Mix Bus

[Archmart]

Hey Hey!

A question about the Mix Bus...

All things being equal, would it matter whether I put a plug in on my master in a multitrack session or in a 2 track only session?

In other words... If I'm having to be extra conservative with the number of plug-ins I'm using, is it going to make any difference if I bounce and then apply overall mix compression, eq, and limiting in more of a mastering stage? Or is it advantageous to hit that mix bus compression/eq at the point that it's being mixed? I would think that the mix to 2 track actually has to happen before the Master Inserts, and therefore it should sound the same either way, right?

The only difficulty with this is I like to mix sort-of INTO the compressor and overall eq, if you know what I mean.

Thanks,
Archmart

[Seeee]

makes a HUGE difference cause you're mixing differently, instruments are interacting differently, and you cant predict what it will do when ya slap that compressor on the 2 track.

However, i dont mix with anything on the mix bus so it wont hurt to work a little differenly if ya have to. back yourself into that corner and work yourself out.

[Archmart]

Hey Hey!

That is to say that the difference would be in how I would mix, not how the same compressor, eq, etc. would do it's thing, right?

Archmart

[pk_hat]

Some peeps like to 'cheat' the mix by inserting all this crap on the MF during a mix (ie: multiband compressor, eq, limiter, etc.). If it works for some, more power to them, but my approach (and seemingly a more common one) is to just focus on getting a great mix and leave the MF fader alone. Once that's taken care of, then I export my mix as a 24bit stereo file and take care of the getto mastering stage.

Hey hey, that's just what I do.