[ddots-l] Re: routing effects

Nice stuff, Bryan! I've pasted this into one of my tips and tricks files.

Dave

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bryan Smart 
  To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 15:05
  Subject: [ddots-l] Re: routing effects


  Hi Steve.

   

  Buses have two common purposes: for summing several tracks together in order 
to create sub-mixes, and for sharing effects.

   

  First, though it isn't recommended, you can live in a world where you don't 
even concern yourself with buses. In this case, you set the output control of 
your tracks to hardware outputs on your audio interface. When you're setup this 
way, audio goes directly from the individual tracks to the hardware outputs. 
However, most people don't work this way, since there is no way to meter the 
entire mix, and there is certainly no way to easily apply mastering type 
effects.

   

  Most people use, at minimum, a master bus. When you work in this way, you 
have a single bus who's output control is set to one of your hardware output 
ports, and all of your tracks have their output controls set to the master bus. 
This means that the audio from all of the tracks is combined on the audio bus, 
and that combined signal continues to your hardware ports. When you work in 
this way, you can view the master bus's meter to evaluate the signal strength 
of the entire mix. You can also use eq and compression on just the master bus 
and effect the entire mix at once. On an analog console, this is identical to 
how all of the channel strips are summed at the master outputs.

   

  You can add additional buses to use as sub-mixes. For example, you can create 
another bus to use for a drums sub-mix. The drums sub-mix bus would have its 
output set to the master bus, and all of the tracks where drums were recorded 
would have their output set to the drums bus.

   

  You can go way overboard with this if you aren't careful. For example, the 
drum tracks might feed a drums sub-mix bus, which feeds in to a music sub-mix, 
which feeds a master bus. That's way too much to worry about in a small 
project, but it makes it easier to organize very large projects with dozens of 
tracks.

   

  The other way that you can use buses is for sharing effects. Sometimes, when 
a bus is used in this way, people call it an effects bus, an auxiliary (AUX) 
send, or an effects loop, but they're all the same thing. This is just like the 
AUX or effects loop on an analog mixer. You create these buses the exact same 
way, but the difference regards how you choose to send audio to them. When 
you're using a bus to sum tracks together, you set the output control of the 
tracks to that summing bus to make a sub-mix. However, when you're using a bus 
for sharing effects, you add an auxiliary send control to a track, and use that 
auxiliary send connection to get audio to the bus. The track's output control 
could still send the main signal from the track to the master bus or another 
bus to make a sub-mix, but the auxiliary send control allows you to also send 
the signal from the track to a secondary location.

   

  Here is a practical example that uses everything above. Suppose that you've 
recorded a small combo (drums, bass, guitar, and piano) either dry, or else 
you've generated dry versions of all of these instruments from softsynths. 
Since you recorded them dry, they're clean, but you'd like to mix them to sound 
like they're in a room.

   

  First, you mix the drums. You used a few mics to record the drums, and so 
have those recorded to separate tracks. First, you create a new bus that you 
call "drum mix", and you set the output control of all the drum tracks to the 
"drum mix" bus. Now, you adjust the levels of the different drum tracks until 
you get them balanced the way that you'd like. From now on, you can turn up and 
down the volume on the drum mix bus to raise or lower the over-all level of the 
drums without messing up the relative balance that you worked out between the 
individual drum tracks.

   

  Now, you'd like to add a little bit of room ambience to the instruments so 
that they don't sound so dry and isolated. To do this, you add a new bus and 
call it "reverb". In the effects bin of the reverb bus, you insert a reverb 
effect, and set it to a nice room preset that you like.

   

  Now, you have a reverb effect, but you need to get signal from your 
instrument tracks to that reverb. To do this, you go to each of the tracks that 
you'd like to be able to send signal to the reverb, perform a route Jaws to PC 
cursor command JawsKey+-, select the Insert Send sub-menu, and select your 
reverb bus. Now Sonar will add a few additional controls to the end of the 
track strip. You can quickly jump to those with shift+x. These controls 
basically give you a direct connection from the track to the bus with the 
reverb effect. You'll notice that one of them is a volume control, and so you 
can use that to adjust how much signal is sent to the bus with the reverb 
effect. No matter how much you turn up or down the volume for the send, the 
track's audio still continue to the master bus of the mix, and so you still can 
hear it, but increasing the level for the send causes Sonar to also send signal 
to the bus where the reverb effect is located. So, in this way, several tracks 
can all send signal to the same bus where the reverb is inserted. Particularly 
with a conventional reverb (where you're trying to simulate a room), sharing 
the reverb in this way is a good idea. Instead of placing several identical 
reverb effects on many tracks, all of your tracks can send their signal to a 
single reverb. This method has the added advantage that, if you'd like to try a 
different sounding room, and change the preset of the reverb effect on the 
reverb bus, then you'll change the reverb that you hear for all of your tracks. 
By comparison, if you used an individual reverb effect on each track, then 
you'd need to manually adjust each of the individual reverb effects. Sometimes 
you'll need separate reverbs for separate instruments if you're attempting a 
special effect, but, in many cases, this method of working is best.

   

  Hope that this info helps you understand the big picture of how buses work in 
Sonar.

   

  Bryan

   

   

  From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Steve Wicketts
  Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 7:14 AM
  To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Subject: [ddots-l] Re: routing effects

   

  Hi All,

   

  I mentioned on an earlier email about routing effects, I forgot to put I'm 
using Sonar 7 encase there maybe differences on the newer systems.

   

  Just to recap, I understand how to rout effects through hardware mixers and 
effects units. 

  The problem I'm having is thinking virtual, I can't seem to quite get my head 
around this, I'm not managing to understand the help files on this one.
  I know it's a pain but please could one of you guys send a simple step by 
step on how to set up the busses, how to assign effects to them and finally
  how to send the chosen tracks through them.

   

  It would be very much appreciated.

   

  Steve W 

   

  www.jerryleelewis.co.uk

    ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: Darren H 

    To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

    Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 7:02 AM

    Subject: [ddots-l] Re: routing effects

     

    Hi Steve.

     

    don't beat yourself up about this one because I can't get my head around it 
either, even with the great help files.

     

    I think it might have something to do with setting the outputs to auxe 
tracks?  then going to the bus pain and setting the effect in the corresponding 
auxe track.

     

    but, that's just me barking, whether I'm up the right tree or not is 
another matter entirely.

     

    Cheers

    Darren

     

      ----- Original Message ----- 

      From: Steve Wicketts 

      To: ddtots 

      Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 11:56 PM

      Subject: [ddots-l] routing effects

       

      Hi All,

       

      I've been adding effects to my project by using the application key.

      I'm aware it's easier on the system if you apply effects to a bus then 
send the tracks through the bus.

       

      I do this all the time with hardwhere , I use a Fostex 12 into 8 into two 
mixer with external effects.

      The problem I'm having is thinking virtual, I can't seem to quite get my 
head around this, I'm not being able to understand the help files on this one.

       

      I know it's a pain but please could one of you guys send me an simple 
step by step on how to set up the busses and how to assign effects to them and 
finally how to send the chosen tracks through them.

       

      I know I must seem a pain, it's just it's all still quite knew to me.

       

      Steve W


      www.jerryleelewis.co.uk

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