jneebz
Senior Member
Vin, I got ReelBus on your recommendation a few years ago and it’s been on my 2-bus ever since. So thanks for that...love it. And inexpensive...Kazrog True Iron & Toneboosters ReelBus.
Vin, I got ReelBus on your recommendation a few years ago and it’s been on my 2-bus ever since. So thanks for that...love it. And inexpensive...Kazrog True Iron & Toneboosters ReelBus.
Vin, I got ReelBus on your recommendation a few years ago and it’s been on my 2-bus ever since. So thanks for that...love it. And inexpensive...
Learning the hard way to keep the master bus as effect-free as possible.
Can't get the sum of the stems to match the full track when there is too much happening on the master bus.
I've had an eye on that for a while but then I already have Ozone adv. which can pull off something very similar, some sort of increased clarity and/or presence. Actually I've always used Ozone more than Neutron on single tracks, lol.Zynaptiq Intensity. It was one of those plugins I wasn't sure I would actually use when I bought it, but I now always have it on my master channel (about 30% power and 30% wet — a little goes a long way). It's difficult to describe what exactly it does, sort of an upward compression and harmonic excitement kind of sound, but the overall effect is that it highlights details and crisps up the sound.
+1Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain does really nice things with minimal settings. (I only activate the EQ & filters, and occasionally the stereo widener.)
I put it across my instrument busses and mix bus. On my instrument busses the channel plugin is the first insert the bus plugin is the last insert. On the mix bus I only use the bus plugin.
It does a few things I really like, it glues each bus together without having to strictly rely on compression, adds some subtle harmonic thickness, and gives a little lift to the low end while subtly softening the ultra-high top end. (The tone and harmonics depend on the console model of course, but generally they all have some level of glueing effect. Basically they help a mix to sound more cohesive and solid.)
Can you expand on this a bit?
Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain does really nice things with minimal settings. (I only activate the EQ & filters, and occasionally the stereo widener.)
Imagine you have effects that color your sound on the master bus. Let's take a reverb for the example sake (not saying to need to put a reverb on the master bus )
You have 1 reverb applying on the whole piece.
Publisher asks for the stems:
Stems being individuals, they don't take the master bus into consideration. All your 10 stems get reverb-free. The sum of the stems is reverb-free as well.
Or you make your 10 stems go through the master bus reverb one by one. But then you end up with 10 individual reverbs instead of 1 reverb on the whole thing. Not the same either
I've had the case where I would put some Ozone and/or other stuffs, compressors, whatever on the master bus to finalize a track. Then the publisher coming back at me saying "your stems together don't sound the same as the track you sent"
I now work with groups and barely touch the master if the track is to be sent to a publisher.
BTW: I'm far from being pro so take all this with a pinch of salt. Pro's might laugh at this. I'm just sharing a true story. I'm learning every day.
Mixes always just sound "better" with mix bus processing (or better still,mastered), but...Unfortunately it is frustrating, but that's how it is.
When doing (any) music for media you got to rely less and less on the master bus inserts. Like others were explaining here, you have to cater for the mix sounding (at least very very nearly) identical to the stems playing together. If you start putting, especially compression and saturation, the interaction of the dynamic changes, and the way things saturate if processed individually vs on the master bus is different.
In pop and commercial recording you can't live and be competitive without a hefty dose of bus processing. It is part of the sound.
In music for media you need to really find workarounds for that. Everyone has their own approaches to this. (Would be great to hear some techniques from other VI-Control people!)
Some people apply sidechain compression keying from the master while passing the stems for example.
I personally have developed a workflow where my ("master") processing is on the stems buses, not he master fader (a la Brauer, very vaguely). Separate reverbs for each stem (even if on the same exact setting, not to miss the "one room" for all approach) are another way of making easier the stem exporting part as with Cubase, I go for a walk with my dog, and do it all in one go.
Surgical EQ usually is not a problem when on the bus. In that case, an export of the stems, all with the same bus EQ won't alter how they interact and will provide a coherent stem mix.
If I need to send the cues out for listening, or a separate, non video release, I will work on the whole stereo file and will do the usual EQ/compression/limiting to my heart's content. (And it always end up sounding better then the "media" released mixes. arrrrrrgh!)