Busses - mixing down - best approach

[miro pajic]

ok, to put it more simple:

A buss compressor does "something" that you simply can not achieve without it. That's really all. It's not a must or nothing I personally always use.

S.K.: I don't think so. I have been working with hardware mixers since the early 90's and know its benefits and sure, you get great results somehow easier than ITB but it has nothing to do with the fact that e.g. many mixing engineers use a hardware buss compressor. It's two different things to me.

I understand steevio, trying to work on the individual channels instead of "being lazy" but again: It's not the same thing. These things work hand in hand IMO.

I'm out.

[steevio]

ok, to put it more simple:

A buss compressor does "something" that you simply can not achieve without it. That's really all. It's not a must or nothing I personally always use.

i wouldnt disagree with that at all.

its not the only method of gluing and thats all i said.

i'm out too

[deccard]

nope i´m not a sampler. i use everything.
thats the difference. i dont have strong opinions how to do this or that and i dont have a go at you either. as i clearly stated above. i just dont like generalisations you expressed. they are ignoring a lot of modern facts.
the computer shows a whole new world how to process. i come from oldskool mixing OTB from the mid 90ies. but as i like to experiment there are a lot more options for soundshaping than just the envolopes and filter of a synth.
so thats why i dont need to do any generalisations. they are ignorrant in my eyes.
i have analogue stuff, preamps and all that sh!t. for me its best of both worlds and i dont care how people use their tools. i dont need to tell them how lazy they are either
a channel on the sequencer is for me like a voice of a synth. eq and compressor are just tools to shape soundmaterial. no matter what. it just all melts together as one big instrument.
so thats why miro says your attidude is conservative.

think about it hehe

look man, i'm not generalising, i'm stating a feeling i have from using these techniques, buss processing is almost as old as recording itself, its not some new technique unique to computers, if i say its lazy in terms of gluing together a mix, its purely because i feel lazy doing it as opposed to working within the elements and using other techniques during tune construction.
you've picked up on one sentence and blown it out of all proportion, and you're not accepting that my techniques and experiences are just as legitimate as yours.

i'd love to know what modern facts i'm ignoring ?

god i´m tired of argueing. of course i accept your techniques....
and no i´m not ignoring modern analogue technique. where did i say that?

so again...buss compression is just a tool to use when needed and its not lazy to use either. so well all have the same opinion there finally...great

[steevio]

so again...buss compression is just a tool to use when needed and its not lazy to use either. so well all have the same opinion there finally...great

no i still think its lazy

peace bro

[steevio]

ok one last attempt to give you an idea of where i'm coming from;

i said i was out, but its quite unsatisfactory in a production forum to be missunderstood.

ive obviously upset the sensibilities of guys who use buss compression LOL

if i replaced the word lazy with EASY would that make you feel better.

in my studio easy means lazy, its as simple as that. if something seems easy, i always question the technique and wonder if there is a better way to do things even though it may take more time and work.
i dont doubt that compression is an effect which has its own character and does 'something' as miro said, but for me i simply dont like that 'something'
i find i can glue my mixes together with more satisfying results without using compression.
as a simple example i cross frequency modulate the fundamantal waves of my percussion sounds, it ties them together in ways which are impossible by any other method, thats just one out of many techniques i use to produce a coherent mix which has a holistic resonance, this is glue in the realm of EQ.
in terms of dynamics i have my sequencing system set up in my modular so that the dynamics are under total control at all times, i cant explain this easily here, but similar to cross frequency modulation i have a system of cross dynamic modulation, this gives holistic dynamics.

i totally understand why you reacted to the 'L' word, its just a figure of speech, its not that big a deal, and i totally understand that with certain types of production buss processing is probably the best option to acheive 'glue', but its not the only way,

it is however the easiest

i hope you know where i'm coming from now bro.

[deccard]

well nice for you but cant you read the topic?
Busses - mixing down - best approach

someone asked a question and there is an answer for that. some people wanted to know and its easy to explain. give them some advice to avoid crazy mistakes and then they can decide if they use it or not or get more into it or not....
not so easy sometimes?

and where you come from seems like it needs an extra topic. maybe you should just make a thread about your setup and explaining how things work, are connected etc...like some introduction into modular and beyond...could be interesting for some people and maybe better than these distractions in other threads.

[steevio]

ok i'm out of here
i'm talking about legitimate techniques, and it totally has relevance to the topic,

so here it is for the beginners,

FOR ME
there is no best approach, experiment and find what works for you.

there are lots of ways to do anything in music. find your own guys.

listen to what everybody has to say and make up your own mind up as to what is relevant to you.

the busses on your mixer can be used in any number of ways, read what different people do with them, and try things out.

i use them for levelling groups of sounds in many different ways, this depends totally on the tune in question. i dont have a default set-up.
i like to be flexible.

[swarlied]

@kdgh

i realy enjoyed the soundcloud links you have posted is this sound created with different compression on low-, mid-, high-busses?

@steevio

as a simple example i cross frequency modulate the fundamantal waves of my percussion sounds, it ties them together in ways which are impossible by any other method,

I dont know what you mean, i maybe also lack understanding of cross-frequency modulation. would you mind explainig this a little bit better or would you mind to post us some example of your drums?