Well i use the same mixbus for all the genres i produce, and i work with very oldschool style records and hard hitting modern songs and the only thing that changes is the first plugin on the chain: AA Amethyst it's a good allrounder but i eventually can use AA Cream or Coffee if i want more rock and roll/vintage vibes.

The rest it will be the same forever:

Ozone 11 (eq->multiband compressor->clarity)
SPL Vitalizer
Cytomic Glue
MH Mixhead
Voxengo Elephant

It's good to notice that all of those tools are not working a lot, but a little of each and other scales into the sound i expect, also they are calibrated with my gain structure so it's set and forget (except for the eqs/multiband, which can be fine tuned)

 

That would be impossible. My genere> Fried Mud Fog. My top song / Pushin the Luft from the album Earwax Bog.

 

When it comes to dynamics, what I’ve found with the mixbus (and this is just based on my experience) is that the more you apply small amounts of gain reduction using multiple compressors or limiters, the more glued and controlled the audio will sound. This is especially true if you're using longer release times (somewhere between 200–800ms). It also allows you to push the overall level louder without introducing harshness or noticeable distortion.

On the other hand, if you take a simpler route (something like a standard master chain with compression, limiting, and maybe some distortion, or even just a single hard clipper) the result tends to be a lot less subtle and doesn’t feel nearly as glued together.

The right approach really depends on what you're mixing, sometimes, you might even find that skipping the mixbus altogether works better. But understanding the kind of results you can get from combining these tools is a big part of the art.

 

Lately from the get go on mix buss for progressive trance (124-128bpm), SPL Machine Head, AlexB SSL 9K

 

Last edited: Jun 17, 2025 at 10:13 PM

You didn't say Mastering bus which is different - Mix bus:

Lindell 80
UAD Hitsville for center/mid-side EQ control
RESO
Brickwall limiter to -3db - Generally off but turned on if spikes with zero musical contribution detected.
SPAN Pro

Genre - Irrelevant but I use real instruments mostly so that determines my above choices.

I Use the TDR group in mastering (Arbiter, Elliptical, Ultrasonic + Infrasonic), and WEISS EQ+MM1, and in getting the instruments to sound like they are all in the identical space - Accentize Chameleon because its room capture is really good. On the mix bus, it can vary project to project, I may use Soothe 2 instead of RESO and fab Filter ProQ4 in place of Hitsville - depends on each project. Instrument buses vary...
Some projects the Lindell 354 and 902 de-esser if req'd on the main bus, or if the instrument bus is a wide freq range with undesirable areas..

 

Last edited: Jun 17, 2025 at 11:11 PM

Black Box HG-2MS, Fuse Audio Ocelot Clipper, SSL Native Bus Comp 2, Bettermaker EQ232D

Modern Classical/Post-Minimal/Experimental

 

I have recently simplified my workflow when composing and mixing my own stuff itb. I just throw a soft clipper on the master with some nice (mid side ) high shelf boosting like zynaptiq intensity/kush clariphonic or some nice colouring analog modelled eq depending on what sounds best.

recommended clippers:

Schwabe digital orangeclip
Standardclip
The glue clipper mode
Kraftur

they all sound a but different how they react to transients and stuff, just try and pick the best sounding!

I swear I have too many bought plug-ins, I’m talking like almost every complete bundle of almost every (popular) audio plug-in brand and I got so sick of choice paralysis and overthinking stuff because e.g. I just got a new $400 MAAT digital thEQblue 12 that I really feel I wanna use… JUST BECAUSE I BOUGHT IT lol.

now I just compose and let shit clip (especially drums) until it sounds good, loud and wide. So actually I fix stuff on the track itself and the master is just levelling until it sounds banging and kinda clipped/distorted in a nice way.

The soft clipper thing for my trap/drill/euro urban stuff is so freeing for my mindset. Levelling good processed sounds on individual tracks is a must though. But it’s way easier this way to have lots of output fast

 

I really love acustica coffee’s flavour, matter of fact sometimes I use it to boost wanted frequencies before my soft clipper. Yummy!