Recently, Many plugin developers are pushing out Bus Processing Plugins.
Like
Arturia's Mix Drums & Lofi
Cradle's Orion & God Particle
Metric Halo's CGII
Kiive's XBus & Nfuse
UAD's Verve Analog Machine

Do you find these new plugins better?
Or do you simply prefer to use your classic go to plugins everytime?

WHAT'S ON YOUR MIXBUS?

 

No.

Yes.

In terms of processing:
Basslane pro (I really had to look up the name again in a project because I really don't care )
And Audec Drive

 

Last edited: Jun 17, 2025

EDIT: Genres I'm working with - Electronic (IDM/Experimental), Noise Rock, Boombap

My basic all-purpose mixbus is usually this (in this order):

1. Pro-Q 4 regular eq stuff
2. Pro-Q 4 mid/side purposes
3. TrackLimit acting as hard limiter
4. Fircomp 2 acting as a soft limiter
5. TrackComp 2 in G-Bus mode with moderate ratio for glue purposes (around 2/3)
6. (disabled) Pro-C 2 in Opto mode with my own settings that I sometimes A/B with TrackComp 2
7. Saturn 2 for coloration + increase RMS and sometimes a bit of final tonal balance
8. Pro-L 2 to tame those tiny final peaks

I'm always using different stuff in my buses, but in general I tend to stick to (in this order):

1. Pro-Q 4
2. TrackComp 2
3. Saturn 2

 

Last edited: Jun 17, 2025

The new Arturia plugin is good. The only thing I hated about it is the tiny icons for controlling compression and expansion, they're fucking ridiculous lol. But yeah, it does sound good.

The God Particle is okay if you're after that specific sound, ya know what I mean? I usually try to avoid these all-in-one plugins because, in my experience, they're not very versatile. They have a distinct sound, and sometimes you can make use of that, but they're pretty limited in that regard.

 

My mixes are shit, but I watched PureMix / Michael Brauer The Evolution from Analog to Digital. I think my sound has improved quite a bit.
You'll be able to hear the difference on my next track for
Friendly Non-Contest #12. Even if it sucks, it will suck less thanks to the watching that series.

 

Last edited: Jun 17, 2025

@capitan crunch .. My mixes suck too as my ears are just funny looking things jutting out of my skull now, fairly useless, and when you add in the tinnitus...well....

These days my mix buss goes something like this, I record more organic analog stuff without chest thumping bass and I'm not looking for my stuff to be louder than your's:

TDR Slick EQ GE
U-HE Presswerk for a tiny bit of limiting
Fircomp 2 just to further gently kiss the mix without coloration
TDR Eliptical to focus the low end
TDR Limiter °6 GE with all needles acting as if they are only reacting to a gentle breeze

 

Last edited: Jun 17, 2025

I don't master my studio mixes at all, I send them to a mastering engineer as is.

I do master my live mixes somewhat, so I guess the answer is going to be short:

• UAD's SSL G bus compressor
• Brainworx Masterdesk
• PSP Audioware Xenon

That's it. I'm not a pro mix engineer, much less a mastering engineer, but I've got good ears, and I mix as I record/produce, so the mastering is left to the pros (you should see the gear these guys have - most of it I don't even know what it does, NASA stuff maybe).

 

I always have the same mixer chain, but I usually mute my own; my time for experimenting and product testing is long gone.

Nomad - Factory - Program EQP-4
FabFilter - Pro-Q 3
Maag - EQ2
Brainworx - Millenia NSEQ-2
FabFilter - Timeless 3
Sonalksis - Stereo Tools
FabFilter - Pro-R2
Brainworx - Vertigo VS-2
SSL - Native Bus Compressor
Brainworx - bx_limiter

 

I didnt try them

JSloudness meter, and a phase correlation meter (usually Fux SE stereo tool or Ozone 5 Imager). I sometimes insert a limiter to check how it reacts but not for actual processing.

I dont process the mix buss, my mixes are tracks into sub groups into other subgroups.
On subgroup busses, I often use TDR Kotelnikov, Sonoris mastering compressor for clean compression ; Pulsar Mu, Pulsar Smasher, NEOLD V76U73, HCL Varis for colored compression ; Pro-Q4, Arturia Tri-AD, TDR Slick EQ, Ozone 5 EQ for EQ ; Flux stereo tool, Voxengo MSED, Ozone 5 Imager for stereo manipulation.

I'm neither musician nor 'producer' in the modern meaning of the word.

Genres I mixed in 2025 : Black Metal, Industrial Metal, Experimental Rock with Funk and Middle Eastern influences.

