Pro Tools w/ the Apollo Duo interface. Was the guy from the video I watched correct about the FMP (not FPM like I wrote earlier) being the only way to keep a track's pan value when sending it to a bus (which would mean that sending tracks to a bus, via the output drop menu, doesn't carry the pan values with it).
I understand what you're asking a little better now. Your question is definitely of signal flow in nature, but I thought your question had more to do with gain staging than it actually does. The answer to your actual question is no. Its not the only way to do it. But it is the most practical. There are other ways possible, but they require a concoction of signal gymnastics that only accomplish the exact same task.
Theres a pretty big mess of information here. I understand the objective. To preserve your pan arrangement at your bus. I'll attempt to prioritize the solutions accordingly.
-If you feed the outputs of mono channels to a subgroup, then you do not need to engage FMP. Because any subsequent send FROM said subgroup, AUTOMATICALLY follow pan arrangements.
-But if you feed the SENDS of a mono channel directly to an aux, then YES you may want to engage the FMP. Because the send will not automatically do so.
-If you feed the sends of a stereo channel directly to an aux, then NO you do not need to engage the FMP, unless you want the changes to the stereo source.
I'm sure if you realize this too: FMP is an option. All it does is save you from having to adjust your main pan, then execute the same change on your bus send. It is not mandatory. So to imply that you MUST to use the FMP to accomplish that task is incorrect. You may do it manually instead. We're merely clarifying semantics here. But I mention it to not assume. Sometimes when people are following video tutorials, they don't realize that certain steps may not be mandatory or necessary.
So I'll either do both, send all the drum tracks to a bus by setting the main track output to a stereo Aux, as well as, sending both OH's to that same bus via the send (as well as the output). I've recently been using an OH bus that I eventually send to the Drum Bus, but if I send my OH's, via the send, to create an OH bus, will I lose the pan values when sending that bus to the Drum Bus via the main outs? Hopefully you followed that!
Heres what I would recommend. Send both of your kicks (kick in, kick out) to a kick subgroup. Send both of your snares (snare top and snare bottom) a snare subgroup. Send all of your toms to a subgroup. Send your overheads (left, right, center if you have one) to a subgroup. Send your room mics to a subgroup unless your room mics is mono, then don't bother. That way you don't have to give your aux panning assignments a second thought.
Now what you do with your subgroups becomes more open ended. You may want to send your kick and snare subgroups to a parallel compressor. You may want to send your toms subgroup to a parallel reverb. You may want to send your overheads to a tape saturator etc... But you can also send your entire drum mix to a crush track (like the diagram at the beginning of this thread). You don't have to choose between parallel compression and a crush track. Do them both. Some guys use multiple reverbs along side crush tracks (as also seen on my screenshots).
I'm definitely gonna try the "crusher" bus next time I'm on PT. This is just used for drum tracks, right? Whoever mentioned the crusher bus made it a point to have a deep understanding of parallel compression. I've never tried this method...is there a good article, forum thread or video you could link me to that will help me better understand. I could Google it myself, but there are some many search findings I thought that you might be able to make things easy for me if you know of any specific places that have proper explanations and execution details.
Thanks.
Forget parallel compression for a sec. Think parallel processing. That can mean anything. Parallel reverbs, parallel compression, parallel imaging, parallel delays, whatever.
All this means is that a processed signal is running along side a dry signal. So you start with a dry vocal. Bus send the vocal to the reverb. Then blend the reverb with the dry vocal. Its simply having a wet/dry mix knob, but having it with 2 faders instead of a wet dry knob. Make sense?
Same goes with compression. Dry signal on one fader. Compressed signal on another fader. Then you balance the two faders.
All the crush track is doing is parallel compressing the entire drum set. All of the subgroups you created are getting mashed and glued together at one big mean ugly bus-stop. You can use this to get punch, grit, slam and cool vibey energy into a drum track.
Here's why you need to get good at compressing before attempting this though. You're dealing with a lot of compression at that point. If I use 3 comps on a snare, 5 comps on rack toms, 2 comps on the overseas, and 3 comps on my room mics, then send all that compressed madness to a crush track too, if all your compressors are set correctly, you entire mix turns to shit real real fast.
Its a very good investment of anyones time to look at ways guys stack multiple compressors on drums and vocals in particular. Hope this helps.