The Sound Board

Sonically I doubt it will make my songs sound better or worse but I feel like when I complete a song, bouncing all the software tracks to audio sans fx, and bringing them all into a fresh project where the same console channel strip emulation (not sure it it would be Neve, API, SSL, or Harrison) with a Studer tape plug-in on each and mixing in that.

Talk me out of it, .please!

Every audio attempt to improve your mixes is worth trying.

not an easy call, and it depends a lot on the software instruments that you use.

Back in the dark ages most people did not commit MIDI tracks to audio for a couple of reasons, not the least of which was that it changed where level changes occurred. If you were using a hardware synth, and you were changing the volume using MIDI volume control (CC7) that COULD sound different than changing the volume in the software mixer, or changing the volume in a hardware mixer, or changing the volume in from the synth front panel.

A lot of those variables have disappeared, and changing levels anywhere in the signal path should result in roughly the same result.

That said, I do lean towards committing all my MIDI tracks to audio, sans any processing or effects. I also commit the FX busses to audio, but I'm not sure why, since I'm going to use pretty much the same routing when I am mixing the audio.

Seems like an awful lot of extra work, and it is. For reasons buried deep in my dinosaur brain it just feels "better" or "more natural". If I have the time over the holidays I think I need to do a comparison, and maybe save myself some time.

HOWEVER, I will still commit all audio to new tracks when I am finished - think of them as "micro-stems"