In Summary

The all-conquering real time audio plugin might be the first stop for audio processing, but rendered treatments can still have their place. Here we look and the Why and How of offline audio processing in the age of mega-track counts and ever-faster computers…

What Is Offline Audio Processing And Why Use It?

These days, the vast majority of audio processors work in real time, usually in dedicated insert slots somewhere in the GUI. These interrupt the clean signal flow (quite literally by plugging themselves across it), allowing their treatments to happen ahead of the fader. In keeping with just about everything in the DAW world being tweakable right up until the last minute, these treatments are usually happening as real time processes on the CPU or dedicated DSP.

Sometimes, it is useful to be able to commit processed sounds to a new audio file that gets fired off instead of the original. This is known as offline audio processing. This can be especially appropriate for short sub-sections of audio (known as Clips, Regions, Items, Events, and more depending on your DAW) with processing that happens only once, or in some other way that cannot be done in real time such as reversing playback. Certainly for some projects, having dedicated mixer inserts for this kind of ‘spot’ effect would fill up any mixer pretty quickly.

In short, offline processing helps to keep projects and Sessions as concise as possible and preserves system resources.

Pro Tools - AudioSuite

Familiar to many reading this, one of the industry’s oldest DAWs helped to forge the concept of rendered audio processing as one way of working. Pro Tools may have pioneered the two-window DAW layout with one reserved for the mixer and audio plugins, but AudioSuite is another way to infuse Clips with a range of processors, ranging from AudioSuite versions of Avid’s own real time processors, plus a few that have only ever existed in the rendered domain, such as Normalize and Reverse.

AudioSuite processing is selection-based, so can be actioned across any selected clip or audio between Selection In and Out points. Options exist to pool rendered Clips either in the Clips list or on the timeline (using the default Playlist mode).

AudioSuite has been subject to some lesser known refinements over the years, and for many, it just works. Because any installed audio plugin can be used in its AudioSuite guise, the options available can be huge. Luckily favourites can sit at the top of the dropdown thanks to a lesser-known modifier trick…

Cubase/Nuendo - Direct Offline Processing (DOP)

In Cubase, and its close relative Nuendo, the MO for baking in processing is done in a similar way. Each clip can have Direct Offline Processing (DOP) applied to it - there's a window for this, and you can either apply anything built-in like Gain or other basic processes, or add a VST plug-in. You then Apply these - so it's not real time, however unlike AudioSuite in Pro Tools, you can go and change settings, remove a process, or change the order, and then Re-apply the settings.

You can also render the DOP permanently by using the Make Direct Offline Processing Permanent command from the Cubase/Nuendo Audio menu dropdown. In keeping with many DAWs, there are very few commands in these two DAWs that are truly destructive, however Make Direct Offline Processing Permanent means exactly what it says…

Logic Pro - Selection-Based Processing

Logic Pro’s handling of all offline processes (including bouncing) is many and varied, especially when it comes to the options for any processing applied to tracks’ Regions. As well as comprehensive Track Bounce options for committing and offline the processing of whole parts, Logic Pro has a few tricks up its sleeve for individual Regions (clips).

Bounce Track(s) In Place is used to bounce individual tracks with or without processing. You can either have the bounced track placed on a new track next to the existing one, or replace the existing track. There are options to include/exclude insert effects and volume/pan automation. You can also optionally normalize or the less invasive mode of “overload protection only”. There are further comprehensive options for Bounce and Replace All Tracks as well as Bounce Regions In Place

For those looking to render or commit processing on a per-Region basis, the place to go is the DAW’s Selection-Based Processing window which can offer more functionality than competing platforms’ way of doing it. The window includes options for A and B consecutive audio plugins as insert-style slots, as well as options to save whole offline processing chains just like real time mixer chains in many DAWs.

Studio One - Render Event Effects

In Studio One, a single sub section of audio is called an Event, and Events’ effects can be found inside the track Inspector off to the left of the arrangement. These allow un-rendered effects to happen in real time on a per-Event basis.

As in other DAWs, using Event effects can be favourable when something only happens only once or twice in the whole arrangement. This can be neater than automating a send into a dedicated return, or using an automated audio plugin in the channel itself. Studio One takes offline processing for Events further than many other DAWs. Event effects can be committed by clicking the Render button in the Inspector, but overlaps can also be accommodated by entering a value in the Tail field. Again, this is really useful for time-based effects such as delay drops that would otherwise have their tails unceremoniously chopped off at the start of the next Event. Also useful is Studio One’s small “FX” indicator icon that appears bottom left in Events on the timeline.

REAPER - Take FX As New Take

You might be seeing a common pattern emerging here: most DAWs handle offline processing on either a track or per-clip basis. As with most things in REAPER, its functionality is broadly similar to the others; it’s just the terminology that is the most different.

REAPER’s Take FX can be applied to individual Items (clips) or whole files, and these can be accessed from the Media Item Properties window (double click the Item). REAPER can display various small icons (aka, Media Item Buttons) on Items to indicate their current effect status. These can be turned on in Preferences > Media Item Buttons; these can be clicked on to quickly access Item FX. At this point this processing is not rendered.

Right clicking an Item gives access to “Apply track/take FX to items as new take”, with options for as-is, mono sum, or multichannel widths. Using “Crop to active take” will bring rendered Take FX to the front.

If all this sounds a bit convoluted, using the Actions List is key to making REAPER do what you want it to do in a single keystroke. For example, a Custom Action to apply an audio plugin default preset as Take FX followed by “Apply track/take FX to items as new take” and “Crop to active take” would do the job in one, with the option to toggle between that and the dry Take being an added REAPER bonus…

How About You?

These are just a few ways to do offline audio processing in a handful of DAWs, but of course there are many other platforms that do it their own way, often with many ways to do it in each. How does your daily driver do offline audio processing? Let us know in the comments.