Mix Buss 101: What groups need to be in these and what is applied to them.

Discussion in 'Mixing and Mastering' started by Kefka4Life, Jan 10, 2016.

  1. Kefka4Life

    Kefka4Life Newbie

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    Again thanks for helping me out. I am very thankful for everyones input and advice being a newbie and all. My question is besides a drum buss which is common, what else needs to have a mix buss to provide that extra sound and clarity? A synth buss makes sense and maybe even a buss for FX only?? In addition to what types of mix buss's do I need, my next question is what are the normal chains to use for each specific buss. For drums obviously NY compression and some reverb and EQ help (i'm assuming). thanks in advance for your time.
     
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  3. SyNtH.

    SyNtH. Platinum Record

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    Drums:
    PreEQ for surgical fixes and some small light ones if necessary and mid side too, then i use two stage compression, 1st compressor is a sweet one with quite a bit of colouration, long attack, and longish release. Then i use a more surgical compressor and NY compress, and this time its a lot shorter attack and release. I cant give you specific numbers because the sweet spots depend on the source material and the types of compressors used. Then i transient shape the drums but only in respect to the attack so they are super punchy. Then i use a small amount of tape saturation give it a bit more glue, and i usually turn the bias midway or 0, and turn the wow/flutter way down. I usually use 30IPS or 15IPS, depends on which tape saturator im using. Also is you are making your own drums using an emulator i would actually bus together specific mics such as overheads and room mics, but remove the bleed or lessen it significantly on the main hits like the kick and snare. Then i use a limiter at the end if nessecary.

    FX:
    Depends dramatically on the source, but if you make the FX yourself then there will be a huge bunch of different plugs, if its from a sample pack its usually a bit EQ & compression and a bit of reverb to soften tails.

    Stereo Elements:
    Sometimes ill specifically make a stereo sub buss for some elements if i want to do weird effects to just the stereo field of a specific element in a mix, although again its not a set in stone thing.

    Basically anything that is used to make a single sound that is defined in the mix:
    This includes all other elements, for example if you make a lead using three different synths, then putting them into a buss can help gell the elements together with a bit of compression/saturation as an example. Doing things like this can also help in the analysis stage of the mixdown where you are allocating space for a certain element to breathe, because you can put your analysis channel on the buss and see how all of those specific elements perform together using something like Voxengo SPAN.
     
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  4. Kefka4Life

    Kefka4Life Newbie

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    thanks! on the drum buss which 2 compressors do you usually go for?
     
  5. Kwissbeats

    Kwissbeats Audiosexual

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    I like to group the drums, group the vocals and basically all elements that are/need interacting with each other in some kinda way.

    To melt them together with compression. or make elements interact with each other by panning and adding a ping pong delay so you would loose less balance (manual widening in a way) or to put bass heavy elements on 1 fader so you don't have to re-tweak and re-think the balance between those elements when adjusting the volume.

    are some proper reasons but I think the possibility's are endless
     
  6. Kefka4Life

    Kefka4Life Newbie

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    thanks! the pingpong delay just a small ping pong where it's not really noticed as a delay but more as a widening effect?
     
  7. SyNtH.

    SyNtH. Platinum Record

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    Another thing i add sometimes to the mix is a console emulator, the problem with them is they need to be drive quite significantly to get the warm sound out of them. For this i use satson or britson channel, or SPL vitalizer. Theres some other amazing ones but they havent been released or K'd yet.
    1st Compressor:db-160, T-Racks Classic Compressor, Any decent fairchild 670 emulator (T-Racks or Waves), or waves SSLComp.
    2nd Compressor: Pro-C2 or Maximus.
     
