Busing Confusion

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singeryadig

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So to send a track to a bus you just put the SENDS to the desired bus--and then have an AUX track's INPUT as that specific bus?

Do you mess around at all with the I/O's of the track your sending?

Thanks
 
It depends on whether you're setting up a submix group or a parallel effects loop. For effects loops you use a pre-fader aux send. For a submix group you assign the channel output to the bus.
 
singeryadig said:
--and then have an AUX track's INPUT as that specific bus? ...
Click to expand...
Not sure if there's specific to a DAW' routing thing going on there, but in Sonar ..and for most mixer speak' in general..
A send' is an 'aux send'.
A 'bus collects things and provides a point of common control, and in some cases further control as in pan, insert.. (your stereo 'master bus, or 'aux bus).

Saying 'aux send implies adding a split off of the main track route (AKA a parallel path.
Has nothing to say about its original main path (which remains).

That track (and other's) main paths may also go to a bus' which if you called it a 'Sub Group (or 'sub bus) says 'a common control point for the track's main paths –typically before going to the main bus/output.


The up shot is that while 'bus' is a specific thing, the term by it's self isn't complete in this context.

Do you mess around at all with the I/O's of the track your sending?
Click to expand...
Well, that depends- On what you're asking.. :confused: :p
(..and/or perhaps like the first question has to do with some DAW's that decided to mix the meanigs of 'tracks, 'aux' or 'bus' ?... :rolleyes::D
 
mixsit said:
Not sure if there's specific to a DAW' routing thing going on there, but in Sonar ..and for most mixer speak' in general..
A send' is an 'aux send'.
A 'bus collects things and provides a point of common control, and in some cases further control as in pan, insert.. (your stereo 'master bus, or 'aux bus).

Saying 'aux send implies adding a split off of the main track route (AKA a parallel path.
Has nothing to say about its original main path (which remains).

That track (and other's) main paths may also go to a bus' which if you called it a 'Sub Group (or 'sub bus) says 'a common control point for the track's main paths –typically before going to the main bus/output.


The up shot is that while 'bus' is a specific thing, the term by it's self isn't complete in this context.


Well, that depends- On what you're asking.. :confused: :p
(..and/or perhaps like the first question has to do with some DAW's that decided to mix the meanigs of 'tracks, 'aux' or 'bus' ?... :rolleyes::D
Click to expand...

I'm using Pro Tools 8 le--So say you want to make a Bus for "Track A". You would have to create an aux track, correct? Then you would make the AUX tracks input whatever bus you wanted--and then make Track A sends that particular bus.

OK, now would you call the AUX track the bus? Or would that just be the AUX send--and you would call the little popup fader the bus?

------

And with the AUX send track--your basically copying whatever track is sent to it and you can control affects of the "copied" one through the AUX track?

Thanks for all the input :D
 
singeryadig said:
I'm using Pro Tools 8 le--So say you want to make a Bus for "Track A". You would have to create an aux track, correct? Then you would make the AUX tracks input whatever bus you wanted--and then make Track A sends that particular bus.

OK, now would you call the AUX track the bus? Or would that just be the AUX send--and you would call the little popup fader the bus?

------

And with the AUX send track--your basically copying whatever track is sent to it and you can control affects of the "copied" one through the AUX track?

Thanks for all the input :D
Click to expand...

It depends entirely on what you are trying to accomplish. If you want to submix some tracks then you use the track I/O to assign them to a bus going to an aux track (using Pro Tools' non-standard terminology). If you want to set up a parallel effects loop, like for a shared reverb, then you use the channels' pre-fader sends into a bus going to the aux track, and you set the effect on the aux track to 100% wet.

Are you submixing or adding an effect like reverb?
 
bouldersoundguy said:
It depends entirely on what you are trying to accomplish. If you want to submix some tracks then you use the track I/O to assign them to a bus going to an aux track (using Pro Tools' non-standard terminology). If you want to set up a parallel effects loop, like for a shared reverb, then you use the channels' pre-fader sends into a bus going to the aux track, and you set the effect on the aux track to 100% wet.

Are you submixing or adding an effect like reverb?
Click to expand...

I'm not really using the bus for anything practical as of yet(like for a track/song)--I'm just trying to get used to how it works and why/when you would use the techniques.

It sounds like what I'm doing is parallel effect looping because I'm using the SENDS

For the submixing, would i put TRACK A's output to the AUX track? Then would you leave the SENDS blank?
 
singeryadig said:
It sounds like what I'm doing is parallel effect looping because I'm using the SENDS

For the submixing, would i put TRACK A's output to the AUX track? Then would you leave the SENDS blank?
Click to expand...

Right. And I should have said to use post-fader sends for parallel effects. That way when you alter the volume of a track the reverb follows the changes.
 
ok so for TRACK A--

To parallel effect loop--Track A's SEND to bus 1 then AUX track input to that same bus #--And you put the desired effect on the AUX track as an insert?

To submix--I would put track A's OUTPUT to the AUX track--and then just leave the SENDS empty for both AUX and track A?



I did that for submixing and i sent a couple tracks to an AUX and the AUX track was clipping fairly easily even though each track that was sent to it, on their own, weren't clipping---Is this a normal result?
 
singeryadig said:
ok so for TRACK A--

To parallel effect loop--Track A's SEND to bus 1 then AUX track input to that same bus #--And you put the desired effect on the AUX track as an insert?
Click to expand...

Right. This works for effects like reverbs and delays. It can also work for chorus. The important thing to remember is that since the "dry" signal (without effects) is going to the main bus through its own path you don't need any dry from the effects bus, so set the effect to 100% "wet" (effect only).

singeryadig said:
To submix--I would put track A's OUTPUT to the AUX track--and then just leave the SENDS empty for both AUX and track A?
Click to expand...

Yes.

singeryadig said:
I did that for submixing and i sent a couple tracks to an AUX and the AUX track was clipping fairly easily even though each track that was sent to it, on their own, weren't clipping---Is this a normal result?
Click to expand...

Most of the time when you mix signals they add up to a higher level. You need to start with lower levels, preferably by recording them lower in the first place. The usual levels to track at are around -18dBFS average and -12dBFS peak. That leaves headroom for stuff like what you just discovered. In the meantime just turn down the channel faders.
 
One of the easiest ways to explain bussing for me is in terms of drum mixing.

I like to route all my snare mics to a Snare bus, all my kick mics to a Kick bus, and my tom mics to a Tom bus. That lets me mix my snare (2 or 3 mics), kick (2 or 3 mics) and toms (however many toms I have set up) in single tracks. In that case, it's usually all the outputs being sent to those busses, rather than sends.

Sometimes I'll have a heavy compression bus, in which case I'll use Sends so I can blend to taste with the untreated drum sound.

So, in my case, it's a very simplified matter of whether or not you are looking to blend the AUX track with the original sound or not, which defines whether or not you use Aux Sends or send the output of the track to a new track. Sounds a little confusing but once you get the hang of it, it's second nature!
 
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