From the course: Audio Foundations: Compression and Dynamic Processing
Unlock the full course today
Join today to access over 22,600 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.
Understanding mix bus compression
From the course: Audio Foundations: Compression and Dynamic Processing
Understanding mix bus compression
Mix bus or simply bus compression is the practice of using a compressor on a group of tracks sub-mixed together, as opposed to only compressing each track individually. For example, I may use a compressor on my kick, snare, toms, and overhead individually, but I might also use a compressor on the entire drum sub mix to achieve an effect that's not possible through adjusting the individual compressors in isolation. Bus compressors are generally associated with the phrase "gluing the mix together" and the pedigree has a fairly interesting history, dating back to the first bus compressors installed in large analog consoles. The A&R executives used to call the bus compressor insert button the record button because it instantly glued the entire mix together and made the mix sound like a record. Take a listen to this mix before and after bus compression through a plug-in version of the famous SSL bus compressor. Here is the mix before adding the SSL bus compression. (music playing) And here…
Practice while you learn with exercise files
Download the files the instructor uses to teach the course. Follow along and learn by watching, listening and practicing.
Contents
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(Locked)
Effectively using side-chain inputs2m 6s
-
(Locked)
Using side chains creatively5m 4s
-
Keying gates and compressors (and/or ducking)4m 12s
-
(Locked)
Managing gain staging and headroom and fixing over-compressed tracks3m 20s
-
(Locked)
Compression first or EQ first?2m 56s
-
(Locked)
Understanding mix bus compression3m 26s
-
(Locked)
Get in the Mix: Using mix bus compression2m 47s
-
(Locked)
Get in the Mix: Working with parallel compression3m 46s
-
(Locked)
Working with "modeled" vintage compressor/limiter plug-ins5m 57s
-
(Locked)
Building healthy compression/limiting habits3m 4s
-
(Locked)
-
-