I don't always get the latest on pro mixing techniques, but I've seen recent videos discussing the 2 bus mix method.  They said this was a popular topic at NAMM and from the Pro Tools school.  I'd like to throw this out for correction/discussion to see if this setup for my new New Mix Template would suffice.  I've always put the heavy stuff on the Master bus and received info from tracks and busses, but this makes much more sense.  Of course, there are always reasons to have variations of this, but use this as a general starting point as i see other mixing people/professionals using a "2 bus" method on YouTube videos.
 
Set up aux buses for stem groups... ie, bass, guitar, vocal, perc with some group-level effects on each bus.  This makes it easy to save stems with plenty of headroom.
Send these to a SubMaster bus with final processing fx... compression, eq, enhancement, tape, stereo imaging... (the 2 bus) This is the 'almost' final sound. 
Send that to the Master with boosting/limiter (including dithering if needed).  This should be adjusted for rendering output for the specific file type.
of course the master goes to the selected monitors.
 
Let me know if you use a '2 bus' method, and if this is about how you set up the mix... 
 

I think it's a good idea to have subgroup buses if you expect to be exporting stems for someone else to master. If you're mastering yourself, then it's a matter of taste. Some people like to mix all the instruments within a subgroup then leave them, so that later they don't have to worry about tracks and just mix the subgroups.
 
Separating the submaster from the master bus... I don't feel a need to do this myself. Maybe they do it so that they can hear all the effects that they're applying at unity gain, to make accurate A/B comparisons.

I thought that was the preferred method used by the pros.  I call that bus 'Mix' and I don't put much on it...the BT Stereo Imager maybe and/or light compression.  My songs are basic with buses for: Lead Vocals, Harmony Vocals, Drums, Bass, El. Guitars, Ac. Guitars, Piano?, Fiddle?, ....
 
I send all the instrument buses to a Music bus.
 
The Music bus and the Vocal buses go to the Mix bus. 
 
The Mix bus goes to a Master bus and then out the Mains.
 
I probably don't actually need that extra Master bus, but sometimes I put the T-Rack S meter on it or a maximizer to see how the mix is likely to sound when I export it.

I usually just use, instruments / vocal busses, and to "master out", which again goes to audio interface out.

I'm usually happy if I make it to the bus on time . . .

jih64
I'm usually happy if I make it to the bus on time . . .

Thi hi hi

I've really been enjoying this guy's YouTube videos.  In this one, at about time 13:50, he discusses a parallel compression technique in which he uses Sends from everything except the drum bus.
 
https://youtu.be/hkWm7zgWyW8
 
Anyway, though not exactly on point, it highlights a way to use buses....

i got the 2 bus info from a couple of vids:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEZLlc6x1is
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG__UKPfrgA