My request:
I would like the ability to export a report of all mixdown settings. This report needn't be "endlessly" detailed, but it should include the following:
- The name and type of each bus or track (audio track / midi track / bus / return-track)
- Volume, panning, send-levels, and routings for each track/bus/return-track
- The names of the plugins used on each track/bus, as well as the values of all non-null/non-default settings of each plugin.
The files could be in any format/filetype, so long as that format doesn't require Ableton or any special proprietary software to open it. Acceptable filetypes might include spreadsheets in CSV or ODS (open document) format, plain-text files, JPGs/PNGs (for any screenshots or graphics the report might auto-create), and/or PDFs (which might be semi-proprietary, but they don't seem to be going away anytime soon, and I can still open today any PDFs I might have downloaded in 2001, so I think that format is relatively stable).
Why I want this:
Whenever I finish a mixdown that turns out really well, I always try to make the time to document all the settings mentioned above. What's most important to me are my plugin-settings -- but I try to notate the other settings as well. I'm sure this sounds time-consuming, and it is. My documentation procedure involves taking reams of screenshots, and also making notes in various plain-text files for each track/bus, and putting all those files together in a folder identified with the name of the song, and the version of the mix.
Why do I do this? Why document in this time-consuming fashion, when I "could" just save preset files for all my FX and call it a day?
The problem is one of "data-format obsolescence." Plain-text files and JPGs from the year 1995 can still be opened and read today, without having to have any special program installed. Likewise, plain-text files and JPGs/PNGs taken today are VERY LIKELY to still be easily accessible 20 years from today.
But we needn't even consider such long-term concerns. While it's fine, over the very short term, to have your mix preserved simply as an Ableton file and a score of FX presets, problems can manifest after any software update or any move of the project from one PC to another. After all, in order to refer-back to a mix which has been preserved only as an Ableton Project and a score of plugin presets, one must have a compatible version of Ableton installed, as well as the same exact plugins which were used to create the mix. Not only that, but it's often true that the plugins must be of the SAME EXACT VERSION, or else the host DAW won't find them. In other words, data saved only in these proprietary formats is extremely volatile, and can be lost very easily.
Lately, I ran into problems when I tried to update my Waves plugins from v10 to v12. After the upgrade, whenever I opened an older project (as in, any project which was mixed before the upgrade), Ableton could no longer "find" the Waves plugins associated with that project. What puzzled me was: The plugins hadn't changed names, and the new v12 versions were available from Ableton's Browser -- so it wasn't like Ableton was having trouble finding the new v12 versions. In any case, I could re-instantiate a new v12 version of any of these "missing plugs," but of course if I did so, it was instantiated with default settings. And sure, I could re-load any v10 FX presets I might have saved into the v12 plugins -- but it's hard to keep FX presets straight, especially when you mix as many songs as I do.
I "fixed" the v10/v12 upgrade issue by simply reverting back to the v10 plugins for now. After I did that, Ableton was again able to open the v10 plugins in all my old projects, and all their settings were restored. But that leaves me stuck on the v10 versions -- either until I fully document all older mixes which are important to me, or until I move into a different PC, keeping this one as my backup for legacy projects. Which is a bit of a crazy situation to be in! I shouldn't be "held hostage" to an older version of software and plugins, for fear that updating anything might cause me to lose access to my older mixes. But here I am, and truthfully this has been an ongoing concern the entire time I've been producing audio (non-professionally), the last 20 years or so. Every move forward for me, every new upgrade, has been a painful one because of this basic concern.
It's a concern which also plagues me anytime I upgrade to a new PC, because in order to open legacy mixes on a new PC, I have to have the legacy software and legacy plugins installed. And in some cases -- like during the transition from 32-bit to 64-bit -- the legacy software won't work on the new PC, and so I'll "never" be able to get the old mix to open correctly on my new DAW. As long as I keep the old tower, and as long as it'll still boot, I still have access to that old mix on the old machine -- but that's not a very tenable solution.
Hence, this habit of documenting important mixes, in a form which will stand the test of time by not requiring any special software to open and read. With my most important mixdown settings preserved in non-volatile widely-accessible file-formats, I'm able to refer back to settings for documented mixes quite easily, the better to revisit older mixdown strategies and recall what routings and chains had worked well for me in the past. It's just a shame that it takes so freaking long to document a mix appropriately.
If Ableton would implement the ability to export a report of all basic mixdown settings, as described earlier, I would find this feature to be of incredible utility. Admittedly, no DAW I've ever used has had this capability. But if Ableton were to implement such a feature, I would think that many others beyond myself would find it a kind of minor godsend.