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Favorite Character Tools On Your Mix Bus?

Idk if I'm going to use it on orchestral/cinematic music much, but I've just ordered the Softube Console 1 for mixing, and will probably try out the console drive emulation on the master for some tracks.
 
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...

Glad to hear! I use it on most mixes usually, it's cheap, versatile and most importantly sounds superb.
 
I usually find myself composing with a "low latency" master: usually a bit of corrective EQ (fabfilter), a bit of +10db compressor and a bit of "safety" limiting with Fabfilter L-2.

If I want to tweak a bit further, I'd add a bit of coloured-eq pulteq-like with PA's Bettermaker 232D and also a bit of parallel compression with PA's townhouse SSL comp. Works great!

And... for further/final exporting (adding latency here), the chain looks like:
- Tape emulation
- ProQ3 corrective EQ
- A bit of +10 comp (parallel)
- Bettermaker EQ (for a bit of the "smilly" curve, pulteq, for a adding a bit of punch on the low end and air on the high end)
- A bit of Townhouse (parallel)
- Ozone 8 (for a bit of spread with the imager on the high frequencies and a bit of maximizer/limiting, not usually as a limiter, but just to bump up a few db's)

Ozone makes it impossible to do realtime playing on my end, so, when revisions need to be made: I'd swap the preset back to the composing one, or just replace Ozone 8 with Fabfilter's L-2.

Everything being shuttle. :)
 
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.
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.
 
ohhh you guys want a hot tip on destroying a totally-fine-and-almost-complete-mix? Introduce fancy new plugins late in the game!!

oops :thumbsup:
 
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.)

Cool. I'm now experimenting with Noise Ash's Need 31102 Console Eq (just on the front end of busses). Definitely imparts a different flavor than I'm used to, but I think I can dig it, once I figure out how to dial this in.
 
Can you expand on this a bit?

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.
 
Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain does really nice things with minimal settings. (I only activate the EQ & filters, and occasionally the stereo widener.)

This might end up in my collection as well. I like the looks of it at least.

Although, I gotta say the Waves GUIs are kinda...not the sharpest looking. Kinda surprised in this day and age. At least on my Macbook's Retina screen....

In contrast the the BEAUTIFUL Noise Ash plugins I just added.
 
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.

ok I gotcha. Interesting - I wonder how to work around this? I suppose it's more about mixing your stems without relying on the master bus to glue it all together? Or in the reverb example, sending tiny bits of each of your stems to the 'master' verb so when played as a whole kinda sound like the og 'final' track. But there must be some relationship between you and whoever is doing the big mix (I assume you're talking film here, dialogue/fx/music) where you can communicate final intent? Or is that not normal either?
 
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!)
 
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!)

Thanks for that nice development.
 
The usual suspects (tape emulation, gentle buss compressor, subtle shaping EQ) and the "secret sauce"... a somwhat obscure saturation plugin that I've come to adore. It's amazing how good this can make a track sound:

 
What my default mastering template looks like:

I don't necessarily engage every plugin.
Sometimes I also use Aphex Vintage Exciter in parallel to brighten a mix.

One plugin that I almost always engage right now is the AR TG Mastering, for stereo or m/s EQ and sometimes soft compression
 

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I am a big fan of the Cranesong Plugins. (Phoenix 2,Ra and Peacock)
Wonderful sounding, but AAX Only...
I also very often use the Sonnox Plugins...
@NekujaK mentioned Ployteq Aroma, which is heavily inspired by Cranesongs Algos from the Hedd Series Hardware. Aroma is cheap and sounds really great.
The only downside is the activation process of the plugin, which is e-mail based.
You have to write an e-mail with the code provided by the plugin and wait for a response code...

Other Plugins i am using...Zynaptiq Intensity, Softube Tape and Harmonics, Slate VCC...
The offerings from Soundtoys and Plugin Alliance are also great...
Pultec Style: I am using the one from Black Rooster Audio and the Softube Classic Channel MK2...

Today, there are so many differnt Plugins out there for adding "character" to the sound...
I think, the best thing is to demo the diffent ones and buy the ones, which sound best for you.

Another way to add "that analog" sound is to use external Hardware....

Personally, i have no standard plugin chain for the master or mixbux. Every material, composition, track...is different and need a different treatment. I am very carefull with saturation plugins. Sometimes a clean eq is the right choice..

My clean master chain is Weiss Comp/Lim and Weiss EQ 1 or MDWEQ bei Georg Massenburg.
Another wonderful range of Eqs are the MAAT EQs, which are very expensive, but they are almost perfect... Blue for mixing, Orange and Red for Mastering...

PS: Plugins, which have no chance to get on my mixbus or master: Waves...
 
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U-He Satin is one that often lives on the mixbus - the tape saturation is cool but it's the compander (in various combos of encode and decode) that is unique amongst other tape emu's I've used and can do really nice cohesive things to a mix.

The old Digi Lo-Fi is another great one for those in PT. Sometimes 0.1 distortion is just enough to punch things up a bit.

And there's never a singular mix bus - always many of them, one for each stem. Plugin parameters linked across them and dynamics sidechained from the full mix.
 
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