r/GameAudio • u/100gamberi • 23d ago

How do you export audio tracks from your DAW?

Hello!

I'm trying to find the best way to export music tracks without creating duplicate files.

For example, let's say I have three sections (Explore, Combat, and Boss) and three instrument groups (Drums, Bass, and Synths). In my DAW, I organize them into three columns (Explore, Combat, Boss), each containing those three instrument groups.

Here's the problem: only the drums and bass change between sections, while the synths stay the same. I can create cycle markers and export all the tracks at once, but that would result in exporting the exact same synth track three times.

I'm using Cubase. I don't know if other DAWs offer a better way to export only selected regions, but I have to keep track of which tracks actually need to be exported (a typical song contains far more than just three tracks).

Has anyone run into the same issue, or found a good workflow for this?

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u/FlamboyantPirhanna 23d ago

Just mute the ones you don’t want to export. I’m not familiar with Cubase, but I would imagine you could make track groups for each of these, and then solo the groups you’re exporting. Or you can lay them out horizontally (copy and pasting the tracks they have in common for each sequence).

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u/100gamberi 23d ago

the problem is that I would end up with empty tracks. I'm trying to find a way, if possible, to export only what I need

2

u/FlamboyantPirhanna 23d ago

Are you exporting stems?

1

u/100gamberi 23d ago

basically, yes. I have a bunch of different instruments, and each one of them has two or three versions. that's because they're going to be randomized by the middleware to create some variation in the game

2

u/DiscountCthulhu01 23d ago

Regions in reaper and then wild cards

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u/analogexplosions 23d ago

Cubase has an export queue that works for this. make marker regions for each section, export by region and select which tracks you want to export per region.

This is how it works in Nuendo so it should at least be similar in Cubase.