• SONAR
  • Beginner Bussing Question (p.2)
2011/12/20 22:27:03
JayCee99
Great tips jkleban, thanks!  I love busses (except when my boss throws me under one)
2013/09/07 15:22:30
aglewis723
I know this is a very old post, but I had a quick follow up question.....
 
Should I route my FX busses to the MASTER bus or to the instrument busses (for instance:  Drum Bus, Synth Bus, etc...)
 
What is the best option for this?
 
Thank You!
2013/09/07 15:38:33
Boydie
Route FX Busses to MASTER to ensure that your FX are not affected in any other way than you decide on your FX bus
 
This will also ensure that they undergo the same "master processing" that you may decide to add
2013/09/08 14:59:54
konradh
Here is my typical set of buses:
 
Master
Vocal Reverb
Drum Reverb
Instrument Reverb
Backing Vocals, if present.  (If there are male and female backing vocals, I have a bus for each.)
String (or Orchestra), if present
 
A drum bass makes complete sense.  I just don't do it because I typically find myself tweaking the individual levels (e.g., kick, hat) more than the overall level, but I probably should use a drum bus and may in the future.  It especially makes sense for live drums that may need compression, something I seldom use on sampled drums (but again, I am probably in the minority on that).
 
I don't create buses for single instruments or small groups of instruments because it just seems like more complication, more faders, and more signal path.  Plus, on my console, I have to switch between track and bus views—the same physical faders control tracks and buses—and it is not convenient to switch views to adjust a single instrument.
 
The advantage to everything routed to buses is that you can bring the overall levels up and down in a single view, but for me, that hasn't been worth the complexity.
 
 
2013/09/08 15:58:50
Bristol_Jonesey
I tend to go a bit overboard with my busses, but I don't feel as though I lose control.
 
It's quite common to have, in a fairly complex project, busses for:
 
Toms (to Drum buss)
Drums > Pre-master
Bass (all low-end instruments, plus maybe sometimes the kick)
Lead guitars (to Guitar buss)
Rhythm guitars (to Guitar buss)
Acoustic guitars (to Guitar buss)
Guitars > Pre-master
Keys > Pre-master
Sound Fx > Pre-master
Backing vocals (to Vocal buss)
Lead vocals (to Vocal buss)
Vocals > Pre-master
Delay 1 > Pre-master
Delay 2 > Pre-master
Reverb 1 (Blend) > Pre-master
Reverb 2 (Size) > Pre-master
Pre-master (All busses route to this one) > Master
Master > Main Out
 
I might add one or two more if I'm doing something a bit special
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