i'm re-thinking bus routing, from the way i've been doing it for years and years.....
 
 
how many of you mixers setup your busses going into a 'MIX' buss, and then into a 'Master' buss?
 
 
meaning, rather than just using your MASTER buss as the last buss your subs and individual hit,
you route to a buss that is UNDER your Master (master is routed directly to your soundcard or interface)?
 
 
 
I've always routed all my sub busses to the MASTER, which in turn is routed to analog 1/2. (your interface outputs, or soundcard outs)
 
the idea is, all individuals go to their respective sub buss (ie: all drum tracks go to 'Drum' buss, guitars to 'Guitar', etc....)
 
if i am going to put, say, EQ and Compression on my Master buss, and mix all my sub busses into the master bus,
does it matter that it's on the buss going directly to the interface output? (typically, analog outs 1/2)
 
 
what would be the advantage of setting up a 'second to last' buss that all outputs are routed to,
then having THAT buss routed to the 'MASTER'?
 

I can see how this might serve to avoid mastering all together if one wanted to boost and EQ the signal before the master buss to mastering levels.  I've done this myself with good results, yet I like to play with my mastering software, so I'm not quite ready to use this method full time.  But, I'm sure this could be a time saver for many people.

I've always used a mix/ 2 bus. I route any groups or fx buses to my 2 bus which is then routed to the Master out.
The 2 bus is set up for any eq's, comps, needed plus console emu main out. That's routed to the the Mater out which is set up with tools for metering, lufs, referencing.
You can set it up all different ways  with the same results, depends om what type of workflow you're after.
 

LYNN-
 well, i'm not talking about mastering at all.
 
only about 'routing' schemes during regular mixing.
 
i've always mixed into a master buss compressor, set very lightly, for a bit of 'glue'.
 
but i've always had this set on the 'master' buss, and never gave it much thought beyond that.
 
if you bounce tracks to stereo (as i do with finished mixes), and use the 'What You Hear' bounce route setting, 
i always thought it didn't matter what happened before the 'master' buss, only leading into it.

ceemusic
I've always used a mix/ 2 bus. I route any groups or fx buses to my 2 bus which is then routed to the Master out.
The 2 bus is set up for any eq's, comps, needed plus console emu main out. That's routed to the the Mater out which is set up with tools for metering, lufs, referencing.
You can set it up all different ways  with the same results, depends om what type of workflow you're after.
 

i guess i'm calling the Master as the master out.....
and do not have a 2 bus.
 
only a 'master', that all my subs get routed to.....
 
so, you're answer to this question is 'yes, i have a sub-master that everything gets routed to, and then that bus gets routed to the master out.
 
????
 
 
i think my confusion comes from that fact that half the people call the master bus the '2 bus', and half call it 'master', but they are two different busses.
 

Rob,  I see where you're coming from.  However, with this much flexibility there are practical applications that can be utilized if one is willing to "break the mold".  I suppose this could open up a can of worms if done haphazardly.

batsbrew
so, you're answer to this question is 'yes, i have a sub-master that everything gets routed to, and then that bus gets routed to the master out.
 
????
 

It's simply 2 bus --> Master bus (a bus) --> sound card Main Out(s).

I for the life of me can't figure out what the difference is. I have used a sub bus for various reasons but I don't see how what you call it makes it anything but another bus. 2 bus in Sonar? I could understand if one has an analog mixer.  

I sometimes have 2 or even 3 "mix (summing) busses" before the Master "A" bus.
The last one before A (always called "Conductor" and often used for global dynamic changes via vol. envelope) will always contain everything from the other sub busses.
Before "Conductor" I sometimes have busses named "All but Guitars" and then "All Guitars".
There have been 2 times that I've had a bus between Conductior and A called "Boost to A".
I have had projects that have 15 to 20 busses.

John
I for the life of me can't figure out what the difference is. I have used a sub bus for various reasons but I don't see how what you call it makes it anything but another bus. 2 bus in Sonar? I could understand if one has an analog mixer.  

 
Different workflow for different people & situations.
 As long as your source mix comes out the way you want to hear it it doesn't matter what what you call them or how you have your projects set up.
 
For me it's easy. The 2 bus does any final processing ( w/ possible fader adjustments. ) The Master bus has tools & the fader never gets adjusted.