Export Audio Mixdown

Introduction

The Export Audio Mixdown function in Nuendo allows you to mix down audio from the program to a file on your hard disk, in a number of formats. You can choose to mix down one of the following:

• An output bus.

For example, if you have set up a stereo mix with tracks routed to a stereo output bus, mixing down that output bus would give you a mixdown file containing the whole mix. Similarly, you can mix down a complete surround bus, either to a single multi-channel file or to one file per surround channel (by activating the split channels option).

Mixing down to an audio file

1.Set up the left and right locators to encompass the area that you want to mix down.

2.Set up your tracks, so that they play back the way you want.

This includes muting unwanted tracks or parts, making manual mixer settings and/or activating the R (Read) automation buttons for some or all mixer channels.

3.Pull down the File menu and select “Audio Mixdown…” from the Export submenu.

The Export Audio Mixdown dialog appears.

• The channel for an audio track.

This will mix down the channel for the track, complete with insert effects, EQ, etc. This can be useful for turning a number of events into a single file, or if you are using CPU-intensive insert effects – by exporting the track and re-importing it into the project you can turn off the insert effect, saving processor power.

• Any kind of audio channel in the mixer.

This includes VST Instrument channels, effect return channels (FX Channel tracks), Group channels and ReWire channels. There are many uses for this – for example, you can mix down an effect return track or turn individual ReWire channels into audio files.

Notes

•The Export Audio Mixdown function mixes down the area between the left and right locators.

•When you mix down, you get what you hear – mutes, mixer settings and insert effects are taken into account.

Note though that you will only include the sound of the bus or channel you select for mixdown.

•MIDI tracks are not included in the mixdown!

To make a complete mixdown containing both MIDI and audio, you first need to record all your MIDI music to audio tracks (by connecting the outputs of your MIDI instruments to your audio inputs and recording, as with any other sound source).

The available settings and options differ depending on the selected file format (see “The available file formats” on page 439).

4. In the File Location section at the top you can specify a name and path for the mixdown file.

•A single instrument track can be directly exported as an audio mixdown.

•You can also export selected tracks – this is a different function that doesn’t create an audio mixdown.

Rather, this is a way to transfer complete tracks (including clips and events) from one project to another. See “Importing audio” on page 491.

Note that there are a number of options:

•Click the Options/Functions button to the right of the File Name field to open a pop-up menu.

•Select an entry from the Recent Paths sub-menu to reuse a path specified for a previous export.

•Select “Set File Name to Project Name” to use the project name for the export file.

•Enable the “Auto Update File Name” option (so that a check mark is displayed before it) to add a number to the specified file name everytime you click the Export button.

•Activate the option “Use Project Audio Folder” to specify a path. This saves the mixdown file in the Project Audio folder.

5.Select a file format with the File Format pop-up menu.

6.Select the bus or channel you want to mix down with the Outputs pop-up menu in the “Audio Engine Output” section.

This lists all output busses and channels in the active project.

7.Activate the Split Channels option if you want to export all channels as mono files, or “Mono Export” if you want to export all channels as a single mono file.

• If you have activated any of the “Import into project” options, the file will be imported back into the project.

When playing back the re-imported file in Nuendo, remember to mute the original tracks so that you really hear the correct file.

About the Import options dialog

When you activate any of the options in the Import section, the Import Options dialog will open. For a detailed description of the options in this dialog see “Import Medium…” on page 306.

8.Make additional settings for the file to be created.

This includes selecting sample rate, bit depth, etc. The available options depend on the selected file format – see “The available file formats” on page 439.

9.If you want to automatically import the resulting audio file back into Nuendo, activate the checkboxes in the “Import into project” section.

If you activate the “Pool” checkbox, a clip referring to the file will appear in the Pool. Activating the “Audio Track” checkbox as well, will create an audio event that plays the clip, and place it on a new audio track, starting at the left locator.

Ö The Import options are only available if you have selected an uncompressed file format.

