Mixbus Processing

B

bdam123

Member
I've been hearing more and more about mixers using compression and eq on their mix bus and I gave it a try. It definitely boosted my confidence as it brought me a lot closer to the material I was A/Bing during my process.

My question is, should I leave the compressor and eq on when I send it over to mastering? I've always read from mastering engineers to leave that task to them. Wouldn't a mastering engineer do a better job than me?

btw, my chain is:

Waves Puitec MEQ-5 adding some 2k
Waves SSL EQ adding some 12k
Waves S1 Imager widening just a bit
Wave Linear Phase Multi doing a bit of compression
 
bdam123 said:
It definitely boosted my confidence as it brought me a lot closer to the material I was A/Bing during my process.
Click to expand...

So, this begs the question, what are you A/Bing with? Completed commercially released material against your tune still in the beginning stages of production? There is going to be a huge difference due to the heavy compression on the commercial material.

Also, when you say "Mix Bus", which bus is that exactly? If you're referring to the master bus, then I agree, put some kind of limiter on it when comparing your mix to commercially released tunes. Just so it has that same squashed feel and you can compare apples to apples.
 
Chili said:
My gawd, it has its own blog. :facepalm:
:D

Thanks for showing me the "err of my ways". (Does that have its own blog??)
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I found that funny too... Sorry the derail OP

To the point, I believe most mastering engineers prefer any mix bus decisions to be added later during mastering. They can probably hear the effects of the processing in more detail/clearer than the home mixing environments allow. You can always let them know your preference or send a mixdown track for reference...but send a clean one too. Just my thoughts.
 
sometimes I use a compressor on the main bus (the mix bus - I think that's what I call it). If so, I turn it on early in the process and mix into it, so to speak. I try to leave a lot of headroom while I'm mixing - that may just be personal preference, but if I get stuck up close to zero, I start running into problems - painting myself into a corner, sort of.

I don't use a limiter while mixing. If I'm clipping, then I need to turn everything down to get a lot of headroom like I mentioned above. If I'm making a mp3 to send to a client to ask a question or something and I want it to be louder, sometimes I put a limiter on and slam a little, but that wouldn't be part of the final mix.

I try to send mixes for mastering with lots of headroom. The mastering people I've talked to (mastering in the digital realm), really couldn't care less, it turns out - they just turn it down if they need to. But I still go for at least -20 RMS anyway. It makes me feel contemplative and mindful.

If I'm mixing into a compressor, I really don't ever turn it off - and definitely not for the final mix - it's part of the sound at that point. If I had done the mix without a compressor on the main bus, and then added one at the last minute and liked it (this has never happened because I haven't tried it), then I'd probably send both the compressed and uncompressed mixes to the mastering person. But if I used the mix compressor from the beginning, then it's pretty much a disaster to take it off - the mix falls apart.

I usually use a hardware compressor for this purpose, which presents recall problems if I use it for something else before I'm done with the mix, but that's not a huge deal.


As far as EQ goes, I do a lot less of that at the full mix level, but if I tried it and liked the result, I'd definitely keep it. I have a hardware EQ that I sometimes use on the final mix, and usually after I've done the work. But I often wind up taking it back off, or making adjustments that are so minimal that it probably may as well be off. The mastering people have much better rooms (and ears) than I have, and so I pretty much leave those details up to them.
 
There is nothing inherently "wrong" with mixing into Master Buss Processors, and it kind of makes sense when you want to A/B against your reference material.

Just make sure that if you import your reference track into your DAW for comparison purposes that you route it directly to your interface and NOT through your master buss, otherwise you'll double up on the processing and you will not be comparing like with like.
 
I understand, and do occasionally, put a compressor on the mix bus. This is to gel the mix together.

I don't understand putting eq on the mix bus. If the mix needs more high end (for example), why wouldn't you add that high end to the instruments that need it?

Mixing and mastering should be two separate processes. The eq and limiting should be left for mastering.
 
Farview said:
I understand, and do occasionally, put a compressor on the mix bus. This is to gel the mix together.

I don't understand putting eq on the mix bus. If the mix needs more high end (for example), why wouldn't you add that high end to the instruments that need it?
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because it's not the same thing. That's like saying why don't you compress all the channels individually instead of gluing them at the 2 bus. Completely different effect.
Mixing and mastering should be two separate processes. The eq and limiting should be left for mastering.
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It's ok to use limiters in the mixdown if you know what you're doing. But if you don't then yes, do you everyone a favor and leave it for the m.e.'s
 
bdam123 said:
I've been hearing more and more about mixers using compression and eq on their mix bus and I gave it a try. It definitely boosted my confidence as it brought me a lot closer to the material I was A/Bing during my process.

My question is, should I leave the compressor and eq on when I send it over to mastering? I've always read from mastering engineers to leave that task to them. Wouldn't a mastering engineer do a better job than me?
Click to expand...
Yes. Just don't smash everything down. You have to use it subtly. If you mashed it too far your MEs will let you know.

btw, my chain is:

Waves Puitec MEQ-5 adding some 2k
Waves SSL EQ adding some 12k
Waves S1 Imager widening just a bit
Wave Linear Phase Multi doing a bit of compression
Click to expand...

The signal chain on your 2 bus is going to change quite a bit from project to project. You can use saturation on your 2 bus as well. If you have the Waves stuff, Tape Sims, and SSL bus comp are not bad choices. The c6 can work nicely, but you have to know how to use it. Also mess around with the Waves summing sims. I have a summing mixer so I don't use them much, but if you're completely ITB, it'll be worth your time to mess around with it. You will want to watch some videos on how to set up the Waves summing stuff. It's not as simple as you might assume.
 
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