Excessive?

[006]

Last night I setup up the project in Cubase 4 for a booking I have tomorrow. I had the information of all the stuff I will need to have setup ahead of time (how many drums, what they are, etc.). I just thought about it and I can't decide if I'm just extremely organized or just being excessive with tracks/groups/folders. You tell me:

Drum Folder
-KD (Drum Bus)
-SD (Drum Bus)
-HH (Drum Bus)
-Ride (Drum Bus)
-T1 (TOM Bus)
-T2 (TOM Bus)
-Crash1 (OH Bus)
-Crash2 (OH Bus)
-Trash (OH Bus)

Guitar Folder
--DI Folder
---DI GTR1
---DI GTR1
---DI GTR2
---DI GTR2
---DI Lead 1
---DI Lead 2
--Mic Folder
---GTR1 (GTR Bus)
---GTR1 (GTR Bus)
---GTR2 (GTR Bus)
---GTR2 (GTR Bus)
---Lead1 (Lead Bus)
---Lead2 (Lead Bus)

Bass Folder
-BASS1 (BASS Bus)
-BASS2 (BASS Bus)

Vocal Folder
-VOX1 (VOX Bus)
-VOX2 (VOX Bus)
-BU VOX1 (BU VOX Bus)
-BU VOX2 (BU VOX Bus)

Group Folder
-OH Group (Drum Group)
-TOM Group (Drum Group)
-Drum Group (Send to Drum Para Comp)
-Drum Para Comp
-GTR Group (Send to GTR Para Comp)
-GTR Para Comp
-Lead Group
-Bass Group
-VOX Group (Vocal Group)
-BU Vox Group (Vocal Group)
-Vocal Group

Whew...so anything in () is denoting where that track/group is being sent. Group/Bus = same thing

I setup basic EQ on pretty much every single track, 2 comps and 2 limiters (staged) on the Master Bus, but set very loosely. I set up a de-esser, comp, limiter and reverb on both Vocal and BU Vocal busses, as well as a comp on the Vocal main bus, just to keep all of the voices even. GTR Bus gets a HP at 80Hz, LP at 12kHz, as well as a limiter. Bass Bus gets a comp, limiter, ampsim (for adding grit) and some basic EQ. Kick and both Toms have apTrigga setup already with samples chosen, as well as a few plugs on the Tom tracks. Tom Bus gets a limiter and BitterSweetII. Snare track gets gate, comp, BitterSweetII and reverb, also some basic EQ. HH, Ride, T1, T2, all OH tracks, GTR1 and GTR2 are already panned accordingly.

Anybody think this is excessive? Or is it possible that some of you have even more going on? I just like to be completely organized. This is how I always prepare for any booking, but I never really thought about how much shit I have setup before the band has even shown up

~006

 

[carvedones]

I personally think its a great idea. I plan to track my first band soon and was planning to setup similar.

But i was only going to setup to folder tracks not busses aswell. But maybe now i will.
Is there any chance you could send me a template of the setup?

 

[AudioPhile777]

That seems about right...

Always better than being unprepared.

 

[006]

Sure man, will have to wait until I get off from work but I'll PM you once I upload it to my site for d/l.

I like using Folder tracks because it's just that much more organized. I like to be able to expand or collapse groups of tracks. For example, the DI guitar tracks, I don't need to see those all the time, so I can collapse that folder and only see the mic guitar tracks. Just...I dunno, a few more options. Folder tracks are the best thing since sliced bread I tell ya!

~006

 

[carvedones]

Yes i like them so i can seperate grums, guitars, vocals etc...

Thanks...

 

[JBroll]

I do most of the same but I tend to send guitar and bass to another compressed track so that they get compressed together to seem tighter, and I use that in parallel with the original tracks.

Jeff

 

[006]

Hmm, interesting. I may try to do that with this project.

~006

 

[JBroll]

I have a hard time viewing bass and guitar as being that different - guitars are tuned higher, generally, and have more distortion, but that's about it. I've always seen them as being separate parts of the same thing, like the left and right hand on a piano having different jobs in different ranges but being the same instrument, so lumping them together made sense.

