Whats actually a bus? And how to properly create one?

R

Renflexx

New member
So, i've been wondering for quite a while how to use this busses and also whats the difference between a bus and a auxiliary track???
Usually when i need to put, lets say a reverb, i put it in the inserts and everything for processing i do on the inserts, so why is the need to use a bus or create one? I don't really understand the concept behind this.
If you guys could clarify that for me it would be great :D
 
Using effects as inserts is great for certain things and that's fine, but sometimes you'll want other options.
There are, I guess, two main reasons.

One is that you might want to apply one single effect to a number of tracks simultaneously.
You might do this for continuity or simply to save on processing/memory resources.
It's similar to adding inserts to your master channel.

The other is that you might want to apply an effect to a track (or set of tracks) whilst still hearing the raw unaffected track.
You might have a vocal track which has its own track output but is also sent to an aux track for compression. You'd effectively be using the aux fader as a wet/dry control for the compression.

In protools I can choose to patch a track's output to an aux (first scenario - multiple tracks), or I can choose to use a send, so the track's output and aux output both happen. (second scenario)

I think a bus is really a pathway or virtual patch cable. In a modern daw an aux track won't have any audio on it - it'll serve as a destination for buses.
A track that doesn't have any raw audio of it's own.
You might choose to bus all your drum tracks to one stereo Aux.

Wether your sends are pre or post fader opens up a whole new layer of possibilities. That's something to consider.

Even just simply having a single fader for drums, one for rhythm and one for all backing vocals can be really handy, whilst still having the independent faders for greater control.

I'm sure the terminology is blurred across various suites and probably not true to the analog routes, but hopefully this is useful. :)
 
Thanks for the answer, thing is. I've tried doing some buses on my mixes, and there's a problem which i find very annoying.
Lets imagine this scenario, i have 2 different vocal tracks, and i want the same delay for both of them. I create a bus in one of the tracks with that delay and i input that delay on the 2nd track that i wanted the same delay. Thing is, what if i want the same delay but with different parameters?? Like i dont want it so wet, or i want more early reflections, so on.
If i change the bus, it will change for all the tracks... :/
 
Renflexx said:
I create a bus in one of the tracks with that delay and i input that delay on the 2nd track that i wanted the same delay.
Click to expand...

Hmm. I'm not sure I understand that.

If you have two vocal tracks and you want the same delay on both, you'd create a separate aux track with the delay on it and send both audio tracks to that aux.
By using a send, both tracks dry outputs still exists, so the aux fader becomes your wet/dry for the the delay across both tracks.

If you want different parameters between the two tracks then it's better to just use inserts per track.
If you want, you could use two separate aux and two separate sends. I wouldn't, but a lot of people do make a point of always having reverbs/delays on aux tracks.
 
You might tell us what software you are using.

Depending on your software, there are a few ways to do it. In the software I use, I will send say, vocals to reverb that is 100%. The bus goes to the master and my track goes to the master. Track is dry and the bus is 100% wet. Usually you can control how much signal you want to go to the buss. I may have more of one vocal going to the reverb than the other allowing me to adjust my wet/dry mix.

If I use a verb for a room, I send all of my tracks to the one verb, but mix that one track as if were a master. Then I blend the reverb bus with the other tracks to give me the "room" level I want for the mix. Those are just a few examples of how I use a bus.

You might check this out. Seemed pretty good and but it is a Reaper tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_y5wh9kg-c
 
My DAW is Logic Pro X, and i usually use NI, Waves and Fabfilter plugins. The main question there is this.
I have 2 tracks with vocals. One of them is doing the lead vocal, the second one is doing the backing vocal.
I've made a bus on the 1st track which is the leading vocal, that bus contains a compressor, let's say a CLA-2A compressor.
So far so good, i got my compression on the first track, everything according to the plan.
Now on the 2nd track which is the backing vocals, i want to use that same bus with the compressor, BUT i want to change its settings, lets say i want to change the ratio of the compressor on that 2nd track.
If i go to the bus and change the ratio of the compressor, it will automatically change the ratio for all the tracks that are going through that bus.
My question is, in this scenario how could i put a different ratio on the compressor for the 2nd track but using the same bus that i did for the 1st track??
 
My understanding of a buss is a carry over from the analog days when equipment had to be utilized efficiently. They couldn't have 20 compressors, therefore they would set up busses to route tracks that could use one compressor and probably set the settings of that compressor for the entire buss. In today's digital world, one of the main reasons to use a buss is to save on CPU power and for me, some consistency. But really, you don't have to have them.

If you ever start using outboard gear, nice to know how to use it.
 
If you want to compress a single track then use the track insert.

Delays can go either way depending on your needs. Traditionally they went on a bus* so a single hardware delay could be shared, but with plugins you can afford to have one on every track if you want, and they aren't heavy on processing so using a bunch is no big deal. But if you want to do something like compress the input or output of the delay without affecting the dry track you may need to put it on a bus*.

Reverbs use more processing so putting them on a bus* to be shared is more efficient. And if you're going for something fairly natural sounding then using one reverb for all your tracks makes sense. You might not want your band playing in a church while your vocals sound like they're in a bathroom. And even if you do want to give one track its own reverb putting it on a bus* has the same advantages as it does for delay.

Another important reason to use a bus* for reverbs and delays is that you usually don't want your volume automation to affect the decays. Something like a slapback delay on a vocal might be okay because it happens fast enough, but slower time-based effects might sound odd.

[Edit] *I realize I'm using "bus" generically and that's going to cause confusion. What I'm referring to above is probably called an aux track or fx track in most software, and an effects loop on a hardware mixer.
 
Last edited:
You use busses to route your auxiliaries to the different tracks in your mix. The purposes of aux sends is that it gives you the ability to group your effects according to different instruments in your mix. You may want your guitars to have one set of effects, but your drums to have another. It save you the hassle of having to repeat the steps of setting up your effects for each track.

I hope that helps.
 
It's a path that audio can travel on. :o

LOL sorry I know that doesn't really answer your question as to what you were looking for.
 
A bus is taking the signal and mixing it down/summing it into 1 or 2 tracks. For example, you could set the output of 8 tracks of drums into the same bus, which would effectively give you two tracks with all of the drum tracks. If the output of the tracks are set as the bus, it would mean that you are only hearing audio in that bus. You could process all 8 tracks with one effect, or you could use it to easily control the level of a whole 'section' with 1 or 2 faders. You could also set up an effect on a bus and you can use sends (it routes the signal to a bus while also playing the output of the channel). THis is useful if you want to send many tracks to one effect, say. . . a reverb, and it gives you the bonus of having a dry signal in addition to effected, which is less muddy and "effecty". Technically the 2 track output of whatever you're mixing on is a bus as well. . . it does roughly the same thing as any bus, it just has special outputs and everything routes through it by default. You could almost view busses as 'mini-mixdowns'.

Buses are awesome once you get the hang of them. There's a lot of creative stuff you can do with busses.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top