volcomskater
Addict
Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 58
|
| busses |
 |
|
every one always talks about busses, i have acid pro 4.0 and it features somthing about busses, what are busses?
thanks , andrew |
Thu Apr 29, 2004 6:08 am |
|
|
hobbesblb
Family Friend
Joined: 07 Mar 2003
Posts: 127
|
| Buses are like submixes |
|
|
Buses are like submixes. In live audio I may have a bus for vocals, a bus for instruments, a bus for drums. If I am running in mono, this is 3 buses. In stereo this would be 6 buses, as there is a left and right bus.
So what does that mean? Instead of mixing to just the stereo output you mix to a bus. So let start with 3 vocals 2 guitars 1 drum set. We will mix the vocals to bus 1/2. (In a physical mixer you would chose with a button near the fader where the signal was going ie. left & right, Bus 1/2, Bus 3/4, etc, a similar selection is made in your audio program by selecting what the audio output is for each track). So I focus simply on the balance of the vocals in relation to each other as I mix. Now bus 1/2 is the left and right track of all the vocals mixed according to where I set the fader at on each vocal channel. Further, if I want to add compression or reverb to just the vocals, I can apply those effects to the bus 1/2 instead of selecting each channel and apply the effect individually. Generally you would do this with compression, as reverb and similar effects are typically done with auxillaries, not directly to the bus. Now that I have the vocals done I move onto the guitars. I am mixing the guitars to bus 3/4. I mix the guitars together and get them sounding just the way I want against each other. Again, I may want to add compression or another effect to that bus. Now onto the drums. I mix the drums onto bus 5/6. Getting the drums just the way I want. Now that I have mixed each of the buses seperate, I mix them together into the L/R. If I feel the vocals are too quiet, I can increase all of the vocals together by boosting bus 1/2. The guitars too loud, cut bus 3/4. Drums too, whatever level they need to be at. Now, you may have to change the balance on the individual channels as well, but rather than cutting 12 drums tracks because they are too loud, you just cut the bus. Also, at the end of a mix down you may want to EQ each bus individually to help bring out the drums or vocals, or guitars.
Buses were originally used because people didn't have as many inputs into a recorder as we do now, so they would record the drums onto the drum bus, and vocals onto a vocal bus, maybe the lead singer would get a seperate bus for him/her, so that additional processing was available at mix down just for that vocal. In live sound, buses are used just like I said for mixing down tracks. I often will apply a stereo compressor to my vocal bus to kind of even things out. Or may send my buses direct to an 8-track recorder so that a live recording of the night can be made.
I hope that made sense, I know it may be a lot to digest, so please ask for clarification wherever it is needed.
_________________
Kindest Regards,
Benjamin L. Backus
http://www.benjaminlbackus.com |
|
Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:43 pm |
|
|
|
|
volcomskater
Addict
Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 58
|
| bus 1 and 2 |
|
|
when you said bus 1/2, does that mean bus 1 and 2? |
|
Fri Apr 30, 2004 6:08 am |
|
|
hobbesblb
Family Friend
Joined: 07 Mar 2003
Posts: 127
|
| buses are generally done in pairs |
|
|
Yes, buses are generally done in pairs. In the instance of bus 1/2; 1 would be left and 2 would be right according to how you have the channels panned. My apologies for any confusion, the examples I gave come from hardware. You could have audio only on Bus 1 of a channel where panned hard left for example.
Most software deviates from this just slightly, by having a stereo bus, bus 1 would typically control both the left and right of the bus with a single control. An auxillary is a form of bus as well, although typically used differently than a mix bus. You would generally use an auxillary bus for mixing effects like reverb. An auxillary has a send control on the track channel, this controls how much of the signal goes to that auxillary bus. On the track auxillary bus control you would also have a pre/post fader selection. For effects this would usually be set post fader, which means that as the fader moves it also effects the volume of that channels output to the auxillary bus. The auxillary bus it's self has 3 controls on it, send, return, & pan. Send is like the gain knob for a channel. Return controls the amount of the signal sent to the main output, just like a fader. You can insert effects into the auxillary. Like reverb. The input to the effect from the bus is the send, the output of the effect to the main bus is the return. Further compression, and other effects may also be applied to the auxillary bus just like any other track.
If you wanted to create custom monitor mixes for your recording artist, you would use the auxillary pre fader, this basically means that the track fader does not effect the output from the track, just the auxillary knob on the track does. Now, seperate from your personal mix, you can create a seperate mix with just what the performer needs to hear when singing.
It may be slightly more complex than this, because if a performer wants to hear him/herself singing, software generally has a delay before you hear the recorded signal, so this would have to be done by combining the live mix in your hardware (this means the microphone can be heard directly in the headphones wiithout going through anything else), with the auxillary mix from the software.
If you have anything more particular, to ask, I know I may have missed something, I would be more than happy to answer it.
Once again, sorry for the early confusion, I see now that you are using Acid Pro. Buses translate into all areas of audio production, so it is an important thing to understand.
_________________
Kindest Regards,
Benjamin L. Backus
http://www.benjaminlbackus.com |
|
Fri Apr 30, 2004 2:38 pm |
|
|
|
|
volcomskater
Addict
Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 58
|
thank you so much, everything is clear now about busses. i now can use that with my bands recording. thank you once again. |
|
Sat May 01, 2004 12:06 pm |
|
|
 
|
|
All times are GMT. The time now is Fri May 16, 2008 1:43 pm
|
|
|
|
| |
