Are "DAW Best Practices" published anywhere?

• When is it better to group on buses and apply effects as a group versus effects on individual channels?
• What effects are better on the master bus rather than individual channels?
• How can you keep the sound clean?  How much reverb to use?  Use reverb on all voices or just some? Use the same reverb throughout the mix or mix different reverb effects on different instruments?
• Strategies for compression
• Ways to bring out important voices without making them louder (chorusing, flanging)?
• etc

robert_e_bone
Do your best and you will find some measure of success and satisfaction in life. Bob Bone

cclarry
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• When is it better to group on buses and apply effects as a group versus effects on individual channels? I group similar instruments (e.g., string section, back-up vocals) on a bus with a single reverb on the bus to save CPU power and enable me to change the reverb for all at once.  (It would be weird if the violas had half the reverb of the violins, etc.)  Drums are an exception because, even though it is not realistic, our ears are used to hearing different amounts of reverb on different drums.  For most non-reverb effects, I use a separate effect for each track because some effects sound bad when processing too much data or too many notes at once.
• What effects are better on the master bus rather than individual channels?  I don't put anything on the master bus except what people normally think of as "mastering effects," like compression or limiting.  For group buses, see coments above.
• How can you keep the sound clean?  How much reverb to use?  Use reverb on all voices or just some? Use the same reverb throughout the mix or mix different reverb effects on different instruments? 1-I use way less reverb than most people because I am a freaking weirdo, so best not to ask me how much.  2-I think it makes sense to use the same or similar reverb (but different amounts) on the natural (organic) sounds like voices, acoustic instruments, orchestra, etc.  For electronic sounds, anything goes.  3-About clean: I cringe if something isn't clean but lots of people go dirty on purpose.  Example: Listen to "Siberia" by Lights (current hit).  EVERYTHING but the voice is distorted big time and on purpose.  I like the group and the song but I hate the way they did that.  To each his own.  4-Too many effects, especially plug-ins, cheapen the sound to my ears.  Example:  I like EZMix2, but I am very careful about using some of the presets because I think they sound cheap or dirty.  (Some are great.)  Guitar Rig is very clean sounding for the most part (unless you pick distortion) and is one of the better plugs.  I would not use it on voice.  5-Don't let you mic get too hot.  It is easy to distort vocals even when the handy little Sonar meter is all green because the signal overblew the mic or the preamp.
• Strategies for compression.  Search Sound on Sound archives.  Excellent articles.
• Ways to bring out important voices without making them louder (chorusing, flanging)?  Mild compression helps.  Stereo image helps.  Making sure you don't use too much reverb helps.  Manual compression (riding the fader) helps.  For vocals, a lack of 2-3K power can make voices hard to understand.  (The other edge of that sword is that too much can make the vocal really ugly.)  If you cut too much 1.2-2.5K or so out of the vocal, it will get lost.  One trick is to cut other instruments a little in that range so they don't fight the vocal, or drop them in the mix while the vocal is active.  Similar concepts apply to other insturments: you can temporarily boost the bass midrange when you want a lick to come through.

cclarry
your best friend in the world is you tube, though its hard to differentiate the real methods of the art one can build even off experimental ideas by tubers with little knowledge bulling there way through a video

hellogoodbye
'Right, well... today I will... er... right... Oh let's get that screen out of the way... okay, now, today we will see... er, try... (coughs softly) oh, what happened there... wait, right, yeah, well, okay, that should do it... oh er... yeah, now, today I will show you how to er... (takes a sip of coffee) how to er... (shouts off mic: yeah, I'll do that tomorrow, mom!). Okay, let's get going. This video will be about (coughs loudly) er...'

hellogoodbye

dmbaer
Yes, there's a massive amount of material on youtube, but it's largely luck-of-the-draw.  The problem is finding what's good amongst all the less-than-worthy-of-your-time material.
 
A better solution, if you've got a hundred bucks and a little patience, is groove3.  They have a good number of professionally produced videos that are well worth taking the time to watch.  They have a sale every now and then (at least twice a year, I think) that gives you a one-year all-access pass for $100.  Money very well spent, IMO.

I agree with the YouTube comment. 9 out of 10 video's suck. People who mumble something like 'Right, well... today I will... er... right... Oh let's get that screen out of the way... okay, now, today we will see... er, try... (coughs softly) oh, what happened there... wait, right, yeah, well, okay, that should do it... oh er... yeah, now, today I will show you how to er... (takes a sip of coffee) how to er... (shouts off mic: yeah, I'll do that tomorrow, mom!). Okay, let's get going. This video will be about (coughs loudly) er...' And this goes on for 45 minutes. And in the end you usually have learned nothing new. Yeah, most YouTube tutorials suck big time.
 
As an alternative for Groove3 (in case you want to mainly learn about Sonar): one of the best video's ever imho is SWA's Complete Sonar X2 Tutorial. It's REALLY complete and very well done.