VCA vs. Buses

[BrianJArmstrong]

I wanted to start a discussion about pros and cons of VCAs and busses.

When do you prefer one vs. the other? Do you only use one and not the other?

I do a lot of post production work and always have stems to think about during final output. VCAs are great for certain things, but when it comes time to do a bounce, instead of having to bounce each stem real time, I like to set up busses so I can record all stems at once internally and export regions as files after the fact. Does that pretty much make VCAs redundant?

At the same time, it could be nice not to have to touch the busses and just use VCAs to control overall level. Like I said before, it just seems redundant/unnecessary to have a VCA controlling all the faders that go into a bus.

I'm thinking busses are still my best bet, but am welcoming others' input.

Thanks!!

Brian