<scripttype=text/javascript>varbaseurl="https://prokoudine.github.io/ardour-tutorial/en"</script><scripttype=text/javascriptsrc=/ardour-tutorial/js/search.js?1651153960></script></div><sectionid=homelinks><ul><li><aclass=paddinghref=/ardour-tutorial/en/><iclass="fas fa-home"></i> Home</a></li></ul></section><divclass=highlightable><ulclass=topics><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/title=Introductionclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/><b>1. </b>Introduction</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/conventions/title=Conventionsclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/conventions/>Conventions</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/what-is-digital-audio/title="What is digital audio?"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/what-is-digital-audio/>What is digital audio?</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/title="Getting started"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/><b>2. </b>Getting started</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-ardour-on-ubuntu/title="Starting Ardour"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-ardour-on-ubuntu/>Starting Ardour</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/title="Overview of the Interface"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/>Overview of the Interface</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/editor-window/title="Editor window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/editor-window/>Editor window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/mixer-window/title="Mixer window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/mixer-window/>Mixer window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/recorder-window/title="Recorder window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/recorder-window/>Recorder window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/cue-window/title="Cue window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/cue-window/>Cue window</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/creating-tracks-and-busses/title="Creating tracks and busses"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/creating-tracks-and-busses/>Creating tracks and busses</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/importing-audio/title="Importing audio"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/importing-audio/>Importing audio</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/setting-up-the-timeline/title="Setting up the timeline"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/setting-up-the-timeline/>Setting up the timeline</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/title=Recordingclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/><b>3. </b>Recording</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/recording-audio/title="Recording audio"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/recording-audio/>Recording audio</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/understanding-routing/title="Understanding routing"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/understanding-routing/>Understanding routing</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/routing-between-applications/title="Routing between applications"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/routing-between-applications/>Routing between applications</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/title="Editing sessions"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/><b>4. </b>Editi
<spanclass=links><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/>Home</a> > <ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/exporting-sessions/>Exporting sessions</a> > Exporting sessions</span></div><divclass=progress><divclass=wrapper><navid=TableOfContents><ul><li><ahref=#export-the-entire-session>Export the Entire Session</a><ul><li><ahref=#birds-eye-view-of-entire-session>Bird’s Eye View of Entire Session</a></li></ul></li><li><ahref=#export-it>Export it!</a></li><li><ahref=#normalization>Normalization</a></li><li><ahref=#continuing>Continuing</a></li></ul></nav></div></div></div></div><divid=head-tags></div><divid=body-inner><h1>Exporting sessions</h1><p><em>Exporting</em> is the process of saving a region, track, or entire session to a
to an MP3 to share on a website.</p><h2id=export-the-entire-session>Export the Entire Session</h2><p>Once you have finished your composition, the most common export operation is to
export the entire session to an audio file.</p><h3id=birds-eye-view-of-entire-session>Bird’s Eye View of Entire Session</h3><p>At this point it’s a good idea to zoom out and take a look at your whole session
before exporting.</p><ul><li>Select “All” from the “Number of visible tracks” menu:</li></ul><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-track-height.pngalt="track heights"></figure><ul><li>Click on the <strong>Zoom to Session</strong> button (third button in the zoom options):</li></ul><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-session-zoom-all.pngalt="zoom options"></figure><ul><li>You should now have a nice overview of your whole session, like this:</li></ul><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-birds-eye-view.pngalt="birds eye view"></figure><p>Listen to your piece one last time and make sure you hear everything the way you
want (any <strong>Solo</strong> or <strong>Mute</strong> button you forgot to deactivate? Any volume
adjusment left to do? etc.)</p><h4id=start-and-end-markers>Start and End Markers</h4><p>Finally, make sure the <em>start</em> and <em>end</em> markers on the ocation markers
is, between the last region and the <em>end</em> marker).</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-end-marker-too-far.pngalt="The end marker is too far"></figure><p>If your <em>end</em> marker is too far after the end of your piece, click and drag it
to the left until it is pretty close to the end of the very last region of your
composition.</p><h2id=export-it>Export it!</h2><p>To export a session, use the top menu:
<code>Session > Export > Export to Audio File(s)...</code>. This will open up a dialog box
with a number of options.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-exporting-settings.pngalt="Export Session dialog"></figure><dl><dt><strong>Preset</strong></dt><dd>This is <em>NOT</em> where you write the file name. Don’t worry about this field now.</dd><dt><strong>Format</strong></dt><dd>This allows you to choose the file format (WAV, MP3, OGG, FLAC, etc.). The
this tab.</dd><dt><strong>Location</strong></dt><dd>This is the place where you will find the file after it is saved. By default,
it is in the <code>export</code> folder that lives inside your main session folder. You
could also click <strong>Browse</strong> and select the Desktop, for example.</dd><dt><strong>Label</strong></dt><dd><em>This</em> is where you can create a unique name for the file. Ardour will
automatically append the session name to the exported file, so if you don’t
write anything here the name may end up something generic like <code>my-session.wav</code>.
Use this field to give a unique name to your file.</dd></dl><p>Having chosen your options, click <strong>Export</strong>. After the operation is finished,
you can find the file using your file browser.</p><divclass="notices tip"><p>Export is handled through the Master bus, so the final file will include all
<strong>Mute</strong> or <strong>Solo</strong> buttons engaged, this will also affect which tracks will be
heard in the exported file.</p></div><h2id=normalization>Normalization</h2><p>Sometimes the rendered audio is either too loud or too quiet to match demands
imposed by various popular streaming services like YouTube or Spotify. Ardour
provides a tool called <em>Loudness Assistant</em> to help with that.</p><p>In layman terms, it analyzes everything that goes through the <em>Master</em> bus,
estimates how loud the signal is, and then suggests correcting it upwards or
downwards so that overall loudness would be just about right for this or that
popular streaming service.</p><p>While you can apply loudness (gain) correction directly to the <em>Master</em> bus’s
output and benefit from having more manual control over the result, the most
convenient way is to apply normalization at the exporting stage. You can do
that two ways:</p><ol><li><p>Just pick a popular service in the drop-down list under <em>Formats</em>. Ardour has
presets for Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify, YouTube etc.</p></li><li><p>If the service is not listed in the presets, click the <strong>Edit</strong> button to
<em>Loudness</em> rather than <em>Peak</em>, and then set the desired LUFS value.</p></li></ol><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-edit-exporting-format.pngalt="Edit the exporting Format"></figure><h2id=continuing>Continuing</h2><p>At the end of this chapter, you now have an exported stereo mix representing
