Instructions for delivery of files to Clif Norrell for mixing
Please follow these instructions as closely as possible to help make your mix session go smoothly and achieve the best results. Instructions have been geared toward Pro Tools on Mac, since it is the most commonly used setup. You may wish to save as a new session / project file first so that your original files can stay intact before completing the following actions. Also, to clarify terminology, you should not be sending “stems”, which are actually submixes derived from a final mix, but rather you should be sending “multitracks”, which are unmixed individual instrument / vocal tracks.
1. Print or render (record to a new track and create new audio file) all virtual instruments and any special effects you are using that are absolutely integral to the sound (such as guitar amp plug-ins, auto tune, lo-fi, etc., but NOT EQ, compression, reverb, etc.). Please remove reverb/effects when printing realistic-sounding sampled virtual instruments (such as piano, organ, horns, etc.), unless the effect is integral to the sound as a special effect (such as on some synth sounds). If in doubt, include both the printed effected version and unaffected track, and use the same name for both tracks except for adding "dry" to the name of the unaffected track.
2. Please remove any unused tracks, files, regions, and playlists from the session before sending. Delete any parts that you do not want used. Do this in Pro Tools by deleting unused and/or inactive tracks and regions, selecting playlists and then selecting "Delete Unused", and in the regions list, select "Unused", then "Clear", then "remove from session". If there are any DI tracks associated with other amp tracks used in the session, please do not remove them - label them with the same exact name as the used amp track, except adding "DI" to the name.
3. If there are tracks which you aren't sure whether they should be used or not, label them with a question mark in the track name and mute them in the session. If there are parts of a track you aren't sure about, separate the region in question from the rest of the regions and mute just that region (Apple-E, then Apple-M in Pro Tools).
4. Label all tracks clearly. Track names do not need to include take numbers, who played it, mic names, gear names etc. Please use descriptive terms such as Ld Vocal Ch, as opposed to NickU47.033; or Bridge Gtr instead of DaveStrat 267, etc.
5. If any tracks are submixes of several other tracks, please also send the individual tracks which were used to make the submix track, and label as such clearly.
6. Session/song files should be sent in Pro Tools format. If more than one Pro Tools session file for a song is sent, clearly mark which session file is the master to be mixed. If the song is not in Pro Tools format, then you will need to consolidate (make one continuous audio file for) each and every audio track from the exact same point at the beginning of the session (before the song starts) to the end of the song, and send just the consolidated audio files (one for each track). Make sure that adjoining regions are properly crossfaded before consolidating so that clicks and pops don't crop up. Also, make sure that stereo tracks are panned hard left and right before consolidating or converting to new audio files. Also, render any tracks/files that are using elastic audio or elastic pitch.
7. MOST IMPORTANTLY ! Please make sure that all files used for the song are indeed sent. Many times files are spread among different hard drives (often without the user's knowledge) and not all of the files end up getting sent. The best way to do this in Pro Tools is, after you clear out any unused parts, select "Save Session Copy In" and check the box named "Copy Audio Files". A new folder will be created with all of the files used, so send the new "Copy" folder.
8. Include a stereo rough mix audio file of the latest/preferred version of the song in the file format, sample rate and bit rate of the master session (no mp3's please).
9. Files should be be uploaded to Clif using the Supersonic Music server (preferred method) or a file sending service such as Dropbox. If you want to upload files directly to us, please contact us for a unique upload link and password for our server.
All files for each song that is to be uploaded should be put into one folder and the folder then compressed into .zip format (use "Compress Folder" under Mac OS Finder "File" menu) It is best to upload one song at a time if song folders are more than 2GB each or so. Please let us know once the files have completed uploading.
Files could also be sent to us on either a portable USB hard drive, USB thumb drive, data CD-Rs, or data DVDs (no Blu-Ray). If you send a hard drive, please include power adaptor and cables, make sure you keep copies of everything you send, and use a trackable delivery method (UPS, FedEx, etc.), and please provide us with the tracking number.