How do you deal with a lot of tracks

[Ericlingus]

How do you guys process tracks like vocals for example that have multiple tracks of the same type of singing. Say there are 4 tracks are growl vocals, do you bus them and then process them or do you process each individual track? Also, what if you have a project with like 8 guitar tracks and are using amp sims? Do you print the tracks after you find a sound you like? I'm asking because it seems even the most powerful computers couldnt handle that type of stuff with like 8 guitars tracks, 10 vocal tracks and a bunch of soft synths.

 

[lanky noob]

I normally process vocals all at the same bus to save on cpu, Unless there's one vocal track in particular that's begging for some extra de-essing or something, in which case i'll do that, then send it to a bus

As for running guitars with amp sims, I just send all the channels i'm recording to, to a bus, otherwise the cpu craps out all the time, in my experience anyway

 

[infectdsniper]

i run it with individual processing unless i run into problems. pod farm is really good about not being a resource hog but other free ones will take alot more to run. print them or buss effects if you need too. but on my rig i have 200+ effects across 50-100 tracks with no problems unless i try to use to many 32 bit plugins or to many free amp sims.

but im running an 8 core amd rig with 8 gigs of ram. good luck getting everything running well.

 

[Terminus]

Print the tracks but leave the original tracks intact, turn off the processing chain and mute them just in case you need to change them later.

 

[wetpenny]

Print the tracks but leave the original tracks intact, turn off the processing chain and mute them just in case you need to change them later.

big +1 thats the way i always do shit

 

[Nimvi]

I usually render anything that uses midi once I am happy with it (drums, synths usually). If you use ampsims, you could also render those.

I think of it this way: you are emulating a recording of a real guitarrig/drumset/synth. You wouldn't be able to go back and turn the knobs on those things without rerecording either. That stuff is for the recording/editing phase imo. Spend some time to get something you like and stick with it But yea, keep those DI's!

Also, you could render those effects that won't ever need to change anymore if you are having cpu troubles. Thinking of VCC and tape-emulations.

 

[Trevoire520]

Latest project I rendered:
Vocal compression
Drum Samples
Rhythm guitars down to a stereo track
All tracks rendered with VTM

I found this took alot of the pressure off the processor while still giving me plenty of room to tweak stuff. I wish Slate would give us a audiosuite version of VCC though...

 

[lolzgreg]

Print the guitar sims for sure, but vocal effects don't usually murder your CPU unless it's not up to par. I have done tracks with 80 tracks of vocals alone, minus the rest of the instruments, and not had to freeze tracks, so I would say up your latency, cross your fingers, and go!

 

[Ericlingus]

Thanks guys. My cpu can handle a decent amount. I can have four amp sims with impulses running and vst instruments without problems, but with a lot of other processing going on, it starts to crap out. I've found that printing tracks have really helped me. Not just in saving cpu, but actually making me finish a mix for once! Before I would just keep tweaking and just not get anything done.

 

[greyskull]

I pretty much always print drum samples, any soft synths and try and bounce things down to as few tracks as possible.

 

[CubanDude]

+1 on printing and saving the original tracks. guess it also has a learning effect since you have to "commit" (well, you actually could go back since you saved the originals) at one point.