Been making music for over 20 years and I still don't understand Busses or how to use them

Yeah, from the limited literature I've read I understand them to be like giant fx sends to route different tracks to? But I have never set one up or attempted to use one. I am using Ableton these days and, as I always have, basically just use it as a digital multi-track recorder. Can someone explain busses to me like I'm 12?

A bus in its most rudimentary form is a way to combine a bunch of different tracks of audio into one mono or two stereo channels. IIRC When it comes to FX sends and returns, at least in Ableton, the dry signal gets routed to your FX and returned back onto the same channel and you can adjust how much of whatever effect you want on that track.

The default Ableton template boots up with Reverb and Delay aux tracks AFAIK. Using these allows you to put different amounts of the same reverb (or whatever) on a bunch of tracks without changing the settings on the Reverb unit or having to put an individual reverb on each track, which also saves CPU.

Somebody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong - I only record/compose in Ableton and have been doing all my mixing in Pro Tools lately.

Yeah, what Lada said...I use them like that but also often use busses in what I gather are more unconventional ways, though still obviously with the same basic concepts just sort of pushed farther. 

But generally, being able to 'lock' some sounds together via compressors or reverbs or whatever else is what they're useful for. This, along with the advantages of mixing via busses (separate tracks of drums all under one drum buss, once the individual track volumes are mixed best then you can simple up or down the volume of the drum buss). 

I say all this as a total amateur who's stepped foot into like 2 or 3 recording studios ever. I have no idea if that's the 'right' what to use busses.

Ok thanks, I guess I still don't really understand the different between a Buss and a Send (which I use all the time).

Or a Buss and a "group" (in Ableton) for that matter.

Anyways, I've made it this far without using them so 

  On 9/24/2017 at 8:45 PM, Auditor said:

Ok thanks, I guess I still don't really understand the different between a Buss and a Send (which I use all the time).

 

Or a Buss and a "group" (in Ableton) for that matter.

 

Anyways, I've made it this far without using them so

Sends and returns are just types of buses. Not sure about groups though.

Busing is routing audio wherever you want. Buses are the different destinations you are routing to (auxes, bounce tracks, monitors, headphone amp, etc.)

  On 9/24/2017 at 9:10 PM, paranerd said:

Busing is routing audio wherever you want. Buses are the different destinations you are routing to (auxes, bounce tracks, monitors, headphone amp, etc.)

Aha!

  On 9/24/2017 at 8:49 PM, Alan Ord said:

this explains it best, really

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

there's different ways, but the concept is pretty essential for electronic music i find. combining bassline with kick drum, all hi-hat frequencied percussion, etc

try replicating a hypnotic synth line times 3 without effects, then apply different effects to each, and then glue all three together with a rhythmic tremelo, filter, or saturation. 

  On 9/25/2017 at 6:08 AM, messiaen said:

there's different ways, but the concept is pretty essential for electronic music i find. combining bassline with kick drum, all hi-hat frequencied percussion, etc

 

try replicating a hypnotic synth line times 3 without effects, then apply different effects to each, and then glue all three together with a rhythmic tremelo, filter, or saturation.

Grouping types of sounds via a /mono/stereo buss is great for sending sounds to outboard mixers/consoles/tape/effects etc.

If you're running a 30+ track project, the stereo image is going to get clogged up very quickly and everything will be a mess because you're trying to find little spaces for each element to fit and poke out in the mix. This never works and sounds like mush.

You have to embrace the fact that you will never hear each element as it was first intended, especially on such a big project.

So you start to mix elements, let them play off each other or merge to make different timbres etc, this is really fun finding happy mixing accidents. You'll want to start effecting those elements that are now playing together nicely so without replicating the same plugins etc to each track you send the output to a buss rather than the mix. Now you can effect the group track with one effect and choose the amount of send for each track. Then you can do a mini mix of all those track elements so they are perfect together so now when you're mixing the big picture later you only need to change the level for the buss track rather than each element track.

Don't want to come over like I don't know you're knowledgeable etc, you make rad tunes ;) but, This is the simplest idea of what they can be used for. I think, essential for getting an individual sound rather than a polished mix of few elements where everything has it's own place in the mix, that's what lots of music is like right now I feel and it's just plain boring.

  On 9/25/2017 at 10:46 AM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 9/25/2017 at 6:08 AM, messiaen said:

there's different ways, but the concept is pretty essential for electronic music i find. combining bassline with kick drum, all hi-hat frequencied percussion, etc

 

try replicating a hypnotic synth line times 3 without effects, then apply different effects to each, and then glue all three together with a rhythmic tremelo, filter, or saturation.

