BUS or SEND for drums....

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RAMI

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OK, I've never tried doing this, but I know it's a pretty standard thing to do.

I wanted to send all my drums to a master channel, which I guess is creating a Drum Bus. The only way I managed to figure out doing it was create new track called "DRUMS", and then use the SEND to send the individual drums to it.

Problem is, even when I turn the drum bus all the way down (or even MUTE IT), the individual drum tracks can still be heard at their set volumes. This makes sense because that's how things should react. If I was sending to a reverb, it makes sense that muting the reverb shouldn't mute all the drums, too.

So, obviously, using a SEND isn't the way to create a drum bus.

What I want (I think) is a sort of Master Drum Channel, so that the drum volume is totally controlled by this master fader. When I MUTE it, I don't want to hear the drums.


Help me. Hold me.
 
...I just realized I've been using GROUPS to do this with guitars, etc....Is that the only way create a BUS? If it is, then I've been doing this with other instruments all along.

I have no idea why I didn't think of doing this with drums???? I even GROUP my overheads. :eek:

Let me know if there's a better way.

Thanx
 
You need to uncheck the "master/parent send" box in the individual tracks i/o window.
 
Cool. That worked. But it seems to have changed the sound and or/volume. Is that possible? I'm on my way up to eat, so I just listened for a second for now.

With the Master fader at unity, my drums should sound exactly the same as if there was no master channel, no?
 
What you were hearing were the tracks, basically twice. With the master/parent box checked, you get audio from the individual tracks, plus the group track. With the box unchecked, the sound goes to the group track only.
 
Greg_L said:
What you were hearing were the tracks, basically twice. With the master/parent box checked, you get audio from the individual tracks, plus the group track. With the box unchecked, the sound goes to the group track only.
Click to expand...

Great man, thanx.

Is this going to cause a problem if I have more than one effects send. For example, I now have 2 sends on my snare, one going to this new channel we're talking about, and one going to a reverb. Does un-checking the box screw up my reverb send?

I'll probably be able to answer all these questions myself once I get back to my computer, but I want to know NOW!!!! :D
 
No, unchecking that box just kills the audio from that track itself. Any plugs or sends are unaffected. If you have a compressor on that track, it will still compress the audio and send the compressed audio to the group or reverb track. You just won't hear it from that one track. It will be going through where you sent it.

I group all of my drum tracks to a "drum group" and reverb the whole kit in there.
 
Just out of curiosity, what's the difference between doing this and using FOLDERS? For my guitars, vocals, overheads, etc....I've always grouped them by making a master folder for guitar, vocals, overheads, etc....

Anyone do this?
 
I do the send to a new channel thing too....I just solo the busses I wanna hear. All the drums go to one channel that is soloed. I can still adjust individual snare, kick, etc. or overall with the bus. Is that what you are asking?
 
showstone said:
I do the send to a new channel thing too....I just solo the busses I wanna hear. All the drums go to one channel that is soloed. I can still adjust individual snare, kick, etc. or overall with the bus. Is that what you are asking?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. How do you hear other instruments when you solo something?
 
I solo the other channels I wanna hear....for example I have a vox bus, a guits bus, or just single tracks like bass, piano.
 
I reread your question, this will do exactly what you are looking for. What daw are you using? In Reaper, for a drum bus, I create a new track and use sends to route these to the bus. I even usually add the OH to their own bus and then send that to the drum bus. Then I apply processing to the tracks accordingly. I solo the drum bus so that's the only drum channel you hear. I create a bus for vox, bu, and harmonies and assign them to the bus and solo that. So on and so forth.....
 
showstone said:
I reread your question, this will do exactly what you are looking for. What daw are you using? In Reaper, for a drum bus, I create a new track and use sends to route these to the bus. I even usually add the OH to their own bus and then send that to the drum bus. Then I apply processing to the tracks accordingly. I solo the drum bus so that's the only drum channel you hear. I create a bus for vox, bu, and harmonies and assign them to the bus and solo that. So on and so forth.....
Click to expand...

Cool. That's pretty much what Greg was saying to do, with the exception that he suggests we un-check the "master/parent send" button. I think, by doing that, we don't need to solo anything since the busses are in total control of any level adjustments.
 
Cool....realised waaaayyyy too late that this question was in the Reaper forum....no need to ask what daw you are using....sheesh.
 
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