I don't get it!!!! Help me!!!!!!!!!

[cjacek]

Ok, here's the deal .., and please, stupid questions ahead so proceed at your own risk Ready ? Ok, the first question is: what is exactly a 4 or 8 bus mixer ? A good fellow on the TASCAM board explained it but perhaps not too clearly for me to understand. My next questions, and they all are related, have to do with what I wish to accomplish with my setup and basic multitracking goals I have. Now, I have the Mackie 1202 VLZ PRO, an SM57, a DBX compressor, a Behringer virtualizer, cd recorder and a few other things. Now, I ONLY want to record to ANALOG so no digital or pc recording for me. I sing to pro backing tracks which play from my cd player. My purpose initially was to hook up my VLZ PRO to a good analog 4 track/channel recorder such as the TASCAM 234 or a reel to reel deck. I'd record "dry" and then go FROM the recorded parts from the recorder to the Mackie and process each of those 4 channels/tracks seperately, using some compression, reverb etc .. and finally to mixdown. I was all pumped up when I find out that my Mackie is not really suitable for multitracking or at least is seriously limited. From Mackies literature I gathered that IT IS possible to do multitracking and that it does seem to be 4 bus mixer and more but then I hear something else by someone who knows about these kind of things and he says different. Someone comments: "you must have at least a 4-bus mixer to do proper multitracking". Perhaps their earlier 1202's were not up to par but the new VLZ PROs are. I don't know. Now, I shit you not, but I'm so confused it's not really funny! I think I'll take up knitting 'cause this is so frustrating! Can someone please help me out here ? I don't know what to do or what to get etc .. Now, I know I WANT an analog recorder, like a 4 channel reel to reel or the TASCAM 234 but I'm stumped when it comes to mixers and all this foreign terminology I came across. I also am wondering if my DBX compressor and Virtualizer will be compatible, as in connections, with my new found gear to accomplish my goals. Please advise!

Your eternally grateful pal,

Daniel

 

[hedroom]

Ok, here is the way I understand it.
The bus could be pictured just like a bus that you take to work or whatever. On that bus, you can put more than one thing, like all the vocal tracks. On another bus, you could put all the drum track, guitars on another and so on. You can pre mix the balance between all the vocals and then "put them on the bus". Then when you mix down, you can mix the balance between the drum, guitar and vocal sounds. With an 8 bus mixer, you have even more options.
This is the way I have always understood it, and this is probably a little simplistic.
Maybe someone with more experience will read this and enlighten both of us.
Good Luck.

 

[AlChuck]

This is the way I have always understood it, and this is probably a little simplistic.

Sorry, hedroom, you are a bit off there. The word "bus" does not mean the same thing in this context, though I guess it can be made to sound sensible with that analogy.

It comes from this definition of bus:

bus (also bus bar) - a conductor or an assembly of conductors for collecting electric currents and distributing them to outgoing feeders.

A bus is simply a path for a collection of signals to follow. Mixers take individual signals from the inputs and allow you to route them in various ways. One way is by combining individual tracks into a group of signals sent down another channel, essentially, where you can control the combined signals in the same manner that you could control the individual signals on their individual tracks. The main stereo bus is the simplest example, but "real" mixers usually provide others. These are often called subgroups.

After writing all this, I found another thread where this is all discussed at further length. Read that one too and hopefully it will all be clearer:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?postid=778633

 

[cjacek]

Thanks guys!!

Daniel

 

[TexRoadkill]

Busses are more important if you are trying to record several tracks at once or if you need to do some fancy submixes during the mixdown. For the situation you described I don't think the number of busses will make any difference whatsoever.