exporting sessions to different DAW's - OMF/AAF

[incurab1e]

I'm having a few issues crossing DAW's - namely pro tools and cubase. The OMF export feature in pro tools doesn't always export all the tracks i ask it to, or cubase won't read the OMF i export.

 

I can import them to Reaper but as yet you can't export OMF from reaper.

 

Has anyone found any good solutions to working across miltiple DAW's?

[scarecrowbob]

AAF and OMF are waaaayyyy iffy; they might work, they might not.

 

Export each track as a wav and then line them up. It is a good idea to have some sort of visual marker like a clap or snare sample that you can use to get them aligned to the sample. That is pretty much the only real solution.

 

I am sue that there are things that would make the workflow a little easier, but you'll have to try and experiment. I think both of those programs have ways of saving out renders of each track. But what you end up doing depends on the hows and whys of your workflow.

[chris carter]

As a mixer who gets tracks from various DAWs to work with all the time I DO NOT TRUST OMF! It's way way way too flakey.

 

Only trust "consolidated files". If you need to know how to make consolidated files for any platform, I have a tutorial here: www.millraceonline.com/mixguidelines.htm . It will tell you everything you need to know.

[Zooey]

 

As a mixer who gets tracks from various DAWs to work with all the time I DO NOT TRUST OMF! It's way way way too flakey. Only trust "consolidated files". If you need to know how to make consolidated files for any platform, I have a tutorial here: www.millraceonline.com/mixguidelines.htm . It will tell you everything you need to know.

 

 

Very, very nice. There's so much confusion surrounding this topic, and this lays out the solution perfectly.

[chris carter]

Glad I could help.

[Lawrence Farr]

 

Very, very nice. There's so much confusion surrounding this topic, and this lays out the solution perfectly.

 

 

The best preventative solution is to always record BWav no matter what daw you're working in. The subsequent timestamps sort out all of the other transport/placement stuff.

 

You can just bulk drop the files in any daw as they are and bulk "Move To Origin" or similar.

 

But like Chris says, if the files aren't timestamped and the DAW doesn't allow writing the origin to the file (post tracking) ... go with contiguous wav.

[TBush]

 

As a mixer who gets tracks from various DAWs to work with all the time I DO NOT TRUST OMF! It's way way way too flakey. Only trust "consolidated files". If you need to know how to make consolidated files for any platform, I have a tutorial here: www.millraceonline.com/mixguidelines.htm . It will tell you everything you need to know.

 

 

Amen. I always have folks bounce/consolidate/merge. Just have 'em all start at the same place!

[Jon Chappell]

 

Only trust "consolidated files". If you need to know how to make consolidated files for any platform, I have a tutorial here: www.millraceonline.com/mixguidelines.htm . It will tell you everything you need to know.

 

 

Chris, this is excellent--well-written, concise, and comprehensive (including how you provide separate entries for all the popular DAWs). Everyone should print this out and file it (or bookmark it to save trees!).

[TimOBrien]

You can ALWAYS use the old-school method in any DAW:

 

Solo the track

Export it as an uncompressed .wav starting from 0:00 to end of song

(that way it'll always line up and you can delete the silent parts in the new daw)

 

Never fails....

[Zooey]

 

The best preventative solution is to always record BWav no matter what daw you're working in. The subsequent timestamps sort out all of the other transport/placement stuff. You can just bulk drop the files in any daw as they are and bulk "Move To Origin" or similar. But like Chris says, if the files aren't timestamped and the DAW doesn't allow writing the origin to the file (post tracking) ... go with contiguous wav.

 

 

I don't know if BWav is poorly implemented across platforms or what, but the time-stamping aspect of broadcast wav rarely works for me. Maybe the metadata gets stripped out inadvertently or something. It would be a killer feature if it were implemented more consistently.

[chris carter]

 

I don't know if BWav is poorly implemented across platforms or what, but the time-stamping aspect of broadcast wav rarely works for me. Maybe the metadata gets stripped out inadvertently or something. It would be a killer feature if it were implemented more consistently.

 

 

I would never rely on the timestamping of BWavs. I do recommend people consolidate files with Bwavs 'just in case'.

 

But seriously, the consolidation method is THE standard. It is absolutely bullet-proof. And almost all DAWs can do it automatically in a few minutes per song.

[Lawrence Farr]

Consolidation is the most bullet proof method for sure. I was just reminding him that there are other options for prevention. If you always record BWav and your DAW croaks, those timestamps should help you load those files in another DAW if you haven't yet consolidated the project.

 

If you have a directory full of plain wav/aiff files/overdubs/punches you are pretty much out of luck getting them in order in another DAW (Cubase dongle broken and you need to mix and you haven't consolidated the project yet but you need to mix or continue working until you get back in Cubase? PTLE hardware broken?). So with that said, I wouldn't track in any other format but broadcast wav... unless the DAW doesn't allow it.

 

For archival and/or general sharing purposes consolidation is the standard. If you're in the habit of doing that with every project then you won't have any worries.

 

Not a debate, a safety tip... tracking with BWav.