Which bit of this is the bus?

 

the return track that you are sending the originals to, or the group that the originals are in. 

  On 9/25/2017 at 11:05 AM, Chesney said:

Grouping types of sounds via a /mono/stereo buss is great for sending sounds to outboard mixers/consoles/tape/effects etc.

If you're running a 30+ track project, the stereo image is going to get clogged up very quickly and everything will be a mess because you're trying to find little spaces for each element to fit and poke out in the mix. This never works and sounds like mush.

You have to embrace the fact that you will never hear each element as it was first intended, especially on such a big project.

So you start to mix elements, let them play off each other or merge to make different timbres etc, this is really fun finding happy mixing accidents. You'll want to start effecting those elements that are now playing together nicely so without replicating the same plugins etc to each track you send the output to a buss rather than the mix. Now you can effect the group track with one effect and choose the amount of send for each track. Then you can do a mini mix of all those track elements so they are perfect together so now when you're mixing the big picture later you only need to change the level for the buss track rather than each element track.

 

Don't want to come over like I don't know you're knowledgeable etc, you make rad tunes ;) but, This is the simplest idea of what they can be used for. I think, essential for getting an individual sound rather than a polished mix of few elements where everything has it's own place in the mix, that's what lots of music is like right now I feel and it's just plain boring.

Cool, I'm finishing up a track right now that has about 20 different takes using diff synth sounds that I'm trying to meld together. This will come in handy, as usually I just use panning/cutting until it sounds good which is effective but time consuming and eventually really boring. 

  On 9/25/2017 at 11:25 AM, messiaen said:

the return track that you are sending the originals to, or the group that the originals are in.

When I do orchestral stuff that requires lots and lots of instruments I'll use busses to group them together. As a specific example, I can work on mixing the amplitude of the brass instruments together and, when I am happy with how they sound blended together, will be grouped into a channel with one main amplitude so I don't have to adjust all of the volumes again.

Its just a mixer within a mixer, more or less. It saves time when you have effects or sounds grouped together so you don't have to adjust each channel one by one.

busses are a crucial part of keeping your project organized both visually and aurally.

busses, sends, returns and auxes are all terms used to talk about routing and processing audio signals

the term bus is very broad and describes a channel that allows for different signals to be routed or processed together

your desired signals are sent to the bus, often to be processed (comp, eq, fx), then go onward to the destination (i.e. output)

the most ubiquitous phrase, i find, is "drum bus" wherein you are sending your various drum signals to one destination, your bus, where they are processed together

think about this example:

you have your drum sounds on separate channels: you process your kick channel with comp and eq, your hats with their own fx, clap, snare etc.

but, the parts are a bit disparate and you need some glue to hold the pieces together...Use a BUS!

send all drum tracks to a bus and process accordingly

if you want to learn about auxes, sends, returns go ahead and ask!

Logic is really user friendly when it comes to busses. Mark all your tracks you want to send to a bus, right click, and click "Stack Tracks". No need to route anything anywhere. God, I love Logic.

Buses are very simple. You just hop and hop off ... all you need is an Oyster card!

  On 9/24/2017 at 8:49 PM, Alan Ord said:

lol 

also good thread!

this thread made me look up how to do busses in ableton. very very easy

  On 10/18/2017 at 1:45 AM, yek said:

this thread made me look up how to do busses in ableton. very very easy

It's basically either group the tracks you want to buss or use track sends/returns, right?

One of my favorite uses for aux channels is to organize my effects.

Lets say you have a basic electronic project with a drum machine, sequencer, pad, lead, bass and audio tracks. 

If you wanted to create a bed of hall reverb for let's say, the sequencer, the lead and the pad (for lushness) you'd send each track a specific amount of the dry output to a new aux track that has reverb. Now you can control the levels of the reverb independently from the instrument tracks—it means you don't have to individually add reverb to each track. That could be aux 1 (rename it reverb).

Then you decide you want slapback delay and spring reverb on your bass and drums. Well you make a new aux track and send the dry output there.

The even cooler thing is then you can solo the aux tracks and hear only the reverb and delay! Bounce the solo'd section, move it to an audio track, and use it later as a chilled ambient fade-out.

This has been a tip 'n' trick from salvboy.

  On 10/18/2017 at 2:28 AM, thawkins said:

 

  On 10/18/2017 at 1:45 AM, yek said:

this thread made me look up how to do busses in ableton. very very easy

 

It's basically either group the tracks you want to buss or use track sends/returns, right?

 

yeah