10. If you activate Real-Time Export, the export will happen in real time, i.e. the process will take the same time as regular playback.

Some VST plug-ins require this in order to have enough time to update correctly during the mixdown – consult the plug-in manufacturers if uncertain.

• When Real-Time Export is activated, the exported audio will be played back via the Control Room.

The fader below the Real-Time Export checkbox allows you to adjust the Control Room volume. Note that if the Control Room is deactivated, the Audition Volume slider will not be available.

11. If you activate Update Display, the meters will be updated during the export process.

The available file formats

The following pages describe the different export file formats, as well as their options and settings.

•AIFF files (see “AIFF files” on page 439).

•AIFC files (see “AIFC files” on page 440).

•Wave files (see “Wave files” on page 440).

•Wave 64 files (see “Wave64 files” on page 441).

•Broadcast Wave files (see “Broadcast Wave files” on page 441).

•MP3 files (see “MPEG 1 Layer 3 files” on page 441).

•Ogg Vorbis files (see “Ogg Vorbis files” on page 442).

•Windows Media Audio Pro files (Windows only, see “Windows Media Audio Pro files (Windows only)” on page 442).

AIFF files

AIFF stands for Audio Interchange File Format, a standard defined by Apple Inc. AIFF files have the extension “.aif” and are used on most computer platforms.

For AIFF files the following options are available:

Wave64 files

Wave64 is a proprietary format developed by Sonic Foundry Inc. In terms of audio quality, Wave64 files are identical to standard wave files, but in the file headers Wave64 files use 64-bit values for addressing where wave files use 32-bit values. The consequence of this is that Wave64 files can be considerably larger than standard Wave files. Wave64 is therefore a good file format choice for really long recordings (file sizes over 2GB), e.g. live surround recordings. Wave64 files have the extension “.w64”.

Wave64 files support the same options as AIFF files.

Broadcast Wave files

Concerning audio, Broadcast Wave files are the same as regular Wave or Wave64 files, but without compression. To create a Broadcast Wave file, select either Wave or Wave64 as the file format and activate the Insert Broadcast Wave Chunk option. Click Edit if you wish to edit the chunk information, otherwise the defaults as specified in the Preferences (Record–Audio–Broadcast Wave page) will be used. Broadcast Wave files have the extension “.wav”.

Broadcast Wave files support the same options as AIFF files.

MPEG 1 Layer 3 files

MPEG 1 Layer 3 files have the extension “.mp3”. By use of advanced audio compression algorithms, mp3 files can be made very small, maintaining good audio quality.

For MPEG 1 Layer 3 files the following options are available:

File Format popFrom this pop-up menu you can select the file format

Option

Bit Rate fader (File Format section)

Sample Rate pop-up (File Format section)

Insert ID3 Tag option (File Format section)

Edit ID3 Tag button (File Format section)

Outputs pop-up menu (Audio Engine Output section)

Mono Export (Audio Engine Output section)

Split Channels (Audio Engine Output section)

Real-Time Export (Audio Engine Output section)

Update Display (Audio Engine Output section)

Audition Volume fader (Audio Engine Output section)

Close dialog after export

Description

By moving this fader, you can select a bit rate for the mp3 file. As a rule, the higher the bit rate, the better the audio quality and the larger the file. For stereo audio, 128kBit/s is often considered to result in “good” audio quality.

In this pop-up menu you can select a Sample Rate for the mp3 file.

This allows you to include ID3 Tag information in the exported file.

When you click this, the ID3 Tag dialog opens, in which you can enter information about the file. This additional information will be embedded as text strings in the file, and can be displayed by some mp3 playback applications.

This menu lists all output busses and channels in the active project. Simply select the bus or channel you want to mix down.

If you activate this option, the exported audio is mixed down to mono.

Activate this option if you want to export all channels as mono files.

