Mixdown to Existing Track

[Campton]

Perhaps a simple, stupid question: Is there an easy way to mixdown several existing tracks, and put the resulting mixdown directly into another existing "Mixdown Track" at the same time location?
I have recorded two separate tracks, with multiple sections. I now want to separately enhance the contents of each of those sections, and then combine the enhanced tracks onto a new track, ONE SECTION AT A TIME. So far, my best solution is to use "Mix and Render" (using the <control> <shift> <M> sequence to get the new mixdown track onto a new track), and then copy just the desired section from the new track back into my Mixdown track. But "Mix and Render" renders the entire track each time. I delete the entire new track after copying the wanted section, and then start the process again. Is there an easier way to mixdown directly to my Mixdown Track, while preserving my sections?

[steve]

I'm not totally sure what you're trying to do, but perhaps this will help:

Duplicate the parts that you want to mix down (Ctrl + D)
Select the duplicate track(s) and "Tracks > Mix and Render"

[Campton]

Thanks for that, Steve, but you missed the main point of my question.
So far as I know, the "Mix and Render" always goes unto a newly created track. I would like for it to go directly unto an EXISTING track, already in the project.

[PGA]

Perhaps I, too, am missing something but, if you want to enhance each of the separate sections, why not do that as they currently lie and then bring everything together when you achieve the final mix-down as you export to WAV, MP3 or whatever file format you choose? You seem to be suggesting you have two tracks, each of several clips. If you also want the clips in a particular sequence in the final mix-down, you can use the Timeshift tool to move them along the timeline in each track to get them to line up across the two tracks before doing the export.

[steve]

So far as I know, the "Mix and Render" always goes unto a newly created track.

That is correct.

I would like for it to go directly unto an EXISTING track, already in the project.

Audacity does not do that, but from the point of view of a potential "feature request", how would that work? For example, If I selected tracks 2, 3 and 4 and used this "mix into existing track" feature, where would the mix go? Currently the answer is simple, it goes into a new track at the bottom. What would you like to happen?

[Campton]

Thanks, Steve.
I would like to place the mixdown in the selected track (my existing "Mixdown" track), at the current cursor position (which would typically be directly under the start of the section being mixed down. I suppose that the command would have to pause before execution to allow me to select the desired track and insertion point. As you can tell, I am just getting started in this program, and I am gradually catching on.

Thanks again for your help.

[steve]

I doubt that there will be any interest from the developers for adding a feature to mix just part of one or more tracks (rather than the entire track) unless there is some compelling reason why such a feature would be needed (and I can't think of one).

I think there is a good case for not always putting the mix track at the bottom. When working with very large or complex multi-track projects it is often useful to make "sub-mixes" of particular tracks. For example, I may have a project with 30 tracks or more and want to mix down tracks 2, 3 and 5. For the mix to be sent down to the bottom can be quite inconvenient. I'd definitely be in favour of an option for the mix track to go directly above (or below) the track that has focus (a yellow line around it).

I think that mixing down into an existing track would be a very bad idea. If such a feature existed I can imagine this forum being flooded with tales of woe as people accidentally overwrote parts of their important recordings. It is quite common for people that are new to Audacity to want to make "drop-in" ("cut-in") recordings directly into an existing track, but this is simply down to being unfamiliar with digital multi-track audio editing. Whether recording or mixing down it is far more flexible and far safer to create a new track (which Audacity does automatically).

If you have any specific cases where you find that Audacity is missing important functionality I'd be very pleased to discuss them with you and either help you find a better way to accomplish the task, or put together a proposal with you that we can put to the developers for possible inclusion in future versions of Audacity.

[waxcylinder]

You can move any track into any position in the tracks pane by clicking in the Track Control Panel (to the left of the waveform) and dragging the track up or down.

WC