Preparing tracks to export WAVs - signal levels?

[stewart.james]

Hi there

I'm trying to get my head around how best to prepare a set to export all tracks as WAVs, which I can then dump into a new set for mixing. (Been reading both Tarekith's brilliant guides and Mike Senior's equally excellent 'Mixing Secrets', and trying to approach this in a systematic way).

I'm thinking probably what I need to do is render the wavs at the same time as effectively bypassing the channel faders, so that I get the audio as originally recorded (albeit chopped around and on one stem) and the MIDI (drums, a synth or two) according to velocity data and intrument settings. Do I need to set all the fader levels to 0 to achieve this? (If so - didn't I read somewhere that Live works best in some way having the track faders set to something like -12dB?) (I leave the master fader at 0 anyway, so that should stay put too I guess.)

Another thing is, as I've been recording I've been informally mixing - panning/levels, a little EQ. If I'm going to be completely Year Zero about this and clear the decks for a 'mix stage', then I guess I should centre everything (unless it's a stereo signal/effect) and deactivate all my EQs, yes?

I'm sure everyone has their own approach here but I'd like to hear any useful ideas.

Cheers

Stew

EDIT - Or, should I just consolidate my tracks as I go, and print the MIDI instruments as I move along? (Eg Session Drums - get mic mixes set and then freeze/convert to audio?)