Render Stems (selected tracks) through master FX? (DONE)

[PitchSlap]

Is there a way when rendering stems to have the master fx included?

After rendering the main mix I export the stems to use with Ableton, but the master fx don't seem to be included and it's a bit of a pain to solo and render everything individually...

Am I missing something?

Also does anyone know if stem rendering takes into account all routing and sidechaining going on in the whole mix? I would assume it does, but just wanted to be sure.

(thanks in advance)

[musicbynumbers]

It does take into routing and side chains etc but not all plugins respond well to off-line bounce so online may be only safe bet there.

As for bouncing through the master fx. You would have to use master mix as output and solo one track at a time. You might be able to queue them up though so you can leave it for automatic bouncing.

Curious why you would want to though (unless for mastering individual tracks or perhaps game effects you wouldn't normally put each track of a full mix through the master as it will not give the same results as just the whole mix, for compression etc anyway.)

[PitchSlap]

The reason I want the stems to go through the master is so it sounds most like the actual project. Often I'll have a suble EQ on the master, but more commonly I leave plenty of headroom in the project and use a limiter on the master to get each song to a consistent level.

By not being able to render through the master, although I may have 4 full 2-track mixdowns at ~-13 RMS, when I bring the stems into Ableton the levels vary widely per song.

Other people may have totally different reasons for wanting stems go through the master, like having limiter to keep the stems from clipping without having to have an instance on each stem track etc...

The problem with soloing and doing queued renders is that for some reason Reaper insists on closing/re-opening the project for EVERY stem of the same project, and when using GIGantic multisampled instruments, they don't always have time to fully load.

I guess maybe I'll make a FR and hope for 4.x...

[Mercado_Negro]

But bear in mind that those stems won't sound the same in Ableton. Actually your song won't sound the same if you're using a limiter, not even close...

[PitchSlap]

Thought I'd give this a bump as it would save me sooooo much hassle right now. It's not so bad doing it once, but when I have to do it each time I update and re-export my stems it's a huge pain.


*PLEASE*
Option in the render dialog to have stems go through the master FX chain

[harikaram]

Bump.

Bulk processing samples is another use case for this feature...

[Tod]

Originally Posted by PitchSlap

The reason I want the stems to go through the master is so it sounds most like the actual project. Often I'll have a suble EQ on the master, but more commonly I leave plenty of headroom in the project and use a limiter on the master to get each song to a consistent level.

Keep in mind, a limiter setup on the master for the whole mix will have a total different affect on the individual tracks.

[Tim Rideout]

I too would love to see this feature. Rendering STEMs without their linked effects is completely useless in a post-audio scenario.

So, to answer the (many) queries about "why the hell would you do that??" - when you do film and television, you are often asked to output STEMs (Stereo Mixes) for the dubbing (post-audio / sound mix) studio. The idea is to output each of several instrumental sub-groups (example: Orchestra, Synths, Guitars, etc) that when brought to Unity gain, will be representative of your full stereo mix.

So, if I have a Telecaster Trem track inside the GUITARS stem, and I have a Send going to an FX bus that is OUTSIDE the STEM's buss, I'm out of luck. Really annoying. The only work-around I have found is to have a different set of FX for each STEM. Yeah, it's alot of juice, I know.

Definite feature request!

T

[winbe]

Originally Posted by Tim Rideout

I too would love to see this feature. Rendering STEMs without their linked effects is completely useless in a post-audio scenario.

So, to answer the (many) queries about "why the hell would you do that??" - when you do film and television, you are often asked to output STEMs (Stereo Mixes) for the dubbing (post-audio / sound mix) studio. The idea is to output each of several instrumental sub-groups (example: Orchestra, Synths, Guitars, etc) that when brought to Unity gain, will be representative of your full stereo mix.

So, if I have a Telecaster Trem track inside the GUITARS stem, and I have a Send going to an FX bus that is OUTSIDE the STEM's buss, I'm out of luck. Really annoying. The only work-around I have found is to have a different set of FX for each STEM. Yeah, it's alot of juice, I know.

Definite feature request!

T

Hi all,
I am glad to see I am not alone!
For this reason, I totally stopped using "bus" or "sends", and all my effects are directly on each track... but on some occasions, this is not the good choice, and having sends would be a better solution.

But I am asked (as a beatmaker) to produce stems, for each of my instruments, and soloing them was a PITA...

