Controlling Aux Verbs in a final mix
 

Speaking more in a TV/Film Post-Production sense:

I have multiple Aux tracks with different verbs for different uses. I can pick and choose which track I send to each verb if and when needed.

All of my tracks have the output set to relevant mix busses (DIA, Sync, Foley, SFX, BG) and when I do a final mix I tend to just ride these mix bus faders as it's mostly already pre-mixed.

However, my aux verbs are all output to Main 1-2. This is because I might have a nice room verb Aux that I'm sending Sync, Foley and SFX tracks to so I cant output that aux verb to a specific mix bus. When I come to mix and I want to lower say SFX I can still hear it clearly because it's also running though the Aux verb and out the master.

So my options are:
1) Create aux tracks for each element ('Foley Room Verb' and 'SFX Room Verb') with the same verb settings
2) Output all Aux Verbs to a separate mix bus and group it with other mix buses when needed

Any other ideas? Just wanted to know if there is a smarter way of controlling 'multi-purpose' Aux Verbs when mixing with mix busses/sub mixes.

Cheers!

Re: Controlling Aux Verbs in a final mix
 

The old school way would be to send your sound to an effect, and then bus it back to a return track where you would record the wet signal of that sound, which you would then mix alongside the dry. Of course if you ever need to change the effect, you have to start over, and rerecord. This allowed mixers to send any track to any effect, meaning they didn’t need separate reverbs for each track, but also took more time, and required more commitment. Now, the name of the game is to always be able to change something at the drop of the hat, so constant organization and automation is key.

I tend to keep things separated, even if the plugin settings are the same across my auxes (which is rare). I automate reverb settings also, which allows me to change them by scene, and makes it easy to copy settings from my DX reverb, to my FLY reverb, if I insist they match. I usually tweak them from there though. Then my main aux tracks are bussed to predub tracks, and their corresponding reverb/other effects auxes are bussed to their own predubs. Each set of predubs gets bussed and mixed down to a stem. Having an FX predub, and an FX Verb predub, allows you separate control over wet/dry signals during the final, which is very useful. Depending on the complexity of the film, you may even have multiple predubs for FX, but that’s usually not necessary anymore if you’re mixing in the box. My finals are usually paired down to DX, MX, FLY, FX, SD, and BG predubs, with their corresponding effects predubs. All of those predubs are sent to stems, which are sent to the main out/printmaster.

So, basically, always keep things separate. You never want to send DX through a FLY reverb, just because you like the settings. It’s easier (and safer) to have dedicated effects channels and move settings around if necessary. You’ll end up with more tracks obviously, but you can always hide them, and aux tracks don’t take much processing power. Organization is the most important thing. Sorry for the wordy reply. I hope this answers your question. It’s one old school take on it anyway.


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Re: Controlling Aux Verbs in a final mix
 

Thanks Fixius! I appreciate the wisdom!

That's interesting to hear the history of having to track back the wet signal along side the original track. Yeah it sounds like more work but must have been nice to have a visual on everything rather than having to keep track of complex bus routing.

That makes sense I should have separate aux verbs for the different groups. I'll implement it in to my proj template and see how I go!

Re: Controlling Aux Verbs in a final mix
 

+1 to Fixius' post!

Just to add a data point: on some projects, I have A/B reverbs, especially for dialog or ADR so I can switch seamlessly from one setting to the next DJ-style. Scene1 reverb A, Scene2 reverb B, Scene3 back to A... Altiverb used to automate between IRs slowly, but it's gotten faster, so not always necessary to A/B.

Anyway, don't be afraid to have dozens of verbs.

Re: Controlling Aux Verbs in a final mix
 

A/B reverbs here also for all Stems.
For dialogue, ADR and Foley I made separate groups for all the A and B reverb auxes with only Mix selected under Tracks and Insert a controls under Attributes. This way I just have to switch or edit on one Aux and all group members follow.

Re: Controlling Aux Verbs in a final mix
 

I use separate verbs for all different deliverable stems (dx, fol, amb, fx, mx, etc.). I tend to use the same settings, or very similar, for dialog and foley, so I just have duplicate auxes routed to their appropriate busses and print tracks.

Re: Controlling Aux Verbs in a final mix
 

+1

A/B verbs and also different channel widths as needed. We don't have to limit ourselves as much as we used to!