One of the most common questions our Technical Support staff has been fielding lately is how to prepare a song in Digital Performer to be burned to a CD. The following explanation has also been added to the Knowledge Base Technical Support Database located on our Support and Care web pages.
Here are the basic steps to prepare a song for burning a CD. We strongly suggest reading Part 8 “Mastering” in the DP3 User Guide.
1. Bounce to Disk – combines all audio tracks to a single mono or stereo track. *(see DP3 User Guide p.727-729)
a. In the Tracks overview window, use the mouse to select and highlight all of the audio* tracks to be combined. Be sure that all tracks are highlighted from beginning to end.
b. From the Audio menu, choose “Bounce to Disk…” and make the following settings:
– Channels = Split Stereo
– Resolution = 16 bits
– Importing = Add to Soundbites window
– Source = Analog 1-2 (OR whatever outputs your audio tracks are using)
– File Name = (NAME IT SOMETHING DISTINCT!)
– Destination Folder: Should default to the current Project folder, You can choose to designate a different folder by clicking this button.
c. Proceed with the Bounce.
2. Exporting the bounced file to a format compatible w/CD burning software. This is an important step. Many CD burning applications require “interleaved” stereo files, like AIFF, Interleaved SDII (Sound Designer II), or WAV.
a. When the Bounce is complete, open the Soundbites window.
b. Select the new soundbite that the bounce process created by clicking once on the (DISTINCT) name you gave it.
c. From the SoundBites mini menu (p.80 of the DP3 User Guide), Choose Export selected bites. An Export window titled “Save Digital Performer” will appear. Make the follow settings.
– Use the top left tab to choose Desktop (this will save the exported file to the desktop, so you can easily find it).
– Name = Give the export file a DISTINCT Name, so you can easily identify it.
– Format = Set the Format to “AIFF File” or “Interleaved Sound Designer II”
*(AIFF recommended for iTunes, SDII is better for Masterlist, etc.)
d. Once the file has been exported and appears on your desktop, you are ready to burn a CD. QUIT Digital Performer and open your CD burning software.
* If you have MIDI tracks that you’d like to add to the bounce file, you need to first record the midi tracks from devices (or soft synths) to audio tracks.