The Mix bus is the source that we bounce or print from and also what we monitor while mixing. The mix bus is our final stereo mix path and everything we want to hear winds up there. So, Master faders work well when you know you may need to adjust your gain structure without having to rebalance dozens of audio tracks. In Pro Tools, if you create a Master fader set to Bus 1-2 and also an Aux fader with its input set to Bus 1-2, the Master fader affects the subgroup signal before it hits the Aux fader. Unlike an Aux channel, if you overload a Master fader, simply lowering the Master fader effectively increases your headroom and removes any clipping. ![]() Master fader inserts are post-fader and there are no sends on a Master fader. Master faders don’t need an input and an output, just an assignment to the bus they control. Choose a method that makes sense and keep refining your system over each consecutive mix.Ī Master fader also controls a mix bus, which can be a subgroup bus or a physical output from the audio interface. These techniques or any variations you can imagine are perfectly valid, as long as the strategy makes sense to you and allows you the freedom to experiment and achieve your goals. Top-down mixing is another specific style of subgrouping and utilizing mix bus processing that we covered in another blog post. Other mixers prefer to bus each instrument section to a bus, like a drum bus, keyboard bus, acoustic guitar bus, lead vocal bus, etc. Low-end instruments, lead instruments, percussive instruments, energetic instruments, smooth instruments may each be blended for specific signal processing. Some mixers, like Michael Brauer, organize instruments into subgroups based on energy or function. For our purposes, subgroups and busses are synonymous-the stereo mix bus is just the main mix subgroup! A simple vocal and guitar session that contains just a few audio and effects tracks probably needs only one stereo mix bus.Ī 100-track pop production that contains countess drum, keyboard, guitar, vocal, and effect tracks may require multiple subgroup busses with some processing before summing into the stereo mix bus. ![]() ![]() Personal style dictates how you will set up the bussing for a given mix. The mix bus lets us monitor the mix with meters and analyzers and even check for mono compatibility.Clever routing can provide separate monitor paths for reference tracks and the mix.Subgroups simplify printing stems after a mix is finished. ![]() Groups allow for easy parallel mixing techniques (usually for adding either punch or dirt to an instrumental group).Proper use of subgroup and master faders facilitates maintaining proper gain structure throughout the mixing process.Subgrouping allows for processing groups of similar instruments (drums, keyboards, vocals, etc.) with plugins or even analog processors.Mixing with a single stereo mix bus may cause loud instruments, like the lead vocal or kick drum, to adversely affect the overall mix bus processing.Stopping a mix to change routing or the entire gain structure of a mix can really break the creative momentum. Effectively using subgroups and the main mix bus provides a lot of flexibility as we get into our mix and starting out with an appropriate bus strategy will keep the workflow moving forward. A little forethought and planning go a long way to freeing our mind from distracting technical issues that inevitably arise during complex mixes. We should try to maximize our creative focus and activities by minimizing our technical load. As mixers, we are constantly drifting between right-brain (creativity) and left-brain (technical/analytical) activities.
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