stereo bussing...walters where are you...

[taeyoung]

So I've been using the search function and trying to learn up as much as possible, and I've stumbled across multiple posts by walters about stereo bussing and whatever other nonsense that guy is always talking about.

But actually I've been wondering for a while what bussing really is, sorry, I just don't get it? I do all recording in the DAW enviroment (in cubase) and I guess I just don't understand what bussing is for or even what it means.

I was hoping someone could help me with an explanation.

Let me see if I'm on the right track though...I think it refers to sending a set of tracks to a "bus" that is like all of those other tracks combined into one track so you can manage them more easily???

Is that even close??

 

[Robert D]

Think of it this way - channels on a mixer run vertically, and busses run horizontally. They carry multiple channels summed together onto a common "buss". Most any mixer has a stereo Buss, carrying varying amounts of each channel, according to the fader settings, to the stereo outputs. Then there's aux busses, usually used to carry varying amounts of each channels corresponding effects send, according to the aux send knob, to that Aux output and off to a reverb, delay, or other input.
There's also Sub Busses, which is what you eluded to. Sub busses are usually used to group similar channels, like drums, into one channel, and then on to the stereo buss.

 

[bennychico11]

easiest way:

just like a bus in a city that takes people from one place to another, an audio bus (or buss or whatever), takes audio from one place to another.

 

[taeyoung]

Think of it this way - channels on a mixer run vertically, and busses run horizontally. They carry multiple channels summed together onto a common "buss". Most any mixer has a stereo Buss, carrying varying amounts of each channel, according to the fader settings, to the stereo outputs. Then there's aux busses, usually used to carry varying amounts of each channels corresponding effects send, according to the aux send knob, to that Aux output and off to a reverb, delay, or other input.
There's also Sub Busses, which is what you eluded to. Sub busses are usually used to group similar channels, like drums, into one channel, and then on to the stereo buss.

OK, this is helpful. I still am rather unclear about it I must say though. Not because of your explanation, but I just fail to see why that would be useful to have a "bus" other than the Sub bus maybe.

I mean, for example, let's say I've recorded a rock band with drums, vox, 2 guitars and bass. I just cannot understand for what I would use a bus of any kind really, especially in the DAW since I can have 50 plus tracks right on the screen at once. What is the purpose of wanting differring levels of certain channels under 1 fader or whatever?

Hmm, I think I understand the aux send output...that's like if you want all the drums to have a certain amount of reverb (or many of the same drum tracks other than the kick maybe?)

 

[Ford Van]

OK, this is helpful. I still am rather unclear about it I must say though. Not because of your explanation, but I just fail to see why that would be useful to have a "bus" other than the Sub bus maybe.

As you read below, this will become more evident.

I mean, for example, let's say I've recorded a rock band with drums, vox, 2 guitars and bass. I just cannot understand for what I would use a bus of any kind really, especially in the DAW since I can have 50 plus tracks right on the screen at once. What is the purpose of wanting differring levels of certain channels under 1 fader or whatever?

There are MANY reasons why you may want to buss instrument!

Let's just use guitars for an example. You may have several tracks of guitar because you want that "layered guitar" sound. Now, let's say that during vocal passages, you want the guitars to turn down about 2 or 3dB overall to allow the vocal to sit over the mix a little better. Let's say there are 8 guitar tracks altogether playing at the same time, or even 4, or even 2! Would it not be MUCH simpler to automate 1 volume control instead of 2, 4, or 8 to do the same thing? By bussing the guitars together, you can automate just one fader to go up and down.

Let's say that you have a post fader send to an effects processor for reverb on a vocal. Let's say that there are times where you don't want to effect the reverb send, but you want to effect the vocal volume. By assigning the vocal to a buss, you can automate the vocal volume without effecting the volume going to the reverb. The reason you may want to do this is for special effects where you maybe have the voice fading out, but you can still hear the reverberation on the voice as it is fading out. There could be MANY artistic reasons to do this.

Next, let's say that you have 6 back up vocal tracks, and you want to compress them all together because of the effect that has on the combined voices, or possibly because you want to save some CPU cycles by not having to run 6 different compressors. You could assign them all to a buss and compress the buss.

I could go on and on about how you can use busses in different scenarios. The point is, sometimes, assigning things to a buss is the simplest way to accomplish something. Other times, you may not need that option. But it is nice when it is available!

Hmm, I think I understand the aux send output...that's like if you want all the drums to have a certain amount of reverb (or many of the same drum tracks other than the kick maybe?)

Yup, just one example of using a buss. But think of it another way, if multiple things will have the same effect, rather than running that effect on EACH channel, thus, using a LOT more cpu for all those effect plugins running, would it be easier to just have all the tracks running to 1 instance of the effect?

In the old hardware days, you could hardly afford 8 reverbs to insert on drum tracks! You HAD to have an Aux Send so you could just use one reverb.

Open up your mind to the possibilities of using busses. You will see in time that they offer a LOT of versatility for how you go about doing things!

 

[taeyoung]

In the old hardware days, you could hardly afford 8 reverbs to insert on drum tracks! You HAD to have an Aux Send so you could just use one reverb.

Open up your mind to the possibilities of using busses. You will see in time that they offer a LOT of versatility for how you go about doing things!

Ah, I get it now...that's the kind of explanation I was hoping for. After all, I can in fact get by just fine without bussing anything, but when you relate it back to using hardware and having to have like 8 reverb units without bussing it all makes sense. But I certainly could use it to free up my CPU a bit.

thanks again

 

[bennychico11]

by the way, not to confuse you anymore, but people name things differently too.
What Ford Van may call a buss, I've called a sub group. When you apply an affect on one fader that has multiple tracks bussed to it or are using it for master volume control of a group of instruments...I just say the physical fader is a sub group. And a bus is just the pathway the audio takes to get there...OR...to other channels (not necessarily specific ones on the console, since a console's routing matrix can take it several places).
Again, things change from manufacturer to manufacturer and from engineer to engineer. But I always stay with:
"I'm bussing my audio to an aux track."
"I'm making an aux track so I can sub group my drums."