When you finish recording your instruments, you may want to add effects. A few years ago, this was a time-consuming and tedious process. But these days, there’s a great way to get around it.
An audio bus (or buss) enables you to apply all of the effects and merge tracks so you can work with them all at the same time.
It’s an output channel that collects all channels on the mixer before directing them to speakers or headphones. The best way to appreciate an audio bus is to try and mix without one. You’ll never do it again.
Let’s break down the audio bus in more detail now.
How An Audio Bus Works
Mixing boards take multiple signals from different channels and blend them. Then it routes them to an external output device.
An audio bus makes this process smoother because you can do everything together.
It’s possible to direct tracks through the audio bus collectively or in parallel. This allows for singular output and the ability to apply the same effects to the tracks. It even allows you to create templates for your DAW and use them whenever you want to record.
Master Bus Explained
This is the most popular type of audio bus. It’s the final stereo channel on every mixing console and is one of its most important features.
Every auxiliary channel and track is routed here. You can check different aspects like output level and dynamics before the audio is outputted to your speakers.
It is a very important tool for music producers because it helps them to manage technical issues. But it’s also very useful for shaping the tone of the overall mix.
There’s no denying that it makes a massive difference to the mixing process.
How to Use the Audio Bus
An audio bus can be a lifesaver if you’re working on a complicated and stressful project.
Imagine trying to mix a background orchestra or band when everybody has recorded their piece on a different track. Instead of overloading your DAW and making life incredibly tedious for yourself, just use the bus to create another separate track.
Instead of creating multiple instances of one compressor, you can route the background music or vocals through a single track.
Now you can save time because you only need to process one track instead of many. But you don’t lose anything in the process because you can still manage every individual part by turning the volume faders.
It’s totally up to you how you want to group and manage these tracks. But an audio bus will make life drastically simpler.
Who doesn’t want an easy life?
Master Bus Processing
This is when you add effects to your bus to create a better sound.
During the final stage of mixing, you can shape it with effects like saturation, compression, and stereo effects.
Be warned that some sound engineers swear against master bus processing. They believe that it sucks the soul out of the end product and ruins a good mix. However, this isn’t always the case.
Experiment with your master bus and test the limits of what you think works and what doesn’t. Try not to alter the dynamics too much because this is where you can damage the overall mix. And nobody wants that.
Remember that master bus processing is not the same as mastering. Mastering is about as subtle as driving a school bus on a race track. Less is more when it comes to master bus processing.
Subgroup Mix Bus
As the name suggests, a subgroup mix bus is a collective of tracks controlled as a single group.
It’s possible to divide your tracks into multiple subgroups so that you configure them in any way that you want.
This is handy if one part of the test mix is too loud. Maybe somebody’s voice is overwhelming the others, and you need to adjust the harmonies. Just use one slider to make the change instead of messing around with a multitude of tracks.
Nobody has time for that kind of messing around.
Auxiliary Channels
Aux channels are similar to group buses but not the same.
They also receive input from a variety of sources and send them to the master bus. However, they send a copy of the signal instead of the complete signal like group buses. This gives you independent control of both signals.
There is usually an auxiliary bus knob on every channel strip. This makes it easy to send the audio to that specific channel. It will only output the channels it has received.
Of course, you can use multiple auxiliary channels at once. It’s the same role as a master bus except on a smaller and more specific scale.
The best thing about auxiliary channels is that it allows you more control and flexibility over each track. If you just route it to a master bus, it might be a bit tougher to make decisions about separate tracks.
This way, you can play with different configurations and make your mind up about what you want to output as the final product.
When you use an auxiliary bus with hardware compressors, you don’t have to worry about making mistakes and rerecording parts of the mix. If something goes wrong, just fiddle with your compressor and go back to where you were.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, now you realize just how useful an audio bus can be.
It makes it much easier to apply different effects and manipulate the prominence of individual tracks. They save so much time and allow you to stay organized without affecting your creativity.
They actually enhance your musicality because it’s simpler to set up complex audio flows and apply parallel processing. Use two stereo buses and go to town on your projects.
Once you learn different techniques, it will enhance your DAW session and improve the overall result. But be careful with master bus processing because you don’t want to overdo it.
The possibilities are endless!