Output a MultiTrack recording for production at 96K WAV file format

[[email protected]]

I am using Audacity 2.4.2 and I have a number of 16 and 24 track recordings of my band that I need to submit to a Producer for him the mix and edit where necessary. Can I use this version of Audacity to export each song with it's associated tracks as 96K WAV file format. Do I have to do anything to ensure syncing of the tracks?
I intend to output to a DVD to send to the Producer as he is remote?

[steve]

Can I use this version of Audacity to export each song with it's associated tracks as 96K WAV file format.

Are the tracks already 96 kHz? (There's no point increasing the sample rate if they are currently less than 96 kHz).

I have a number of 16 and 24 track recordings of my band

Were the recordings made in Audacity, or with something else?

[DVDdoug]

Do I have to do anything to ensure syncing of the tracks?

If they are in sync everything will stay in sync. The sample rate tells you there are 96k samples per second so sample-number 96,001 from the 1st track will perfectly line-up with sample 96,001 from the 2nd track, etc., all the way to the end.

Sync problems can sometimes happen when you record & play back because there is a clock (oscillator) that's never exactly 96khz. People sometimes run into timing & pitch problems when different musicians record on different hardware, or if you record to one device while playing backing track on a different device.

I intend to output to a DVD to send to the Producer as he is remote?

With 16 tracks at 24/96 you'll probably need about 1 DVD per song.

[steve]

If they are in sync everything will stay in sync.

If any of the tracks begin after time=0, then there's a setting in preferences that can mess that up.

"Preferences > Import / Export > Ignore blank space at the beginning" must be "NOT selected" (default).

[[email protected]]

I need to extract the final versions of some songs and output onto a Hard Disk to send to a Record Company for their Engineer and Producer to create final mixes of. They have asked for the tracks to be in a 96K WAV file format.
A studio will be copying the tapes and rather then asking them to only do the Final versions, it works out much cheaper for us to ask them to copy the entire tape which will have other bits on that we do not want to give to the Record Company. I then hope to use Audacity to Export the selected sections of each song.

[steve]

They have asked for the tracks to be in a 96K WAV file format.

It would be worth asking them if they would prefer 16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit or 32-bit float.
My "guess" would be 24-bit as that's the default in many studios.
32-bit float would be better as that's what Audacity uses internally.

Since they've asked for 96kHz WAV, best to give them what they asked for.
"96 kHz" is the "sample rate".
Audacity always uses the "Project Rate" (lower left corner of the main Audacity window) as the sample rate of exported files. To get a 96kHz WAV, just ensure that the "Project Rate" is set to 96000 before you Export.


As I wrote previously, ensure that "Preferences > Import / Export > Ignore blank space at the beginning" is NOT selected.

[[email protected]]

Thank you Steve, I will do some tests with your suggested settings. Your responses are very much appreciated. Thank you.

[[email protected]]

Just had a quick go at this and I am not sure if Audacity is the tool to be using. If I select a section of the Multi Tracks and then click on Export Selected Audio it outputs it as a single WAV file and not 16 separate WAV files.
If I then load that single WAV file into Audacity it appears as 16 Tracks. How do I get it to exports all the Multi Tracks to their own separate file? Is Audacity capable of handling Multi Track recordings?

[DVDdoug]

How do I get it to exports all the Multi Tracks to their own separate file?

There is a little window to the left of the waveform and it has a mute button. If you mute all of the tracks but one you can get a mono file with just that one track and export them one at a time.

Or if you're starting with separate mono tracks, and depending on what you're using Audacity for, maybe you can just open one track at a time.


...It's not clear what you're using Audacity for. Usually the mixing engineer starts with the "raw" audio files.

[[email protected]]

Thanks Doug, I'd like to send you a private msg but I have not been using this forum long enough to get that opportunity. Basically I have some old analogue 2" Multi-Track Master tapes dating back quite a few years. A Record Co wants to release some tracks from them so we are having them baked and then they will be digitally transferred to disk. When I get them back I need to extract the selected Audio that I will decide on what is being released and what is not. The previously unreleased material is not going to be extracted. The Record Co have asked for them as Multi-Track individual Stems in a 96K WAV File format.