Tracking Out Beats

[djbyrd5791]

sup FP, got a question on tracking out beats.

When I sell an exclusive beat, i track out each track as a .wav file and give to customer. However when tracking out a 4-5 minute song with anywhere from 15-30 tracks, the file size can become almost 1 GB or more after compressing. This takes a long time for the customer to download and even longer for the upload.

My question is to save time and file size, would it be kool instead of tracking out each track for the entire 4-5 minutes off the song, to just track out say 16 bars of each track. This way the 16 bar wav.file can still be imported into any DAW and then copied, moved or edited in any way.

Let me know what you guys think and how you all are tracking out beats.

Thx

[sleepy]

Sure, you can do that. If you're okay with having your arrangement modified or you prefer it, then nothing wrong with that. You can also use .flac, which provides lossless encoding and then can be made into the original wav file.

[djbyrd5791]

i am unfamiliar with .flac files. do you export them from your DAW or convert to .flac after exporting?

thanks for the reply.

[BeatGenerals]

I mean as long as they know what they're getting it shouldnt be a problem but make sure they know ahead of time. Idk how many artists would be into arranging it by themselves though.

[HERESY/KNOKK SHOPE]

sup FP, got a question on tracking out beats.

When I sell an exclusive beat, i track out each track as a .wav file and give to customer. However when tracking out a 4-5 minute song with anywhere from 15-30 tracks, the file size can become almost 1 GB or more after compressing. This takes a long time for the customer to download and even longer for the upload.

My question is to save time and file size, would it be kool instead of tracking out each track for the entire 4-5 minutes off the song, to just track out say 16 bars of each track. This way the 16 bar wav.file can still be imported into any DAW and then copied, moved or edited in any way.

Let me know what you guys think and how you all are tracking out beats.

Thx

Based on the size of the session, I would say you've already arranged the song and are rendering each track so it is the entire length of the song and that they all start at the same time? If I were you, I would track out 4,8 or 16 bars (depending on what you played) in 24 bit and would take a screenshot (cntrl + prtscn) and send them that. This way, they can line everything up exactly like you have it without having to deal with the large file size. If you go this way, assuming you're 24 bit and 44k/48k, your session shouldn't even be more than 200 or 300mb.

ETA: Make sure you provide a tempo.

[LilBro]

The customer will save 10 minutes downloading the files but he will have to spend at least 10-30+ minutes on rearranging it. Plus you will not really know how your beat will turn out since he can mess up your whole arrangement. But it's possible if you and your customer are okay with that.

[Tapiwa]

Just get winrar. Choose "Best" setting on compression and compress in .rar format!...My 1gig trackouts usually go down all the way to 100mb!

[MK_Ratchet]

Export as .flac, you wont lose any quality and it should be easy to track them out that way

[THA_REAPER]

If you guys used the same daw getting rid of the silence would help significantly. For example if you both had Reaper or something else accessible for free and you got rid of the silence and save the project along with the wav files in the same folder and zip it at its best compression it will be around 50 MB for a 4 minute track for 15 tracks. He could then open the project and save them again to get the silence back so it can line up in his preferred daw. Though that might be inconvenient.

Better yet strip out the silence and export to broadcast wav so they line up. Not all daws support this but most major/popular ones do.
Best not to technical example I could find

That and OMF

Just be sure his supports it before transferring.

[2ndchance]

Give him/her a mp3. Tell em to do a few takes and send the vocal files back. Track em yourself. Protects your beat, saves time and no one knows your beat better than you specially when tracking!