Jeff

 

[jesterroot4]

Anybody think this is excessive? Or is it possible that some of you have even more going on? I just like to be completely organized. This is how I always prepare for any booking, but I never really thought about how much shit I have setup before the band has even shown up

not at all man! i believe i have about 7 presets like this so far in cubase, its the easiest and quickest way to work.

although i've never used folders, its just one of those things i've never realy came accross, cud i be an ass and ask for some info about them? and how to set them up etc. i can understand the benifits of having them, i love the idea of being able to close tracks that arnt needed at the moment in time, just never got round to working it out.

cheers in advance

 

[006]

Jeff: Definitely man, I always try to get a unified sound with the guitar and bass because I view each other as a whole instrument put together. Just like a piano

jesterrot: Folders are really simple to set up but I'm not sure if SX2/3 had them, I know SX1 does not. C4 has them, obviously. All you do is go to add a track, and it will be an option, along with Group/Instrument/Midi/etc. in that window. Just click "Add Folder Track" and voila! Then, you select all the tracks you want in the folder and drag them up and into the folder, it will let you know when they are in the right spot. Then you can expand or collapse the Folder track for that set of tracks and effectively show/hide them, making it less cluttered, IMO. Also, I will be making a template for carvedones, I can send it to you as well, but I think you will need Cubase 4 (LE/Studio/Essentials/Full) in order for it to work.

~006

 

[imaginarybooks]

Cool way of setting it up dude, although I usually side chain compress the kick with the bass. Also, what are the advantages of using limiters on individual bus’s instead of just using 1 on the master bus then knocking it off for a pre-master mix down?

 

[006]

The point of a limiter on the Guitar bus is so that the distorted guitars are always loud as fuck, lol. I really like in-your-face guitar sounds, and sometimes when an amp doesn't have such an even output, like chords (muted or open) are louder than single notes, etc., I'll use the limiter to just kinda maximize the guitars. Not a ton or anything, about 3dB of reduction at the most, and only on peaks. But I find that works better than using a compressor. On the bass...well it's just because I like compressed and limited to shit bass sounds, even as f'in possible. Pretty much every limiter I am using is to maximize the sound in one way or another. Also, most all of my projects never get "mastered," as I typically end up doing that as well.

On the master bus I stage two compressors and two limiters so that one single comp or limiter isn't doing all the work. I've found that it's easier to get maximum volume without killing all of the dynamics when the work is spread out.

This is only for heavy/extreme music though. I don't always end up using all of the limiting that I set up beforehand. If the music calls for a more dynamic sound for anything or everything, then I would be using a lot less limiting and a little more compression. It just depends on the project.

~006

 

[carvedones]

SX3 has folder tracks also.

 

[JeffTD]

Only thing I'd change is to arrange the DI tracks and the guitar track they correspond to right next to eachother, so you just have to enable record on two adjacent tracks, rather than enable one, find the other, and arm that.

But yeah, I definitely use folders and have one each set up for Drums, Rhythm Gats + Bass, Leads/Melody Gats, Vocals, Synths, and FX.

 

[006]

Only thing I'd change is to arrange the DI tracks and the guitar track they correspond to right next to eachother, so you just have to enable record on two adjacent tracks, rather than enable one, find the other, and arm that.

One better - in Cubase you can link channels together. So what I do is link each DI track to it's corresponding mic track, this way when I record enable a mic track, it automatically record enables the corresponding DI track for it. This allows me to collapse the DI track folder and record all the guitars I want. When I expand the folder, all of the DI takes are there. Also, to keep from hearing DI guitars during playback, I have them all set with the volume automated to like -4bajillion dB until it is time to reamp.

~006

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Thats a good start.

I always end up with more tracks personally.

 

[006]

Good to hear I'm not just being excessive. Haha. Actually, I have found that most of the time I end up adding a track or two when stuff comes up during the project that I didn't expect. Production ideas such as putting a mic in the bathroom (adjacent to the drum room) to record the intro drums for a song, etc.

~006

 

[JeffTD]

One better - in Cubase you can link channels together. So what I do is link each DI track to it's corresponding mic track, this way when I record enable a mic track, it automatically record enables the corresponding DI track for it. This allows me to collapse the DI track folder and record all the guitars I want. When I expand the folder, all of the DI takes are there. Also, to keep from hearing DI guitars during playback, I have them all set with the volume automated to like -4bajillion dB until it is time to reamp.

~006

Holy crap I totally forgot about that function. Thanks for reminding me!

That said, you can just set the output of your reamp tracks to the output you use for reamping in the beginning and not have to worry about hearing the track during playback.

 

[Kazrog]

I set up my Cubase templates very similarly always.