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Old 12-18-2018, 06:00 AM
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reichman reichman is offline
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Default Re: VCA’s conversation starter

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryancole412 View Post
I'm embarrassed to say that I really don't fully understand the concept of using VCA. Now I'm interested in finding out more. I generally use Aux Bus for Drums, Guitars, Keys and BGVs. Can someone explain the benefits of using VCA? I'm truly interested!

Thanks!
I used to do everything with aux busses. But if you pull a bus down, say -14db, then none of the individual tracks feeding the bus can be raised above that level. In this case a VCA is useful because you can use the VCA to get the 14db of reduction, and then while in spill, grab that individual track that needs to be much higher. And in TV mixes, there might be five groups of tracks all feeding one bus. Much easier to make 5 VCAs instead of adding all those busses.

One last thing: PT faders are post-insert. Riding a bus fader is post-insert. But riding a VCA fader into a bus gives you a rare opportunity to mix pre-insert. Very useful for more advanced dynamics processing.
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