The Mix

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mcourter
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2006/11/22 10:46:12 (permalink)

The Mix

I've already found plenty of good advice on mixing. I've read the tutorial, and a couple of Sonar books, but not everything is clear. Suppose: I've EQed my individual tracks, but I want to EQ or compress (or whatever) the entire mix. Do I designate the output for all tracks to send to one bus to apply the effect to all tracks? To the master? Thanks for the help.
Mark

A few guitars, a couple of basses, a MIDI controller, a mandolin, a banjo, a mic, PodFarm2
Unbridled Enthusiasm
 My music: www.Soundclick.com/markcourter
#1

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    Studio1000
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    RE: The Mix 2006/11/22 11:17:54 (permalink)
    Anything I want to apply to the whole mix I place in the effects bin on the master BUS. right or not it works for me.
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    mcourter
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    RE: The Mix 2006/11/22 12:07:54 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: Studio1000

    Anything I want to apply to the whole mix I place in the effects bin on the master BUS. right or not it works for me.

    Well if it works for you, maybe it will work for me . Certainly worth trying. Thanks
    Mark

    A few guitars, a couple of basses, a MIDI controller, a mandolin, a banjo, a mic, PodFarm2
    Unbridled Enthusiasm
     My music: www.Soundclick.com/markcourter
    #3
    boten
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    RE: The Mix 2006/11/23 14:10:32 (permalink)
    If you want to apply those effects to the whole mix, then yes, that's the way to go. Sometimes you want to split the effects to have them applied to different group of audio tracks, then you insert aux buses, you route the individual tracks to those buses and route the buses to the master bus.

    I do not typically have any effects applied to the master bus when I'm mixing. I just mix the thing, then export the entire mix and create a new project to work on the mastering process which involves applying effects to the whole mix. That on one hand saves PC resources (the mastering plugins I use are real killers) and also it makes you focus on the right thing during mixing and then during mastering.
    #4
    Middleman
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    RE: The Mix 2006/11/23 17:23:06 (permalink)
    I mix into the compressor setting on the main buss and its settings will vary with the song. But, I generally do not burn the final 2 track with the compressor. This is just so I don't end up with an excessive amount of compressor plug ins on the mix.

    If I am home mastering then I will create a parallel buss so I can mix the untouched track with a compressed buss version. This fattens the sound and lets some of the transients dance on top the background of the compressed mix. Kind of like having your cake and eating it too.

    I then will drop in the limiter as a final step set to -.03. There is an EQ in there too for mastering.
    #5
    Sonic the Hedgehog
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    RE: The Mix 2006/11/25 00:54:01 (permalink)
    Hi Mcourter,

    I share Boten's opinion. Exporting your mix to a stereo file and then working on that in an entirely different program will also give you a fresh perspective. You'll no longer be preoccupied by the zillions of different tracks and effects, but by the sum of everything that came before. You'll be surprised at how little processing you will actually need to do at that stage.

    ''I work to live, but live to make music'' -Mahler
    #6
    mcourter
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    RE: The Mix 2006/11/25 12:25:07 (permalink)
    Thanks for all the advice, fellas. Since I still have a lot to learn about Sonar, I'll try the easy way first. Later I'll try mastering in independent programs. I really don't have anything very complicated in mind at this stage, but now I have several different aproaches to try out. And that's half the fun.
    Mark

    A few guitars, a couple of basses, a MIDI controller, a mandolin, a banjo, a mic, PodFarm2
    Unbridled Enthusiasm
     My music: www.Soundclick.com/markcourter
    #7
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