"Exempt" Track from Master Automation?

[struknes]

My master automation mutes everything a bunch of times, but I want one track to not go mute with the master.

It's not a huge project, only 21 tracks at the moment, but I'd rather not individually mute the 20 tracks that I want mute; it would be nice to be able to use the master and "exempt" one track, if you will, as the question suggests.

Can you think of any clever or obvious work-arounds for this, assuming there isn't a function? I haven't found one. Thanks! Hope you've enjoyed this question.

[struknes]

Here's one suggestion I just thought of:

Print the master track without the track you want to exempt from the master automation data. Then add the master and the exempt track to a two track project and re-print without volume automation.

The problem with that method though is that the performer (if it were going to be a vocal you were exempting from the mute) wouldn't be bale to perform the track with the master muting underneath her voice, unfortunately, so she wouldn't be able to get the vibe of how the track is supposed to sound and perform, unless you want to do all the automation individually by track.

[Da hand]

This is what Bus/Group Tracks are for. Bus/Group tracks group together the audio of any amount of tracks you like on each Bus/Group - which then can be manipulated with effects, fader, panning, mute, etc - and then that, in turn, is sent to the Master.

So you create 1 Bus/Group for your 20 tracks - and place your mute automation there. The remaining 1 track you can send directly to the master.

There are many way to make a Bus/Group: here are two of the easier ones:

1. Method 1 - Using Live's Group method. Select your 20 tracks, right click, choose "Group"... and there you go... your 20 tracks are now grouped.

Each track's audio output is automatically routed to the Group. The Group audio output is automatically send to the Master. Now you can Mute that group or place effects on it and automate them as you like..

2. Method 2 - create your own Bus/Group track. Create a new audio track. Name it Bus or Group (or whatever you like). Now select your 20 tracks and route their audio outputs to this new Bus/Group track. Now you can Mute that group track or place effects on it and automate them as you like.

[struknes]

Thank you Da Hand. These solutions will work nicely!