  8. Kefka4Life

    Kefka4Life Newbie

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    Sorry to sound so stupid what does DB-160 mean? Ok Sounds good I have maximus and can find the other
     
  9. Enoch007

    Enoch007 Kapellmeister

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    Somebody mentioned the need for a denoiser on your mix buss last week... huh...huhuhuh:no:
     
  10. Kefka4Life

    Kefka4Life Newbie

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    hahha told you it needed one ;)
     
  11. audiowolf

    audiowolf Producer

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  12. bluerover

    bluerover Audiosexual

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    DBX 160 for drums and/or drum buss, but I wouldn't strap that across the mix buss. Try the SSL buss comp for mix buss.

    But, as always, if it sounds good, go for it! :)
     
  13. dim_triad

    dim_triad Producer

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    damn mate... so, when you do electronic music beats... you do all that stuff?.. (and I am not asking this along the lines of "what are you crazy?" or some shit like that... I legitimately asking you)

    Cuz your response is very informative.

    thanks

    P.S. i mean, im sure your chain of compressors and whatnot are all adding light amounts... but damn, in terms of drums, I am surprised that you would even mess with a transient esigner to add more punch?.. I'd think that stuff is hittin hard already... but cool cool, Im sure you know what you are doin...

    also, that limiter... what is it that makes you feel that you will choose to use one?.. just random peaks that are taking away from rms?
     
  14. Baxter

    Baxter Audiosexual

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    I bus everything. Sometimes I bus busses into a bus.
     
  15. reliefsan

    reliefsan Audiosexual

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    my default Bus channels setup in cubase/Live:

    Vocals
    Drums
    Bass
    Music
    Pads
    Efx
    Efx/aux-returns

    I am making more sub-buss'es when needed.
    Eg. the Lead sound/motif - if it consist of more parts. etc.
    or on vocals for forground/background vocals

    Or if your in the mixstage and you want to run things thru a parralelchain to beef things up.

    basicly using Buss'es/grouping sounds adds another layer of control
    maybe one of the best habbits i pickedup over the years :)
     
  16. mercurysoto

    mercurysoto Audiosexual

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    This is how I usually bus stuff, if it helps:

    1. Drums
    2. Drums send and bass (for side chaining or maybe compressing them together if needed
    3. All keyboards and/or orchestral stuff if viable
    3. Rhythm guitars
    4. Lead guitars
    5. All guitars bus
    6. Lead vocals and comps
    7. Harmonies and chorus vocals
    8. All vocals bus

    All off these then get grouped in the following busses:

    9. Rhythm tracks (drums, percussion, and bass)
    10. Harmony (keyboards and guitars)
    11. Lead instruments (a send from their respective busses or source tracks should I need to enhance them later on)
    12. All vocals
    13. Mix bus
    14. Master

    I try to end up with 4 all the mix summed to 4 busses should the Stem format catch on one day.

    Of course, reverbs and delays have their own send busses as well.

    It looks busy and cumbersome, but it's a life saver if I need to enhance parts of the mix in particular without throwing off a lot the rest of the balance. Not all busses get done sometimes. It depends on the source material and the goal of the mix.
     
  17. Mostwest

    Mostwest Platinum Record

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    I Usually bus like this

    -Kick (by himself or 2-3 version /no real bussing)
    -Bass (sub + bass layers)
    -Leads (all my leads, plucks,)
    -Drums (All my drums expect kick and effect drums)
    -Effects (transition effect, drum roll, vocal glitch everything weird)
    -FXs (all white noise stuff, riser,woosh)

    sometimes, depends on the track also
    -Chords / Harmony (every piano and stuff that doesn't fit into Leads bus)

    Mainly.
     
  18. SyNtH.

    SyNtH. Platinum Record

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    Yeah its mostly when im making my own drums, i usually have things turned down super low in the mixer, and yeah the post gain end up being big, but the input is low so it evens out on both compressors, it usually comes out at about 6db gain on both comps + 4-6db gain on the tape emulator, then if about 1-2 db of post gain. which leaves the drums at about -2db, then i try and use the transient shaper to end off the drums at 0, so the limiter it just catching small peaks if there are any.
     
  19. reliefsan

    reliefsan Audiosexual

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    i like that the kick is a man! :rofl::mates:
     
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