grouping / bussing drums and percussion

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-- grouping / bussing drums and percussion

Posted by blowa on Jul-13-2010 07:55:

grouping / bussing drums and percussion

How do I bus all my drums together?

I've set up an auxillary channel in the mixer and put a compressor in it.

I'm now not sure how to route or the best way to route the drums and percussion to that compressor so they gel better.

Thanks

Posted by Waza on Jul-13-2010 08:06:

what Daw are you using....

Instead of the main output of the channel you have in mind, set it to the bus channel. (that's one way of doing it).

Posted by blowa on Jul-13-2010 09:05:

hi

im using logic 8. Sorry forgot to say.

On drum channels do you put the output to bus and then on the compressor channel do you set in put to bus? Sorry if that doesn't make sense. Like in my original post I dont know how to set it up.

Cheers

Posted by Waza on Jul-13-2010 10:11:

I dont understand why your also using a seperate channel for the compressor.

Just put the output to the bus channel and insert a compressor in that channel just to gel the sounds together..

Don't over complicate things.

Posted by music2dance2 on Jul-13-2010 22:15:

^^^ what he said. You wont need another comp channel.

Posted by cammaxwell on Jul-13-2010 23:24:

In the mixer window select all your drums tracks by highlighting them (hold shift and select) then click on the stereo out and on the drop down menu select the drum buss you created.

To get it to gel, put a compressor on the drum buss and maybe use a send with a little bit of reverb (use a high pass filter before the reverb on the send bus). For the compressor, if your using logics use the ClassA_U or maybe the FET circuit type. Play with attack and release but maybe start with 10ms ATT and 48ms REL, hard knee, ratio of around 4:1, and aim for around 4 db of reduction (depending on the sound your after).

This should hopefully help get you in the right area...

Posted by LoveHate on Jul-14-2010 00:32:

put it all in the same channel?

how hard is that?

or is it different in other daws besides fl

Posted by Stephen Wiley on Jul-14-2010 07:50:

don't let the terms confuse you....

a "bus" is just one audio channel with a bunch of other audio channels inputting to it. you select all your drum tracks and send their audio to this "bus channel" - just put your insert FX on the "bus channel" and use it like you would any other audio channel.

If you had Ableton, your eyeballs would fall out if you saw the drum racks and their power

Posted by Evolve140 on Jul-14-2010 19:07:

This is just what I have found works for me, if anyone has any better ideas let me know. And use this advice within reason.

Make sure the compression on the buss isn�t too crazy. Up the line, compression can really add up to insane ratios. It�s not additive it�s multiplitive, at the end of the line your sound may end up having some huge compression ratio depriving it of any life or dynamics.

On your percussion buss, make sure the compression attack isn't too fast. The transient on a hihat for example is delicate and only a few miliseconds, so try setting the attack at around 40ms with a complementry release. If you turn up the ratio all the way, it is easier to find out where you need to set your attack and release. Turn it back down to normal after that.

Also, do not side chain your elements before you send them to your buss. Sidechain the actual buss channel after you have added processing. (anyone have any thoughts on that?)

In any case, I would suggest learning how to use a compressor properly if you don't already before you start trying to buss, since it will be useless without that knowledge and pretty much hit or miss.

If you are using PSP Vintage Warmer, do not add a compressor after that on the signal unless the drive on the PSP is at zero, as it will result in wild over compression.