The difference between "mains" and "master"

I have been following a thread with interest regarding using a well-mixed professional song of our own choice to serve as a reference track to educate the ear and to use as a basis for comparison when mixing our own material.

There is one term I'm not sure I understand properly, although I realize that it's pretty shameful to have to ask for clarification of such a simple thing: Someone said to be sure to listen to the reference track through the mains and not the master. I understand that is to avoid colouring an already fully mastered work with any effects we may have going on our master bus.

By 'mains', does it mean to just send the reference track(s)'s output(s) directly to our interface (in my case, the Octa-Capture 1-2) and continue to send my own material (everything that is not the reference track) to the master bus?

Thanks, and sorry for the idiotic question. I just for some reason never had heard about 'mains' before.

LJ

Thank you, scook!

In both the Track View and Console View you have panes that show track and buses. Only in the CV can you see the "Mains" and it/they have their own pane. The buss pane may or may not have any buses in it. If it doesn't have a buss or buses the tracks will output directly to the main output. The main output is the input to your sound card going to your speakers. Even if you do have buses unless you have routed your tracks outs to a buss they will default to the main out.
 
Buses are made by the user and one can have as many as one wants. We have settled on a standard to route our audio and standard has one "master" buss. All other buses feed into this and it goes to the main out. 
 
I like to have a buss for drums and one for instruments and one for voice.  I also have an auxiliary buss too. I may have more than one aux buss.  I use those for sends and returns. Each has sends on it that can be routed to any buss. Its a tap of the track signal that can go to an aux. This in turn will route its out to a buss, most likely to the master buss. 
 
Again the master buss is used to have total control of and a place to insert final FX for the entire mix before it goes to the main outs. I leave the main outs alone. They stay at unity. What you see in the meters on the master should also be seen in the main outs meter. If not you have a mis-routed track or buss. 
 
I think of the Sonar buss system to be the easiest and simplest system around and very versatile. 

gswitz
I always thought Mains were speakers, as opposed monitors.
 
The Master bus could be sent to any speakers you like.
You could have another bus sent to a different set of speakers and eq'd differently.
 
It never occurred to me to name a bus after the speakers -- as Mains. But it's easy enough to do.
 
In the studio I don't use the term mains much. I refer to the speaker set specifically.
 
I don't have mains and monitors. I have musicians with headphones. Haha. and headphones mixes... and there could be a whole bunch of those... way more than 2.

Its a bit confusing too depending on what country you're in. Mains in England refers to electric power from the wall socket.  

I agree with you Lampshade. I totally ignore the name of the hardware outs also known as the "mains" . The reason I use the name "master" for the master buss is I can think of no better name.  Also because its in the buss pane there is no confusion for me. 

An alternative to all this, if you have a spare $50 in your wallet is to check out the absolutely fantastic "Magic AB" from Sample Magic.
It's been discussed on this forum before:-
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Sample-Magic-AB-Reference-plugin-m2852787.aspx
 
Their product page is here:-
 
http://www.samplemagic.com/details/184/magic-ab
 
It is designed to do one task - Directly and accurately reference your music against multiple tracks of your choice in real time.
It is a serious tool which offers direct referencing in a whole new, immediate and vastly improved way over tedious conventional methods.
  It can be placed on its own channel or inserted as the last effect on the master bus, totally eliminating any problems regarding other effects. Also the material you choose to reference against remains in its original location(s) without being physically imported into the app and hence, your project.
At $50 you soon realize that it's a fantastic price for the tool you are actually getting.
I got it and never looked back. It quickly became totally essential and is a joy to use.

Update: I took R3V3RB's advice and bought Magic AB from Sample Magic, and so far, for my purposes, it works just great and is going to be used more than almost any other plug. I especially like having up to nine reference tracks available instantaneously. They can be looped very simply, too, for example, to zero in on that delicious trumpet sound that comes in at the end of the bridge on one of the reference tracks, and try to get a similar sound and placement from your own trumpet sample by changing EQ, compression, panning, etc. and comparing back and forth instantly until you're satisfied.

Happy and thanks to the forum!
LJ

soens
It is even more confusing when they label the "Mains" in Console View "Master". They should be labeled "Mains".

It used to be labelled "MAINS".  When did this change?

For those who don't want to spend $50 on a plugin, simply import your reference tracks into a template and set up SOLO grouping so you can toggle between reference tracks and you master bus.
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation/default.aspx?Doc=SONAR+X3&Lang=EN&Req=Dialogs2.003.html
 

R3V3RB
An alternative to all this, if you have a spare $50 in your wallet is to check out the absolutely fantastic "Magic AB" from Sample Magic.
It's been discussed on this forum before:-
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Sample-Magic-AB-Reference-plugin-m2852787.aspx
 
Their product page is here:-
 
http://www.samplemagic.com/details/184/magic-ab

Wow...seriously intrigued after reading and watching YouTube vids.  Seems pretty solid.  Maybe it's just me, but I don't use reference mixes as much as I KNOW I SHOULD...perhaps spending some dough...for a quality product...might help break old habits?  ;)  If Pensado's on board, perhaps I should be, too?
 
Thanks for a cool thread!!