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shadowman · 24th January 2006

So, I'm finally trying to learn how to record things properly after doing it my own little way for a while. I just came across this site, and I was hoping that someone here could explain some of the basics of a mix bus to me. I'm sure this is most basic of the basic to everyone here, so I hope you guys are willing to help out a newbie!

I've always done everything in the box before, and I use a few different programs like Audition or Cubase. When I've recorded before, I've just recorded everything onto tracks, adjusted their volumes and EQ'd them some, placed them in the mix, and then just mixed everything down to a single file. But after reading a lot here and getting into it all more, I want to learn how to use buses more.

I now understand that I can use mix buses to send groups of tracks to and then process them all at once. For example, I could create a drum mix bus and send all of my individual drum tracks to it to apply compression to them all at once. So, I have some questions about the mix buses I'll be using in my DAW. Here we go...

1. When I send tracks to a mix bus, there is a volume fader and a wet/dry function. How does this volume mix with the normal volume of the tracks? If I have the volume set on my tracks and I boost the volume of my bus, am I just increasing the volume of the tracks all at once, or is this bus like another separate track that's in addition to the individual tracks?

2. With the wet/dry function, I assume that this is the amount of the effects and the original signal that I have in the bus. Should you keep both balanced (like 60% wet and 40% dry), or does it matter if you have both at something like 70%?

3. I see many people talking about parallel compression in the mix bus, especially on drums. In my DAW, I can use either serial or parallel effects. What advantage does using parallel have?

4. Finally, I hear people talking about the 2 mix bus. Is this the same thing as the mixdown I'm doing when I mix all my tracks down to one file, or is it something completely different?

Sorry I'm asking a bunch of newbie questions. I just hope someone has the patience to answer me! I'm just looking to learn. This is a great site!

24th January 2006	#1
shadowman Gear interested Joined: Jan 2006 Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 4 Thread Starter	Mix bus questions! So, I'm finally trying to learn how to record things properly after doing it my own little way for a while. I just came across this site, and I was hoping that someone here could explain some of the basics of a mix bus to me. I'm sure this is most basic of the basic to everyone here, so I hope you guys are willing to help out a newbie! I've always done everything in the box before, and I use a few different programs like Audition or Cubase. When I've recorded before, I've just recorded everything onto tracks, adjusted their volumes and EQ'd them some, placed them in the mix, and then just mixed everything down to a single file. But after reading a lot here and getting into it all more, I want to learn how to use buses more. I now understand that I can use mix buses to send groups of tracks to and then process them all at once. For example, I could create a drum mix bus and send all of my individual drum tracks to it to apply compression to them all at once. So, I have some questions about the mix buses I'll be using in my DAW. Here we go... 1. When I send tracks to a mix bus, there is a volume fader and a wet/dry function. How does this volume mix with the normal volume of the tracks? If I have the volume set on my tracks and I boost the volume of my bus, am I just increasing the volume of the tracks all at once, or is this bus like another separate track that's in addition to the individual tracks? 2. With the wet/dry function, I assume that this is the amount of the effects and the original signal that I have in the bus. Should you keep both balanced (like 60% wet and 40% dry), or does it matter if you have both at something like 70%? 3. I see many people talking about parallel compression in the mix bus, especially on drums. In my DAW, I can use either serial or parallel effects. What advantage does using parallel have? 4. Finally, I hear people talking about the 2 mix bus. Is this the same thing as the mixdown I'm doing when I mix all my tracks down to one file, or is it something completely different? Sorry I'm asking a bunch of newbie questions. I just hope someone has the patience to answer me! I'm just looking to learn. This is a great site!