Recording Stems into Pro Tools

I have a "tip" that I posted in another thread that Jonathan Wales started. I thought I would throw it into this forum as it might be helpful to some other post production users. When I record "stems" back in to a session, I like to make them easy to find instead of just winding up in the audio files folder with 10,000 other sounds. I go to "Disk Allocation", "shift" select the stem tracks I want, and choose "folder" from the pop up destination menu. I make a new Audio Files folder in the current session's folder (or on to another drive if that's necessary) and name it "Audio Files (Stems)". Then when I'm done recording the stems, they're all together in that folder. I use the "Record at Timeline Selection/Insertion" in "Destructive Record" mode so I end up with consolidated files that are easy to manage. I also name the tracks with a little more detail that just "Dialog Stem". I 'll name it something like "Dialog Stem (initials of the show) Reel 1AB" or "Eps.5". That way the audio files themselves have this name and are very easy to distinguish from other reels and other shows.

Is it possible to switch from input to repro when using Pt's as a stem recorder?

If you're running PT 6.4, you can use the new "Input" button next to "Record" if you want to A/B input to output. I usually don't find this necessary though. Since everything is 100% automated, I'm always "matched" and don't really have to do PEC/Direct switching much. That's one of the great things about mixing "in the box".

Thanks for the tip, file management is key w/ feature work. We have struggled w/ several variations of stem management, and of course, still learning.

OK, bring on the complainers. 

Re: OK, bring on the complainers. *DELETED* 

Post deleted by minister

Re: OK, bring on the complainers. 

I've been doing some experimenting with stem recording as well... So if I'm not mistaken filmixer, are you recording your stems into Pro Tools as you mix? Or do you print them at the end when you're making your M&E (if any)?? I've asked several people I know about this and most of them do it the same way with little variation. But I've taken a shot in the dark and just went with whatever...Let me know if this makes any sense to you guys. I started predubbing backgrounds to 2 5.0 stems within Pro Tools, all laid out as SEPARATE TRACKS (audio tracks, which I record to) first. For example the first 10 stem tracks in my bg session layout looks like this: 1 BG 5.0 A.L 2 BG 5.0 A.C 3 BG 5.0 A.R 4 BG 5.0 A.Ls 5 BG 5.0 A.Rs 6 BG 5.0 B.L 7 BG 5.0 B.C 8 BG 5.0 B.R 9 BG 5.0 B.Ls 10 BG 5.0 B.Rs The following tracks after these were all bg source tracks (11-40). Then for the final I import the 10 stem tracks against all other stem tracks. Another co-worker of mine does it a bit differently. She records all her stems to single multichannel audio tracks. If she needs to make adjustments, she'll just re-do her automation and re-record the stem since her session is 100% automated. On the other hand, I will go in and take down the 'BG 5.0 A.Ls' track individually if the left rear is overdone. Does any of this seem rational to you folks? phew ..apologies. ss

Re: OK, bring on the complainers.