[Tim Rideout]

Hi Pitch,

Let me address a few issues you mention, and a few misnomers about STEM rendering, as I understand it:

- if your routing in REAPER of your STEM goes to the Master Track (ie, the Parent-Child option is check in the stem/folder track's IO section), then the STEM will be processed thru the Master Buss as well. If you don't want this, then simply uncheck the Parent Folder box and route your STEM wherever you want - Reaper's routing is phenomenal, so it's easy to do this

- i disagree with the statement about online bouncing being the way to go. It's a blanket statement akin to "disable all anti-virus and make sure your BIOS is updated..." If you have buggy plugins, they will be buggy on or offline. I have never once had a problem bouncing/rendering offline. Regardless, the statement is anecdotal and would need A-B proof to validate.

- there is only one way to have your STEMs output sound exactly like the master: you need STEM bus effects on *each* STEM output buss. This is what I do when rendering my STEMs for output. If you have 3 or 4 plugs on each STEM, times 5 or 6 STEMs and a good machine, it may or may not be an issue

- Reaper saves the render project in the queue, then, yes, loads the project - if your plugins don't have enough time to load, there is an option to WAIT (x seconds) before starting the render - use this! It's a great feature

- for EVOSILICA - the *OTHER* perhaps more sensible way of doing this (for your 100+ STEMs) would be a two-step process:
- render your STEMs *without mix buss / master buss effects; call these your Mix STEMS
- re-import these STEMs into a mastering project where you could apply effects on a Master Bus, across all stems, if you can; or set up a few different mastering chains. This is often how it is done in the CD/record industry


Please keep in mind that the intention behind this is to often automate/batch render multiple tracks and multiple regions (as myself and Evosilica have identified). It's not a question of "why don't you just do it this way" - if you have to render 40+ different regions and multiple tracks, it needs to be automated. In my opinion, the dry output of STEMS and re-mastering in a new project would be the way to go - otherwise, you will have to use Mix Buss effects - which, in some peoples' workflow opinions, is a N00b move any way You should always do you Mastering in a separate process/project IMHO. But I digress...

T

Originally Posted by PitchSlap

Is there a way when rendering stems to have the master fx included?

After rendering the main mix I export the stems to use with Ableton, but the master fx don't seem to be included and it's a bit of a pain to solo and render everything individually...

Am I missing something?

Also does anyone know if stem rendering takes into account all routing and sidechaining going on in the whole mix? I would assume it does, but just wanted to be sure.

(thanks in advance)

[evosilica]

Originally Posted by Tim Rideout

- for EVOSILICA - the *OTHER* perhaps more sensible way of doing this (for your 100+ STEMs) would be a two-step process:
- render your STEMs *without mix buss / master buss effects;

That's what I did.

Originally Posted by Tim Rideout

- re-import these STEMs into a mastering project where you could apply effects on a Master Bus, across all stems, if you can; or set up a few different mastering chains. This is often how it is done in the CD/record industry

Didn't work, as the FX-chain in question was way to CPU heavy (~15 plugins / ~ 6% CPU usage) to be copied over 100s of tracks.

Btw my PC is quite powerful (i7 3930K 6-core OCd @ 4.0Ghz)

Originally Posted by nofish

Reaper's Batch file converter can batch render audiofiles through an FX chain.
Maybe this helps ?

This did the trick nicely! Many Thanks!!

[MrJones]

Sadly, it seems I can't select tracks in REAPER's batch file converter, only separate media items...

X-Raym did anything come of your script? That would be possibly very helpful to me. If it can do that already, could you set it up in a way that it only renders the selected tracks with each one solo'ed after the other? (that is roughly what your script does, right?)

Also I don't get why REAPER can't simply add "Export all tracks with full FX" and possibly an alternate "Export selected tracks only with full FX" option to the export dialog. It's not that hard, and there's obviously a demand.

[X-Raym]

@MrJones
You can actually export selected tracks by using the Render to file -> Source -> Stems (selected tracks option).

I didn't make this script but I think someone else does it... or maybe it was with sends. I'll make a quick research.

[MrJones]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

@MrJones
You can actually export selected tracks by using the Render to file -> Source -> Stems (selected tracks option).

Well, obviously, that is utterly useless to me since I need them with full FX. (also see thread title) That is why I asked for the script. :-)