 

Every time:

A1StereoControl - A1AUDIO
Clariphonic - Kush Audio
Master Plan - Musik Hack

 

Note: I don't use them all together, I just have them ready for use.

- Airwindows Consolidated BiquadNonLin (if for some reason I have to lowpass, only for lowpass, I never hipass on busses)
- W.A. Production DeTroubler
- W.A. Production Mixboss (the core of the chain)
- MIA Laboratories 413 Tape Saturator (maybe the subtlest tape sat on the market)
- United Plugins FireCobra (usually in parallel and with linear phase, It gives me that rear bus effect)
- MIA Laboratories 409 Opto Compressor
- Airwindows Logical4 (the combo of these two compressors is like a DIY Shadow Hills, but I use them both with dry/wet knob and only if I feel I whant their character)
- MIA Laboratories Pi & Phi for the cherry on top
- UrsaDSP Boost for peak control (I hate limiters, this is one of the few exceptions)
- Airwindows Consolidated Mastering2 (primarily for slew limiting)

 

fAirchild 670 for slow stuff , api2500 or ssl for faster/more agressive thingz. sonteq 432d9d and eqp1a to sweeten

post apocalyptic jazz

 

Last edited: Jun 17, 2025

Kinda, it depends. I like Kiive.

I like to test new stuff, so my chain changes occasionally. Looking now, most plugins are newish. Some I don't think I'll replace anytime soon, though.

I'll break the magician's code, but only for the mixbus. In order (ON plugins I mix into it, OFF plugins I enable or disable depending on the mix):

1. ON - Brit Console in SSL 9000J mode, crosstalk + noise (gated) + fairly high saturation/character (Studio One Mix FX)
2. ON - MHB Green (just for the box tone, warmth and dry/wet adjusted)
3. ON - SPL Machine Head (2 Drive, 1 HF, gain matched) <<< helps me avoid boosting too much air on individual tracks
4. OFF - DV Nylon yellow mode, middle profile <<< looking into experimenting mixing into it recently for the same reason as 3
5. OFF - Compressor (The Glue, UnFairchild, Unisum, VSC-3 - experimenting with the Bettermaker Mastering Comp recently too), slow attack, fast release, 3~4db max reduction
6. OFF - Clariphonic, usually mid-side
7. OFF - Kraftur <<< absolute fucking monster
8. OFF - DV TransformerX, boost mode <<< my secret sauce, I like you guys so I'm giving this one out. Make sure to gatekeep it outside the Audiosex forums
9. OFF - SonEQ2, just WOOW mode on, nothing else. Does the 3D thing everyone looks for in analog. Nowadays I don't turn it on that much anymore, I get the 3D placebo naturally from other stuff

By the end of the session, most of the time 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8 are on. The others, it depends on the song.

Mastering side only has Master Plan, smartLimit, TDR Limiter 6 and Goodhertz Good Dither if I also mixed the song. If I didn't, might add some stuff from the mix bus + EQ, it depends.

 

Last edited: Jun 17, 2025

The OP asked for genre in the thread title. It would have been interesting if people actually said what genre they're working with.

 

Any

 

House - Funk - Disco - EDM - Hip Hop - Trance - Synthwave - Trap - Techno - Chillout - Outrun - Ambient - Drum And Bass - Dubstep

 

The only thing I change in genre is the compressor I use, and even that I'm working on not really using anymore (or just leaving a general transparent one for 1 to 2db reduction). I mostly stopped compressing anything other than vocals. Everything else goes on every mix regardless of genre.

 

Pro-Q 3 always, and whatever comp/limiter speaks to me that day, and generally that's it. I do rock and related genres mainly, not much electronic stuff. If it is electronic it's going to be 80s style synthwave.

 

Some of my go-to's lately for trap have been Jaycen Joshua 8 NLS Busses, Cradle Orion, Cupwise Ax102, AlexB 4k lineup, and Plugin Alliance LTL Silver Bullet

 

Obviously there's always going to be exceptions and certainly different genres have different requirements but, at least for the kind of stuff I do, I tend to feel that if you have the need for much more than an EQ and a compressor on your final buss you've done something wrong along the way and you're trying to compensate for it. Exception to that might be very types of tape simulation and or harmonic distortion trying to get that elusive "analog sound" but every one of those things I've tried I've ultimately decided are doing more harm than good and I've gotten rid of them. At least on a master buss; sometimes they work on various individual things along the way.
All those fancy goodizers like Soothe, Gullfoss and that sort of thing, I've really decided if you are resorting to that you should go back further in your mix and look for issues.
Also bear in mind that I'm old and deaf and nothing I say really matters anymore.

 

Last edited: Jun 17, 2025