Bouncing to disk is the final step when mixing a song in Pro Tools. The bounce to disk menu presents you with a great deal of options. In this article we will take the mystery out of these settings and help you understand the most commonly used settings when using the bounce to disk command.
Instructions
1. Select File -> Bounce to Disk from the main menu in Pro Tools. A pop-up dialog box will appear. From this menu you will choose the final output settings for your song.
2. Choose file type. The most common output types are WAV and MP3. WAV files will give you the highest quality output possible, however the file size will be quite large. MP3 files are considerably smaller than WAV files, however you will be sacrificing quality because MP3 files are compressed. The compression means that you will be losing a lot of the nuance and detail of your original recording.
3. Choose format. You will choose either mono or stereo format. For most mixing applications you will be choosing stereo output. If you are trying to bounce a single track you would select mono.
4. Select the resolution. The most common resolution types are 16 and 24 bit. 24 bit resolution provides more clarity and detail and creates a much larger file size. If you want CD quality audio choose 16 bit. 16 bit files are smaller. The common CD that you play in your stereo is 16 bit.
5. Choose the sample rate. The most common sample rates are 44.1 and 48. However, some high end recordings now utilize sample rates of 96. For home studio projects this is probably overkill. 48 provides a recording with a great amount of depth. 44.1 is the sample rate of CDs.
6. Click Bounce. Your file will now begin the bounce process. When it is finished you will have created your final mix down file. That's it! You now know bounce to disk in Pro Tools!
