Tips on using the 'Mixdown' folder?

Cubase
1

How are we using this feature? Having mixdowns automatically go into a project subfolder seems like a nice idea for organization but not really for easy playback. (at least in my experience. it’s kind of a pain to dig 3-4 subfolders deep to access a mixdown wav)

This morning I learned how to create a saved file search that returns all files in all ‘mixdown’ folders in my master session folder, etc, etc. This is kind of cool but I feel like someone else has taken better advantage of this… anyone?

2

I use the mixdown folder because I need to stay organized. If it it too much for you to “dig” deep in your folders do a mixdown to your desktop or somewhere else and do all your mixdowns to the same place for easy access.

3

I use a media player that has a number of different “Favourites” that can be saved, Folders or Files. It also has a Playlist feature that contains my current projects’ renders. All can be added to the main menu.
I pin the player to the (Windows) Taskbar, and then pin my current files to that. My current renders are then just one click away.

4

So you ‘only’ use these mixdown folders? Is that Foobar media player then?

And how does this work when delivering files?

5

Short answer: I only use the Mixdown folder for a final mixdown of a project I will most likely never open again.

Longer answer: for non-trivial projects, the first thing I do is manually create a folder that will ultimately contain numerous subfolders for each project version. Let’s say the project is called “My Next Hit”. The next step is to create the initial Cubase project and save it in a new subfolder within that folder, typically called something like “MNH-00”. I work on that, and when I get to a stage that I think it’s worth keeping, create a mixdown (only for later convenience) and then use “File | Back up Project” to create the next iteration in a folder called “MHB-01” within the same master folder.

This goes on (and yes, there times when I was glad to have adopted a 2-digit version postfix!) until I have the “My Next Hit” folder full of individual project versions MHB-00 … MHB-nn, each with a single file in the Mixdown subfolder that I can go back and listen to if needed. The end stage is where I have something in a Mixdown folder that then gets copied (!) out as the master to a separate location for mastering from which the deliverables are created.

In the course of working on a particular project, there may be other files that get created in the project’s Mixdown folder, but I clean them out before creating the next version. I also always choose the option to copy all the content in the dialog presented by the “Back up Project” function so that each subfolder is a complete project.

On top of all of that, there’s the archival process, and the backup and restore processes, which I won’t get into here. I still have everything since around the time of Live Aid though :slight_smile:

In summary, the Mixdown folder is useful as a staging area, but I wouldn’t use it for permanent storage or for further processing. Storage is plentiful these days – use it.

6

No, I wrote a wrapper for the Windows Media Player ActiveX control.

Renders go to the Mixdown folder, but then I copy the files where ever I want. My media player can do that, too. Or move them, or rename them.

This wasn’t mentioned in the OP. But…
As a hobbyist, I don’t have that problem. But my assets and renders are well organised, so I can easily find them. All my projects’ assets are copied to the project folder. All my project renders get copied to a special folder in my “Music” folder (which is not on the C: drive).
I use large HDDs (8+ TBytes) for projects because the load time is plenty fast enough - it’s the plugins and libraries that take up the time.

I spend maybe 2-3 weeks on a project, the few minutes it takes to organise is neglible.

7

You could create links to the files in a central place.

8

Amazing, thanks for that. File and version management is something I could really work on here. So you use subfolders within project folders for versions? Interesting.

Googly, I was starting to research Powershell to grab all mixdown files within those mixdown folders and duplicate them in a separate mixdown folder. (the intention here is to keep mixdown files in the project folders for archival purposes, but then have a more accessible copy elsewhere)

Honestly, just having d:/wav/mixdowns/projectname/song1.wav has worked well enough for me.. but I wondered if I was missing out on a better way. :slight_smile:

9

No. I create project folders within a “master” folder. Each project folder inside that master folder is a self-contained Cubase project folder. The master folder itself is not a project folder in the Cubase sense, and contains only actual Cubase project folders.

10

I always have Windows File Explorer running when I’m working on projects, with it targeted at my current project’s project folder. I just let the mixes go to the Mixdown subfolder within that, and I can always just go to that subfolder in File Explorer and double click on a mixdown to play it with the default Windows media player to hear it on my computer speakers.

I do a lot of mixes in the course of a project, and I change the name at each level, for example “SongName, Demo Mix 1”, “SongName, Work Mix 2”, …, “SongName, Rough Mix 5”, …, “SongName, Mix 8”, … When I get to just plain “Mix” as opposed to qualified mix names, it means it is a final mix candidate. I may have multiple generations of mixes in each category, depending when I reach some milestone where I want something to listen to in order to gauge the overall progress, compare to reference track, take a listen in the car, or whatever. I keep the Mixdown folder sorted in reverse date order (i.e. newest first), so it is easy to see what is the latest, but I can also go back to earlier iterations if, for example, I want to see if I really have progressed things with the most recent tweaks.

When I get to project archival (which will be outside the working project folder), all the mixes other than the final one will be in an “old mixes” subfolder of the folder were I have my main mix, karaoke mix, and instrumental mix in different formats (most typically CD quality, 24-bit 48 kHz, and 24-bit 96 kHz, in addition to various MP3 versions for specific purposes).

With File Explorer, if I need to switch back and forth between the project folder itself (and there will be CPR files in that folder with names similar to the mixes in the Mixdown subfolder), I can always just open another tab to be able to easily switch back and forth between the project and mixdown folders, but I rarely need to do that.

Of course, if you want to listen to the mix in Cubase, you can always use the capability to create a new track with the results after exporting, but it’s rare for me to do that unless commit submixes I want to use at some point in the mixdown (most typical one would be a background vocals submix, which I used to do a lot for performance reasons on my older computer, but rarely need to do on my current system, though I sometimes may want to do it just for organization).

With respect to file names matching Mixdown names, one reason I keep File Explorer up all the time is because, after any significant milestone (e.g. tracking lead vocals, tracking some specific instrumental part, comping some part, …), after saving the project, I copy the CPR file to a meaningful name. And, as I do each mixdown, I do the same thing. I’m also using the MixConsole snapshots in that way, including making comments in the notes field on what I changed. Of course, that runs out of snapshots after the 10th mix, but I just delete older snapshots. (I don’t think I’ve ever used the snapshots for actually restoring an earlier mix, but the history helps me keep track of things while I’m working on the project.)

If I’m using something other than the Windows player to play a mix, the Mixdown folder is also useful for quickly finding the file I want to use. The most frequent programs I use in this respect are iZotope RX (using the feature that lets you preview what various streaming environments will do to the mix) and WaveLab (which I often use to compare to reference mixes toward the end of a project, and in which I have multiple listening configurations set up, for example to listen through different environment simulators and view what’s going on in multiple analysis plugins).

I also use the Cubase project structure for daily backups of anything that has been changed that day. I’m just doing that manually since there are only a few directories, and the reverse date sort makes it easy to see what’s been updated.

When I finish a project, I do all the alternate mixes, stems, etc., unmastered mixes, etc., just letting that stuff go to the Mixdown folder initially. Then I move the relevant files to the directories I use for preparing the archives. I also use the Project/Backup facility to create a stripped down copy of the project at its final mix stage in that directory after removing all the extraneous stuff that is no longer part of the project.