Pro Tools Intro is the free version of Pro Tools, with some limitations, you can read more about them here. One of those limitations is that you are limited to recording just 8 audio tracks. For many users this will not be an issue, however for some who want to record more than 8 audio tracks here is an old school technique for getting more.

You might be thinking that a limitation like this is annoying. Every FREE DAW has limits, for example Garageband has no real mixer and the free version of Studio One doesn’t allow you to use third party plugins without buying an extra add-on.

In the end, you pay your money and take your choice. If you want fewer restrictions then it’s a case of buying the version of the DAW you want.

Boing!

If you are new to Pro Tools then there is one feature you’ll be using a lot when you come to mix your tracks, that’s the ‘Bounce Mix’ option in the file menu. The Bounce Mix option allows you to create a stereo mix of you entire session either for distribution via MP3 using a streaming service or for pressing onto a CD or Vinyl.

Bouncing a mix seems like such an odd term to use. We explain the history of the term and how it made it into the modern audio production vernacular in our article Why Do We Call It 'Bouncing' A Mix?

We won’t repeat in detail the contents of the article, but the origins of the term bouncing come from an era when we had to find creative ways to beat the track limitations placed upon us. In those days some of us were creating demos on 4 track cassette based machines, imagine that! To get more tracks we would mix groups of tracks and re-record them on either one mono track or a pair of tracks for stereo and then add more instruments. Every time we bounced tracks, because we were using analogue tape (often compact cassette) the sound would reduce in quality. However, in a modern DAW, because the sound is digital, sound quality remains pretty much intact if we do this process.

So, yes you’ve guessed it, if you want more audio tracks when using Pro Tools Intro then you can bounce tracks and build up a song in that way. In fact, a quick piece of maths means that, taking into account the need for a reference of the previous 8 tracks, that leaves 7 new recording tracks on each pass, you can get up to 50 audio tracks in Pro Tools using the bounce method. For the final mix, you are left with 8 stems to mix. Stems are sub mixes of a larger mix, that when played together at equal volume will exactly recreate the full mix. If you want to know more about stems then read Stems In Music Production - Everything You Need To Know

How To Get Up To 50 Audio Tracks In Pro Tools Intro

To build up a Pro Tools Intro session that maximises the track count it takes a little planning, but far less than it did in the days of analogue tape.

Record the first 8 tracks, along with any other MIDI content if you wish at this point. You might surprise yourself and find that 8 audio tracks is enough, if this is the case, then happy days, there’s nothing to do other than mix the track.

However, if you need more audio tracks, first save the session with a meaningful name. It might be the Session Name plus a suffix like ‘Drum Tracks.’

Then bounce a stereo mix of the drum tracks. Don’t get bogged down in perfecting it at this stage, as you are saving the session you can always come back to it later. A luxury few had in the days of tape.

Then create a new session of the song. However, to ensure the new session is technically identical to the previous session, use the Session Data option found in File/Import/Session Data. You can use this to import things like session tempo, markers and other information about the song.

Import the stereo mix of the first 8 tracks you recorded. You now have 7 audio tracks you can use to add to the song.

Repeat this process, saving each iteration of the session as often as you need. We suggest saving at each part of a session where a critical mix decision needs to be made.

Once you have all the audio tracks you need then you mix the stems you created along with any MIDI instruments. If you push this technique to the limits then it gives you 50 audio tracks.

Why Not Bounce Internally?

A question you might be asking is why not bounce internally? In other words why not just create a submix to a stereo track? That is entirely possible but it presents a couple of issues. First, that would limit the maximum amount of combined tracks to 7 per bounce, as you need a track to bounce to.

The second reason why internal bouncing is less useful is a limitation of Pro Tools Intro. It would be great if Pro Tools Intro allowed you new tracks if other tracks were disabled, this isn’t possible. It’s 8 tracks and that’s it. Therefore, if you wanted to create internal bounces to another track you would still need to delete other tracks to create new ones. That would mean you would have no fallback position if you wanted to ‘remix’ certain stems.

As a test we ran the Pro Tools Demo Session Low Roar and bounced according the the folder structure stereo stems of each group. It took the session from 47 tracks to 7! See below.

Summary

The technique used above can have a number of uses. For example, you can use this option if in a band and you want to work on tracks collaboratively. Simply, send a stereo mix of your parts to each other and build up the tracks in the same way.

You can also use this technique on other types of projects. If someone has a session with more than 8 audio tracks made in a paid-for version of Pro Tools, then ask them to send you stems of the different audio groups, such as drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals.

One area we think Pro Tools Intro will prove popular is in music mastering. 8 stereo audio tracks is more than enough for this process. You can also undertake stem mastering using this technique if you so desire. However, as mastering engineers often lay albums out across different tracks, there may be some track limitations.

In summary, experiment and be creative. For many of us who grew up in the era of 4 and 8 track based recorders in the 70s and 80s, this was a common workflow. We couldn’t moan about the limitations because they were physical, instead we had to do the audio equivalent of the Rubik’s Cube. Sometimes the only limitation we have is our imagination - in this case necessity is the mother of invention.