Export All Tracks Signal Path

[claytonsquire]

So I'm finally getting around to creating 8-track performance versions of my tracks and I've hit a little snag. Normally when I export a final version of a song it goes through some light mastering on the Master channel (namely compression, EQ and limiting, maybe a little light saturation). I've more or less come to peace with the fact that playing 8 stems isn't going to sound quite as good as playing the one master file, but what I'm wondering is when I use the "Export All Tracks" option, where is live sampling the outputs for each track? Is it doing a virtual Solo In Place and sampling each track at the master post-fader, or is it just sampling the post-fader output of each track before it gets inserted onto the master bus? I have a feeling that it's doing it before the master bus, but I'm curious to see if anyone else has any insight.

What I'd really love is 8 stems that when combined would equal the master out. I'm trying to devise a sum/difference method to do this and here's what I've come up with so far:

1) Export a master.
2) Export the master with one track/group muted, eg. bass (call this a "master minus track/group").
3) Repeat step (2) for all the tracks/groups you want stems of.
4) Put all the resulting files in a new session and invert the polarity of the master.
5) Solo the master and one of the "master minus track/group" tracks and export.
6) Repeat step (5) for all your "master minus track/group" tracks.

This is admittedly a bit arduous and unfortunately imperfect as obviously something like a bass will effect what the compressor on your master track is doing and thus a "master minus bass" will not truly be just that. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this issue.

[Trypset]

you could set up resample tracks for each track you have...? record them once....then export those channels. Or preferably stop producing with something on the master track

[claytonsquire]

you could set up resample tracks for each track you have...? record them once....then export those channels. Or preferably stop producing with something on the master track

Yeah, or just freeze and flatten everything. I put master compression/EQ/limiting on tracks for a reason: it helps glue all the parts together and give the track a more polished sound (and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only producer/engineer who does this).

I essentially tried what you are suggesting last night before posting this and the end result was, simply put, unacceptable. Could I mix the individual parts with additional EQ and compression such that their sum sounded close to the original master? Probably, but I have this nagging suspicion that there's a better way. We have DSP for a reason

[Cezband]

Perhaps this is more work, but I thought I'd suggest it...

You could export the performance versions of your tracks with no master effects at all, and then set up a rack on the master of your performance set with tweaked settings for each song which resemble the original processing...then just map them to a nob or something and cycle through them with each song?

[claytonsquire]

Hmm, that could work. I'm a little hesitant just due to CPU usage as I'm usually running Traktor simultaneously (I know, I should have them running on separate computers), but it's certainly a viable possibility. Do you know if there's a way to scroll through presets? Maybe the chain selector...? Definitely worth investigating though.

I guess I should admit my ultimate vision here is to have 8 tracks that anyone could play and have it sound as good as the master without needing the specifics of my ableton setup, as I feel that's the way EDM performance is moving anyway.

[Cezband]

Yeah, If you're computer is up to it, I don't see why you couldn't have a different "master chain" for each song, then just cycle through them - set each chain to a different value, so on song 1 you use path 1, then when you start up song 2 you cycle it to path 2 and everything in path 1 turns off. In theory the inactive chains shouldn't eat cpu but I gotta admit I'm not as clued up on how Ableton manages resources as a lot of other people here. Hope you can work something out though, man...