I just did a session at Air - nowadays I bring my own rig with Nuendo to record, as it cuts out a lot of PT transfer time and dealing with multiple mono tracks and multiple takes (with 16 mics and multiple takes per section and piece, those quickly add up!).
For recording, I use a pre set-up session with all pieces in one big session, with cycle marker per piece and markers for rehearsal marks.
The audio tracks are in a folder track, with group editing enabled. I also link the tracks so that they’re all selected and armed for recording.
For multiple takes I use track versions - this works a treat, and just like PT’s playlist versions.
However, there are some issue with this approach.
-the track version inspector is way to small - I can only see about 8 versions at a time.
-the width is too narrow - if I put in the name of the piece, even abbreviated it’s too long - it won’t allow any space to add any other info.
-I often duplicate versions as using ‘add track version’ starts with a blank name - there is no time during recording to add a name - this can also take it out of recording so I don’t mess with track versions during recording.
-duplicate adds ‘copy of’ to the name - not useful at all. A number at the end would help, but it doesn’t do that.
It would be really good to be able to add a rating to a take or track versions - as mentioned, there’s not really time to type much during recording, so a quick way to ad 1-5 stars would already allow for some quick markings of how the take was without having to get into naming.
It would also be good if track versions had it’s own expandable window, so you could position somewhere and have larger names.
Which brings up the question; do people just don’t use this feature much? I rarely see posts about it on th SB forum…
I never use track versions. I think it’s a pain in the butt the way it’s set up. I like a lot of how you approach what you’re doing. Smart stuff. But for me, I would just create a session for the tracking date then put all of that in a folder.
Then I would duplicate that folder, while still empty, as many times as I thought I would need different versions and name them sequentially. I would navigate the entire session just by muting and unmuting the various folders which could easily be taken in or out of record mode at the folder level.
In my opinion, with the way track versions are currently set up, the folders just seemed a quicker and easier way to go. As far as which takes I like I just color code them. Red means it was great (hot) and progressively back towards blue means I like it less. You can’t ever mess up a recording by changing colors as opposed to double-clicking on a field and typing.
There are lots of ways to skin a cat with the current flexibility of all these different DAWs. I think folders is a strength of Nuendo and I just play to the strengths. Track Version seems to me like a not well implemented copy of someone else’s idea.
PS. My recommendation above assumes you have NF speed in your computer and hard drives to handle it. Really not much of a load on a modern system to be playing back the extra tracks and if it is, there is always disable tracks.
Personally I also like to be able to see as many alternate takes simultaneously as I want to just by opening and closing combinations of folders.
That’s an interesting approach too…I definitely like the colouring idea and like you say, less chance to mess things up.
The reason I like track versions is because it uses the tracks the way I have them set up - I can prep tracks beforehand, but we tend to have last minute changes to levels and panning just before recording.
I’ve had weird things with folder tracks sometimes - certain tracks not going into record when there’s some muting going on somewhere, linking tracks seems to take care of that.
But I’m definitely going to try your color suggestion next time, that is a fab idea.
I use lanes for this as well. I’ve been using track versions once takes have been selected, for further editing.
Nuendo has a strange behavior in its latest versions where in a multitrack/multi-take recording, all takes are cut when cutting a selected take, including takes I haven’t selected. It is a bit a of a pain but the only practical solution for this is to edit takes that I’ve now chosen, in a new track version.
I use both. Track versions for tracking, then if i want to comp several takes I do a Create Lanes from Versions.
I also use track versions for cues, in conjunction with the tempo track. This allows me to have many cues on the same timeline and same video, with each cue having it’s own track version(s) which I keep in sync using the commands, Assign Common Version ID, and Select Tracks with same Version ID. Pretty nifty, though probably not the intended use.
I would love to use Track Versions, but it’s impractical for me because of how much a heavily edited track can slow down the project, even if it’s not the version being used.
I’ve had this complaint in the contexts of both episodic TV post and audiobook production. Generally end up bouncing tracks to disk and getting rid of (or making track archives of) the edited version.
Other than that, Track Versions do fine for me, but since my bread and butter is post and audiobook work… well, it can be annoying.
Lanes on 16 channels of string mics is my version of hell, but ymmv.
I do like lanes for single tracks (vocals etc), but for multiple tracks it doesn’t work for me; it becomes way too messy.
I make a copy of the multi track folder and clear it, then go through the different track versions of the original edit folder and copy over the bits I like - that seems to work very quickly.
I use versions sometimes. Usually when I am trying out a different “version” of a part. Nice idea, but always seemed half baked to me for all the reasons you mentioned. The naming is not really practical at all. I like the rating idea you have.
I mostly use Track Versions for multi mic recordings, such as a drum kit. I will record several raw takes on track versions, make my edits into a ‘comped’ version, then if I’m quantizing the drums, I will duplicate the comp, consolidate and do the hit points/slices, duplicate that and then the quantizing/cross fading, duplicate that and consolidate again. Now I can go back to any stage if required. If I want a clean session, I will copy the folder, disable the tracks, fold it away or hide somewhere, and move forward with the new folder, deleting all track version except the final.
I use lanes for multi mic drums / strings / entire ensembles etc.
Not sure why it’s hell? I’ve got key commands that collapse/expand lanes so I’m usually only looking at the lanes of one single track of a multi mic setup. Comping is so much faster than flipping through track versions (playlists). You can actually see which take might be usable etc. But yeah, everyone has their own workflow I guess…
Might not be hell for you, but for me that creates way too many lanes…I tend to make a copy underneath of the tracks, empty them, and then flip through the track versions and copy the bits I need to the new tracks; that works well for me but interesting to see how each of us here has a different way of working.
More than anything I’m impressed that Nuendo caters to all of them (bar a few workflow improvements)
(bar a few workflow improvements)