Quote:
Originally Posted by Knives&Guitars
My Head is spinning trying to understand the exact meaning of Bus, 2 bus, 2 mix terms..! ha ha I know we have somewhat been over this before...but I still get confused.
To Bus, just means you are adding the effect(compressor, eq, reverb) after you have recorded it? And two Bus means you are adding a two Bus's for a stereo signal? Or does Bus mean that it is applied at the final outcome to the entire mix? Or is it either way. |
Your confusion is not surprising because unfortunately different DAWs use the term differently and or handle the implementation of use differently. And unfortunately the terminology has become misnomered or misused in some DAWs nomenclature, and now also in the audio world in general .
But for starters in this thread the term 2-bus and 2 -mix mean the same thing. What it actually is ---is a stereo Aux channel that the entire mix is routed to prior to going to the main outs.
What is a "BUS" ::
First it will help to state what a "Bus" actually is and isn't
A "Bus" is technically not a track,,,, repeat -- a "Bus" is not a track (even though some DAWs use the nomenclature "Bus Track" to describe what is technically an Aux track who's input is fed via a Bus
Think of a "bus" as a wire (or set of wires for stereo) or a pipeline (or dual pipes) between tracks .....
Or even more fundamentally a Bus (like the names implies in the physical world as a method of transporting one or more people someplace, via a specific route) ,,,,But in this case in the audio world,,,, a means of transporting one or more audio signals, and a way to route audio someplace other than directly to the main outs.. make sense ?
Now most DAWs allow you use Busses, in two different ways
#1, One way is via "Sends" . Where the "send" splits the audio signal and "sends" the audio in two different directions,,,,, (think of a T fitting in a pipeline and picture the T on its side ).... So one direction is out to the "bus", and the other direction is directly to the tracks output.
This is the "bus" method used for parallel processing for things like reverb. ( and parallel processing means the FX plugin or "processor" is not on the audio track itself, instead it is on an aux track,,,, and the audio from the audio track/s is "sent" via a "bus" to the aux track with the plug in on it (the aux tracks input is fed from that '"Bus")........ make sense ?
#2 The other use of a "Bus" is to route one or more tracks actual outputs to an Aux track. (usually stereo) This is used for things like grouping tracks outputs
Like a group of drum tracks , or a group of guitars etc .