I understand the reason for all those NLS busses on his chain but I am stumped about the routing since I don't use Pro Tools. Anyone can explain the "C Drums M"? Not sure if it's an AUX (I don't see it as a send) or if it comes before/after C Drums or if it's either at all.

 

Why are you asking for help on Pro Tools if you don't actually use it yourself?

 

Isn't that why I'm asking for someone to explain the routing? This is an absurd reply. I can attempt to do the equivalent on my DAW if possible and merely want to understand the process of his FX chain...

 

He is obviously willing to understand what and how it's done to reproduce it in another DAW.

 

Hold your horses, mate! You demand an explanation of exact routing of an FX bus in Pro Tools to be used in other DAWs based on a single picture you post? You don't even tell us what DAW you are using. So how would you expect us to answer your question? So don't go telling me about an absurd reply?

 

OP would've been better off with the video and the timecode so we can see what exactly they want to recreate.

 

Yes

 

Yes, absolutely. The question is how he wants to recreate it, and with which DAW. Master Faders aren't just Group Tracks, or Busses.

 

Thank you! So from my understanding, "C Drums M" is functioning sorta like a "VCA" (with the ability to add FX inserts) for the "C Drums" group. So, is it correct to say the processing is going like this:

C Drums M > C Drums > All Drums

Ah, and to reply RachProko, I didn't mention my DAW as all I wanted to know was what that track was functioning as (now I know it's a master fader, but RachProko was too busy not contributing to the conversation at all). Even if I do find a way to replicate it in my DAW that wasn't the primary question since I wanted to know the FX chain - just to clear up and not initiate a DAW war.

Since you guys are asking, I am using LPX 10.7.5. I am quite knowledgeable in the limitations and advantages of my DAW so I didn't bother asking "how to replicate in LPX". Just wanted to know how it functioned so I can find a workaround (maybe even just parallel or send to another bus/aux)

And here's the video I took the screenshot from:

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 19, 2022

It's something similar to Sequoia's VCA Faders right?

 

Exactly. This is why saturation is often used on the master faders, which control each AUXs independently. And then they flow into larger AUXs. You understood perfectly.

 

Yes, that's the better option.

 

hard to tell in exact detail because you can't see the NLS Channel configuration used, but my wild guess is that he's using a variety of the possible harmonic distortions that they've modelled (Spike/Mike/Nevo) and can send to separate (VCA) groups (1-8) in combination with NLS Buss (which will probably be inserted somewhere else like in the Master Fader)

 

Here are some screenshots if you're curious about what the configurations actually are. The NLS Busses are really just there to add a bit of body and saturation, I don't recall any NLS Channels being used. He only has a trim on the "Spike" cause adding these busses adds some gain (~0.5dB each). You might say just adjust the drive on 1 or 2 inserts but from my tests, you don't get the same subtle sweetness you get with this quite unorthodox method.

 

What's the use of all these NLS buss instances without the NLS Channels???? did the person who set this up read the manual at all?? Makes absolutely no sense at all

 

Jaycen (the mixer on the video I linked) shared the same reaction as you when he received it from a client: that it was a mistake. Now it's a part of his mixes

The purpose is basically just (some) preamp coloration, but I agree it doesn't make sense at first - the last thing I would have done was load up 8 of these guys

 

It really makes no sense to me, using a couple of instances of the harmonic distortion you get from the NLS channels would make a lot more sense because a single NLS buss on the Master fader would then sum them and make a difference soundwise. If you don't feed anything into the NLS Buss, how does it add coloration?

 

...and over a year later I must correct myself: I took theliberty of copying Jaycen's settings and much to my surprise, it did make one hell of a difference on the lows in my mixes, whether synth or bass guitar. The amount of control you gain is ridiculous! I have absolutely no explanation how and why but it does....