Question about DP Audio files

[sajjadalam6]

Dear Board Users,

I have some learning to do and I need your help. I have a DP project in which I recorded live guitars. Guitars were recorded in 48.1 kHz in the studio. When I brought them home for edit, because I am using 5.11 and my sound card is older I need to convert audios to 44.1 kHz. As one would expect in my Audio folder of the project I get Audio-N-0.R and Audio-N-0.L files for each take (N stands for the number of take).

What I want to know -
1. When I edit different takes together to create a new take of my liking but DO NOT merge soundbites, are new Audio files created for the new one I created or is the new take a composite of references to original audio files used?
2. When I merge soundbites I see *.mg files which are also Sound Designer Audio files. What are the hazards/benefits of merging soundbites and why a new file format?
3. Why is it that sometimes when I create a stereo track from a MIDI file, I do not see the respective Audio-N-0.R and Audio-N-0.L files in the Audio folder unless I merge the sound bites in which case I get *.mg files?

If I can provide more information let me know. Anything you can share would be valuable to me understanding.

Thanks,
AdvancedSpectrum

[FMiguelez]

Dear Board Users,

What I want to know -
1. When I edit different takes together to create a new take of my liking but DO NOT merge soundbites, are new Audio files created for the new one I created or is the new take a composite of references to original audio files used?

The latter. That's the beauty of it. You only create actual new audio files when you record, bounce, merge, freeze, etc. So that new take you created is nothing more than SBs (pointers) referencing start/stop times to one or more audio files (DP manual calls these Parent Audio Files).

2. When I merge soundbites I see *.mg files which are also Sound Designer Audio files. What are the hazards/benefits of merging soundbites and why a new file format?

There are some benefits, depending on how you see it. Maybe not benefits per se, but more like work-flows.
If you merge a bunch of tiny SBs, you'll get just one big, new file, made out of all the smaller pieces together. This can make things easier (or harder) to manage. When you do a merge, all your fades get printed, so if you spent hours editing some vocals, you can just merge the SBs and don't worry about DP doing something dumb with the fades.
Merging is also helpful by those who need to transfer to/from ProTools to avoid synching issues.

Regarding your merging-hazard question: I'm not sure how DP works internally when it merges. I don't think there are any "hazards" to doing this. Unless you work at low bit depths and DP treats the merges as "mini-bounces" (which I doubt), you probably don't have to worry about this (I'm sure someone else can elaborate on this).

3. Why is it that sometimes when I create a stereo track from a MIDI file, I do not see the respective Audio-N-0.R and Audio-N-0.L files in the Audio folder unless I merge the sound bites in which case I get *.mg files?

[/quote]

That's weird... if it is recorded, it should be in the Audio Files folder. Merging has nothing to do with this. If the original recorded audio was not there, there would be nothing to merge in the first place.
How are you recording your MIDI? Is it coming from an external hardware synth, or is it coming from a VI?
With the former, you must send the output signal to DP, so it captures it and stores it in the Audio Files folder. If the latter, you can record it through a bus, or freeze it. Either way, your recorded material should be all there, and merging is not necessary to see them in the SBs list.

BTW, how are you looking at your SBs? Could it be that you are looking at them sorted by source, or something else, thus making the SBs not appear where you expect them?

There are ways to make DP call the recorded audio files according to the track name. And the location where DP will store the audio can be changed too, but the default is in the Audio Folder.

[sajjadalam6]

Dear FMiguelez,

Thank you so much for taking the time for your detailed response. I understand a lot better now. Regarding the last question I posted, I record a MIDI sound from my external keyboard. Once recorded I add a stereo track and just record the MIDI in stereo. When done, I looking to see in the Audio folder but the new stereo track I created was not there. The I merged the stereo track for the heck of it and I got the *.mg file. Yes, it is weird and not sure why that happened.

Thanks so much!!

AdvancedSpectrum

[FMiguelez]

Dear FMiguelez,

Thank you so much for taking the time for your detailed response. I understand a lot better now. Regarding the last question I posted, I record a MIDI sound from my external keyboard. Once recorded I add a stereo track and just record the MIDI in stereo. When done, I looking to see in the Audio folder but the new stereo track I created was not there. The I merged the stereo track for the heck of it and I got the *.mg file. Yes, it is weird and not sure why that happened.

Thanks so much!!

AdvancedSpectrum

My pleasure

Try this:
On the just-recorded sound bite (in your stereo track, from the MIDI source output), click on it to select it and press ctrl-option-command-L. If memory serves me right, that should take you straight to the SB window (list section), with the soundbite selected, showing you all its information. If you click on it you will hear what you just recorded. If you do the same combination but with a letter W instead of L, you will be able to see the SB in the Waveform editor, ready to be edited DESTRUCTIVELY.

If you do that, I'm sure you will be able to see that elusive audio you just recorded without merging. By merging, you are really gaining nothing more than basically duplicating what you just recorded. So if all you want is to SEE the recorded audio in the SBs list, that should do the trick, otherwise, let us know.

If that key combination doesn't do what I just described, then it probably is not DP's default shortcut for that... I might have programmed that myself. But you can find the commands you need (and assign your own if desired) in DPs Commands window (Shift-L I believe?). Make sure you take advantage of this part of DP. This window is where LOTS of DP power reside)