131 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
131 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
+++
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title = "Exporting a session"
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description = "How to export sessions in Ardour"
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chapter = false
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weight = 1
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+++
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_Exporting_ is the process of saving a region, track, or entire session to a
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file on your computer which you can listen to, burn as a CD-R, or convert
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to an MP3 to share on a website.
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## Export the Entire Session
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Once you have finished your composition, the most common export operation is to
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export the entire session to an audio file.
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### Bird's Eye View of Entire Session
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At this point it's a good idea to zoom out and take a look at your whole session
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before exporting.
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* Select "All" from the "Number of visible tracks" menu:
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{{< figure alt="track heights" src="en/ardour7-track-height.png" >}}
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* Click on the **Zoom to Session** button (third button in the zoom options):
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{{< figure alt="zoom options" src="en/ardour7-session-zoom-all.png" >}}
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* You should now have a nice overview of your whole session, like this:
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{{< figure alt="birds eye view" src="en/ardour7-birds-eye-view.png" >}}
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Listen to your piece one last time and make sure you hear everything the way you
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want (any **Solo** or **Mute** button you forgot to deactivate? Any volume
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adjusment left to do? etc.)
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#### Start and End Markers
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Finally, make sure the _start_ and _end_ markers on the ocation markers
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timeline are in the right place.
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Everything included between the _start_ and _end_ markers will be exported, so
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you have to set the markers first if they are not in the correct position. In
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the image below, clearly the _end_ marker is too far to the right in the
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timeline. This will result in a huge silence after the end of the piece (that
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is, between the last region and the _end_ marker).
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{{< figure src="en/ardour7-end-marker-too-far.png" alt="The end marker is too far" >}}
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If your _end_ marker is too far after the end of your piece, click and drag it
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to the left until it is pretty close to the end of the very last region of your
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composition.
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## Export it!
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To export a session, use the top menu:
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`Session > Export > Export to Audio File(s)...`. This will open up a dialog box
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with a number of options.
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{{< figure alt="Export Session dialog" src="en/ardour7-exporting-settings.png" >}}
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**Preset**
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: This is *NOT* where you write the file name. Don't worry about this field now.
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**Format**
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: This allows you to choose the file format (WAV, MP3, OGG, FLAC, etc.). The
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default is CD (Red Book), which will give you a 16-bit WAV file with 44.1kHz
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sample rate.
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**Add another format**
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: If you'd like to export in more than one format at the same time, click on
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this tab.
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**Location**
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: This is the place where you will find the file after it is saved. By default,
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it is in the `export` folder that lives inside your main session folder. You
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could also click **Browse** and select the Desktop, for example.
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**Label**
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: _This_ is where you can create a unique name for the file. Ardour will
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automatically append the session name to the exported file, so if you don't
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write anything here the name may end up something generic like `my-session.wav`.
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Use this field to give a unique name to your file.
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Having chosen your options, click **Export**. After the operation is finished,
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you can find the file using your file browser.
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{{% notice tip %}}
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Export is handled through the Master bus, so the final file will include all
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the sounds from tracks and busses that were routed to it. This will include any
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normalizing, fading, panning, and automation you have created, along with the
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individual edits made to the regions as well. If any of the tracks have the
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**Mute** or **Solo** buttons engaged, this will also affect which tracks will be
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heard in the exported file.
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{{% /notice %}}
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## Normalization
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Sometimes the rendered audio is either too loud or too quiet to match demands
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imposed by various popular streaming services like YouTube or Spotify. Ardour
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provides a tool called _Loudness Assistant_ to help with that.
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In layman terms, it analyzes everything that goes through the _Master_ bus,
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estimates how loud the signal is, and then suggests correcting it upwards or
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downwards so that overall loudness would be just about right for this or that
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popular streaming service.
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While you can apply loudness (gain) correction directly to the _Master_ bus's
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output and benefit from having more manual control over the result, the most
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convenient way is to apply normalization at the exporting stage. You can do
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that two ways:
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1. Just pick a popular service in the drop-down list under _Formats_. Ardour has
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presets for Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify, YouTube etc.
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2. If the service is not listed in the presets, click the **Edit** button to
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open a dialog with advanced exporting settings, enable _Normalize_, choose
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_Loudness_ rather than _Peak_, and then set the desired LUFS value.
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{{< figure src="en/ardour7-edit-exporting-format.png" alt="Edit the exporting Format" >}}
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## Continuing
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At the end of this chapter, you now have an exported stereo mix representing
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your entire session. You may also want to know how to export individual regions
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or selected ranges from your session. This will be covered briefly in the next
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two chapters.
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Next: [EXPORTING REGIONS](../exporting-a-region)
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