in and the “Dither” Plug in. Limiter Plug in, DO NOT LIMIT TO 0dB! Pick somewhere just under it like .2 or .3dB just to be on the safe side. Also, look for about 2 to 6 dB of gain reduction happening with your limiter, any more, its too much, and any less there’s room for more. Dither Plug in should be set to 16 Bit, and Noise Sharpening enabled.
- Bounce as a Stereo Interlaced File. This is the final step and should be the only time in the process that a track is bounced as Stereo rather than Multi Mono. We do this Stereo bounce only once because summing and seperating the audio file multiple times diminishes its quality.
