From the course: Audio Foundations: Compression and Dynamic Processing

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Understanding mix bus compression

Understanding mix bus compression

From the course: Audio Foundations: Compression and Dynamic Processing

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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…

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