If you activate this option, the export will happen in real time, i.e. the process will take the same time as regular playback. Some VST plug-ins require this in order to have enough time to update correctly during the mixdown – consult the plug-in manufacturers if uncertain. When Real-Time Export is activated, the exported audio will be played back via the Control Room.

If you activate this option, the meters will be updated during the export process. This allows you to check for clipping, for example.

The fader below the Real-Time Export checkbox allows you to adjust the Control Room volume. Note that this fader is available only if the Control Room is activated.

If this option is activated, the dialog will be closed after the export, otherwise it will be left open.

Other file formats

Steinberg also offers optional Dolby Digital (AC3) and DTS encoders for export directly to AC3 or DTS format. Please go to www.steinberg.net for more information.

Windows Media Audio Pro files (Windows only)

This is a continuation of the Windows Media Audio format developed by Microsoft Inc. Due to the advanced audio codecs and lossless compression used, WMA Pro files can be decreased in size with no loss of audio quality. Furthermore, WMA Pro features the possibility of mixing down to 5.1 surround sound. The files have the extension “.wma”.

Exporting a WMA mixdown

Ö Depending on the chosen output, not all options may be shown.

The following options are available:

General tab

In the Input Stream section, you set the sample rate (44.1, 48 or 96 kHz) and the bit resolution (16 bit or 24 bit) of the encoded file. These should be set to match the sample rate and bit resolution of the source material. If no value matches that of your source material, use the closest available value that is higher than the actual value. E.g. if you’re using 20 bit source material, set the bit resolution to 24 bit rather than 16 bit.

Ö The setting in the Channels field depends on the chosen output and cannot be changed manually.

The settings in the Encoding Scheme section are used for defining the desired output from the encoder, e.g. whether it should be a stereo file or a 5.1 surround file. Make settings appropriate for the intended use of the file. If the file will be downloaded or streamed on the Internet, you might not want too high bit rates, for example. See below for descriptions of the options.

• Mode

The WMA Pro encoder can use either a constant bit rate or a variable bit rate for encoding to 5.1 surround, or it can use lossless encoding for encoding to stereo. The options on this menu are as follows:

• Bit Rate/Quality

This menu allows you to set the desired bit rate. The available bit rate settings vary depending on the selected mode and/or output channels (see above). If the Mode “Variable Bitrate with Quality” is used (see above), the

menu allows you to select from various levels of desired quality, with 10 being the lowest and 100 the highest. Generally, the higher the bitrate or quality you select, the larger the final file will be. The menu also shows the channel format (5.1 or stereo).

Advanced tab

• Dynamic Range Control

These controls allow you to define the dynamic range of the encoded file. The dynamic range is the difference in dB between the average loudness and the peak audio level (the loudest sounds) of the audio. These settings affect how the audio is reproduced if the file is played on a Windows XP computer with a player from the Windows Media series, and the user activates the special “Quiet Mode” feature of the player to control the dynamic range.

The dynamic range is automatically calculated during the encoding process, but you can specify it manually as well.

If you want to manually specify the dynamic range, first put a checkmark in the box to the left by clicking in it, and then enter the desired dB values in the Peak and Average fields. You can enter any value between 0 and -90dB. Note, however, that it is usually not recommended to change the Average value, since it affects the overall volume level of the audio and therefore can affect the audio quality adversely.

The Quiet Mode in a Windows Media player can be set to one of three settings. Below, these settings are listed together with an explanation of how the Dynamic Range settings affect them:

•Off: If Quiet Mode is off, the dynamic range settings that were automatically calculated during the encoding will be used.

•Little Difference: If this is selected and you have not manually changed the dynamic range settings, the peak level will be limited to 6dB above the average level during playback. If you have manually specified the dynamic range, the peak level will be limited to the mean value between the peak and average values you specified.

•Medium Difference: If this is selected and you have not manually changed the dynamic range settings, the peak level will be limited to 12dB above the average level. If you have changed the dynamic range, the peak level will be limited to the peak value you specified.