Mix Bus Plugs
 

Getting to the stage where I might have to mix my own stuff in PT.

What do you guys put on the mix bus? At the mo I do it the Charles Dye way with AC1 on the bus as I mix.

Do you comp? Before or after you mix? How much?
Do you EQ on the mix bus?
Stereo widener?
Tape saturation plugs?

How much do you leave to the mastering guy?

It is very hard to compare mixes to commercial ones cos these have been mastered. Does anyone know a resource where I can get stereo mixes pre-master. I can then import these into my session and use them to reference my mix to.

thanks

Re: Mix Bus Plugs
 

Leave as much as you can to the mastering engineer. Remember, he cannot undo inappropriate compression.
yes, lots of styles of music do use compression on the 2bus, but if you are unsure of what you are doing, it is better left until the mastering.
While I am mixing, if I want to compare a comercial CD, I import it and lower it's fader until it feels the same level as my mix. I try to listen to it in terms of frequency spectrum and it's sonic qualities, as opposed to how loud it is [usually too loud, but that's a different story]
Try bouncing your mix without too much treatment on the 2bus. You can always import it into a fresh session and try your hand at improving it when you and your ears are fresh. That way you still have a "clean' version

Good luck

PB

Re: Mix Bus Plugs
 

cheers Peter

the problem with comparing the mix with mastered versions is that aswell as making it louder the mastering engineer
will doubtless also have put on EQ to sweeten the whole thing. I had mixes mastered at the Exchange that went in sounding less
than perfect. After a good master they came out sounding like a more polished record.

As far as I can gather from what I have heard and been in sessions on, alot of mixes are kinda mixed for the mastering guy. The best mixers don't get it sounding mega hi-fi, but enough so the mastering guy can work his tricks. Is this a fair point?

Re: Mix Bus Plugs
 

Yo Spaceman-

It is a personal choice as to what you do on your 2 buss. Some say leave it clean and have the mastering engineer do his/her magic. I say hogwash!!!!!!!!!!!! The problem is too many people have abused the 2 buss in the DAW world. Smashing things to [bleep] and distorting their mixes. There is however a "Right" way to go about it all. Believe me if you follow what I am about to say perfectly you will indeed have that "sound" that you desire. Now I must admit I do have a pretty expensive 2 buss chain but don't worry even with one of the plug-ins I will mention you will have vast improvement on your mixes. Here is what I do:

Master Fader 2 Buss
Plug IN- TC Master X turn off Limiter and turn off exciter set comp to 2:1 ratio adjust output as needed usually -3.5db
Plug IN - DUY Tape adjust input and out to -6db
Insert Outboard Gear- GML 8200 (very slight sweeting) to DCL 200 Summit Audio
Plug IN - DUY Wide Very little "Wide" effect and adjust to input output to -6db
*Mix with this chain "ON" all of the time*

I keep my overall level output @ -6db I will pull down the master fader sometimes to achieve this.

This has worked for me and I have never pissed off a mastering engineer ever. As a matter of fact I get compliments all the time.
If you don't have any of the above I would suggest you get TC Master X.

Re: Mix Bus Plugs
 

thanks Pony

the GMLs sound great, tho I have not got one myself!

seems quite intense for a mix bus. what stuff have you done? anything i might know about?
can you post links to your work?

ta

Re: Mix Bus Plugs
 

Hey Spaceman-

I do music for film/tv shows.
Credits include:
3 wishes (new show trailer)
six feet under
The OC
Jack and Bobby
Smallville
Vegas
One Tree Hill
everwood
ally mcbeal
party of five
white chicks
the real world
road rules
and many more.
The music is AC to Pop/Rock

Re: Mix Bus Plugs
 

sweet man....that's quite a roll call. good on ya. getting massive pack 4 and the Tc master X is on there so I will try your tips.

anyone else got any mix bus love?

Re: Mix Bus Plugs
 

hey spaceman

sometimes i use the Waves L2 limiter to check the overall loudness of my mix as it might come back from the mastering house. I bypass it on and off to check all the relative levels of my instuments and such in the mix. depending on the types of music you might be mixing, you might not set the limiter to hit as hard. another compressor to try on the mix buss is the Focusrite D2. i know that Tom Lord Alge uses this for mixing rock music towards the end of the chain, or at the end. knocking off 1-2 db only. thats his method for rock music i have read. I have used it like that as well. though his is a real outboard unit, not software. thats one to think about. the mastering engineer i have used, has said to hit as hard as you can on the digital buss, with no peaks hitting. use all the bit depth you can, with no compression. He is a great mastering engieneer and has done a lot of stuff. then others have told me to leave the peak at -6db, or even -2 to -3 db. just depends on the mastering facility. the charles dye chain you are referring to, i believe, is also a good method as well. just different plugs. i dont need to recite any of what he says he does, as you have most likely read it.

I mix it up a tiny bit. i go AC1, then valve if needed? sometimes not........Any master EQ, you can use Pultec, Focusrite, any of them if you feel its needed. Then i use DUY Wide. Then the Waves Lin MB, in multi-opto mode. Then the Waves L2, with somtimes -10 on the reduction, somtimes -4 or -6. Depends on if I am doing House, Hip Hop, Rock, whatever. Certain types of music, certain mix engineers, obviously do things differntly.

As far as bouning the final mix to go to a mastering house, i only leave the AC1 on the master mix. Thats, just the way i have done it. Pony gave some great advice and obviously knows what he is talking about. So i guess pick, choose, experiment.

Good luck, hope this helps, let me know if i can help ya anymore.

giffinmike

Re: Mix Bus Plugs
 

SSL Stereo compressor. It's the sound of pop/rock. Sometimes a little EQ before and after.

Everyone says turn the limiter off in TC MasterX, but I find it to be the opposite. For maximizing loudness (necessary evil) I've had great success shutting everything off BUT the limiter and jacking the input while setting the output at -0.1. Seems to get about 2dB more than L1/L2 before turning to mush.

Re: Mix Bus Plugs
 

thanks for the replies...

I use Waves Lin EQ and Oxford Inflator when I do demos for people jsut so it sounds like a rough master.

But would not do this to send to mastering house. Problem I found is how much EQ do you do on the mix bus. maybe best to leave it off altogether?

Also it seems common practice to get 1-2 dbs of nice mix bus compression, but do mixers here mix into it like this (as someone suggested to me today - basically having it switched on from start of the mix) OR bang it on after the mix is finished?