Eqing/compression on the track vs in the bus

[melovine]

When cleaning up a guitar track I tend to hi pass at 80hz and lo pass around 7.5khz, sometimes I start cutting unwanted mids and pulling out fizz with tight Qs as well. Then I send it to a bus and process it further with another eq, ect...

What are the pros/cons to handling eq in the bus vs the individual track?

I threw in compression because I split bass (hi passed di and lo passed distorted track) and I compress on both the track and bus in that scenario as well.

 

[Daybreak]

EQ should have no difference if you set it on the individual tracks or on the bus, given you're not doing different EQ for left and right, since an EQ at it's most basic is just a volume slider divided in frequencies, haha. Since there will be slight differences in the left and right channel, the compressor will react slightly different on left and right, thus perhaps creating a sliiightly wider guitar sound if you apply it on the individual tracks. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, haha.

 

[ArthurD]

IMO there might be some differences, specially phase relations on hipass/lowpass

 

[melovine]

ArthurD: How would phase relations be affected by Eqing in the track vs bus using the passes? I think I'm high passing twice at the same frequency, is this redundant or proper technique?

Daybreak: I can see how the comp would affect the tracks that are EQd individually, would the widening of guitars be the only benefit for individual eq on tracks? (ie. should all other Eqing and compression be handled in the bus?)

 

[Studdy]

This thread doesnt make a whole lot of sense. If you want affect multiple tracks with the same processing do it on the bus, if you want to affect the individual track do it on the individual track.

 

[melovine]

I understand that, but I'm asking about the relation between the two I guess. For example like the idea of making guitars wider by Eqing the channels differently to clear up the middle of the mix. I'm wondering if there are any other cases similar to this where Eqing in the bus is more beneficial than the track, or vice versa.

For example: Is it better to hipass/lopass immediately in the track, or after it's routed to the bus?

 

[xPoopsx]

This recent thread discusses the phase relationship of eqing in an individual track.

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/f-o-h/922477-outstanding-linear-phase-eq-tutorial.html

 

[ArthurD]

ArthurD: How would phase relations be affected by Eqing in the track vs bus using the passes? I think I'm high passing twice at the same frequency, is this redundant or proper technique?

Not at all really. If you hipass with any regular digital eq other than linear phase, your first hipass on a track will flip the phase in a freq bellow. That being said, if you hipass both tracks (lets say 2) you will be reforcing those frequencies flips.

If you hipass on the bus you will only flip it once.
Just be careful when hipassing, listen in the whole mix context.

 

[ArthurD]

^ that thread explains it better than me.

 

[TRUIE]

If you hipass on the bus you will only flip it once.

In a case of dual tracked guitars panned hard left and right and sent to a stereo bus with EQ on it, won't you flip it once... on each side ?! (left and right).
To me it's totally the same as hi passing on each track, minimal phase EQ or not, that's not the point.
It's all about mono processing 2 hard panned track VS stereo processing them on a bus, and in the case of a standard EQ/filters it doesn't matter.

Do the test, bounce both methods in stereo and flip the polarity on one, you'll hear if there is anything left.
So... you can HP your guitars the way that suits the most your workflow (just don't HiPass twice, on the tracks then on the bus).
Personnaly I prefer doing this on the bus, as to me the HP filter is more of a global thing for guitars and I'll end up setting it exactly the same on each side anyway, so it will be more convenient to adjust it in one move for both guitars and be able to hear the effect on the whole mix.

About compression, it's indeed totally different as a compressor is dynamic dependent and won't react the same (unless your compressor is able to use dual mono processing, and is fed by hard panned tracks).
In the end it depends on the effect you want to achieve, ie pumping the whole bus depending on the whole stereo input (linked stereo compressor on bus, which will narrow a bit the stereo image), or just pump each guitar track independently (unliked stereo compressor on bus, or same compressor on each guitar track).