I just finished a multi-track live recording using Vegas
Audio 2.0b and would like some suggestions before I proceed
to post-production. It is not that I haven’t figured out a
way to do it. I have and it seems to work fine. However, I
am just wondering if there might not be a better way to set
up the Vegas Audio project for the post-production work.
BTW, the full set of files is 6 gB.
I used Vegas Audio to record 8 separate tracks of a live
concert. My 8 microphones went through at Mackie 1604 VLZ
Pro, then into a Delta 1010 A/D converter. Each track was
set up as a single channel mono .WAV file in Vegas Audio.
(I don’t know if this was the way to proceed, instead of 4
stereo .WAV files, but it made some sense at the time. I
also chose 44.1 kHz, because there had been a glitch at 96
kHz, but I did opt for 24-bit instead of 16-bit.)
The total length of the recording is over 90 minutes, but I
did have enough of a break at times to stop/pause the
recording so the .WAV files were saved in case of a system
crash or power failure. There are about 5 ‘sets’ of the 8-
channel .WAV files that make up the project. Now comes post-
production mixdown.
I want to mix the 8 channels down to a 2-channel mix for a
CD. I created a new Vegas Audio project and brought all
the ‘sets’ of 8-channel files in. All the tracks are
assigned to the ‘A’ bus and I use the pan to control the
position. The part that seems to me that ‘there must be a
better way’ has to do with the long pauses between the
selections. Because the first set of .WAV files contains
five selections, I have been trimming the entire .WAV file
set, after first making it a group, by dragging in the ends
so only the desired selections remains. Then I control the
volume with a volume envelope and do a fade out at the end.
For the next selection I have to again drag in the same set
of .WAV files and using the same technique, make then into
a group and pull in the ends of the full .WAV file so only
the second selection is available. I then tweak the volume
and apply fades, then slide it over next to the first
selection. I have about 20 selections in this concert so
this is a lot of busy work. When it is all done, if I
continue this way, I plan on rendering it to a 2-channel
44.1 kHz 16 bit file.
Now, I am looking at an alternative where I would just work
on mixdown of one song at a time and render each one to a
44.1 kHz 16 bit file and then bring these into CD Architect.
I also have Sound Forge, and what I really want to be able
to do is pull all 8 channels into Sound Forge and then
highlight the region that is a particular selection and
save it to a new set of 8 files. I would then have 20-some
sets of 8 files which would be easier to pull into Vegas
Audio.
Another option is if I could get Vegas Audio 2.0 (actually
I have installed the 2.0b update) to work ‘destructively’
to trim out all the spaces between the selections. This
would make my files much smaller.
In any case, I would appreciate some alternative 'takes' on
this to help get me started in the right direction, or just
the thought that this is the only way to do it, so get to
it :-)
Wayne Munn
Wmunn@ferretresearch.com
Audio 2.0b and would like some suggestions before I proceed
to post-production. It is not that I haven’t figured out a
way to do it. I have and it seems to work fine. However, I
am just wondering if there might not be a better way to set
up the Vegas Audio project for the post-production work.
BTW, the full set of files is 6 gB.
I used Vegas Audio to record 8 separate tracks of a live
concert. My 8 microphones went through at Mackie 1604 VLZ
Pro, then into a Delta 1010 A/D converter. Each track was
set up as a single channel mono .WAV file in Vegas Audio.
(I don’t know if this was the way to proceed, instead of 4
stereo .WAV files, but it made some sense at the time. I
also chose 44.1 kHz, because there had been a glitch at 96
kHz, but I did opt for 24-bit instead of 16-bit.)
The total length of the recording is over 90 minutes, but I
did have enough of a break at times to stop/pause the
recording so the .WAV files were saved in case of a system
crash or power failure. There are about 5 ‘sets’ of the 8-
channel .WAV files that make up the project. Now comes post-
production mixdown.
I want to mix the 8 channels down to a 2-channel mix for a
CD. I created a new Vegas Audio project and brought all
the ‘sets’ of 8-channel files in. All the tracks are
assigned to the ‘A’ bus and I use the pan to control the
position. The part that seems to me that ‘there must be a
better way’ has to do with the long pauses between the
selections. Because the first set of .WAV files contains
five selections, I have been trimming the entire .WAV file
set, after first making it a group, by dragging in the ends
so only the desired selections remains. Then I control the
volume with a volume envelope and do a fade out at the end.
For the next selection I have to again drag in the same set
of .WAV files and using the same technique, make then into
a group and pull in the ends of the full .WAV file so only
the second selection is available. I then tweak the volume
and apply fades, then slide it over next to the first
selection. I have about 20 selections in this concert so
this is a lot of busy work. When it is all done, if I
continue this way, I plan on rendering it to a 2-channel
44.1 kHz 16 bit file.
Now, I am looking at an alternative where I would just work
on mixdown of one song at a time and render each one to a
44.1 kHz 16 bit file and then bring these into CD Architect.
I also have Sound Forge, and what I really want to be able
to do is pull all 8 channels into Sound Forge and then
highlight the region that is a particular selection and
save it to a new set of 8 files. I would then have 20-some
sets of 8 files which would be easier to pull into Vegas
Audio.
Another option is if I could get Vegas Audio 2.0 (actually
I have installed the 2.0b update) to work ‘destructively’
to trim out all the spaces between the selections. This
would make my files much smaller.
In any case, I would appreciate some alternative 'takes' on
this to help get me started in the right direction, or just
the thought that this is the only way to do it, so get to
it :-)
Wayne Munn
Wmunn@ferretresearch.com