What is the general rule of thumb for the guitar bus? Like if I have my left and right guitars sent to the bus, how much of them do I send to the bus? and how loud do you keep the bus turned up in relation to the guitar tracks?
Quick guitar bus question
- Thread starter megajosh20
- Start date
Ok thanks that helps. So it's the same for the drums and other instruments too? The original tracks dont go to the master bus, only the busses of each of the instrument groups do?
HOFX
Member
- Apr 12, 2012
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Correct. The idea with a buss is that you're grouping tracks that you want to apply the same processing to, so you feed them through that buss, apply that processing, and then send the output of the buss to the master buss.
It also makes adjusting volume levels easier. For example, you might want to bring the guitars up in volume during an instrumental, or turn them down during singing, and a buss allows you to control them with one channel volume.
What DAW are you using?
It also makes adjusting volume levels easier. For example, you might want to bring the guitars up in volume during an instrumental, or turn them down during singing, and a buss allows you to control them with one channel volume.
What DAW are you using?
bryan_kilco
Member
I stumbled across something weird in Reaper the other day.
I have GTR L and GTR R on tracks with 0 FX. These are in a folder, with the "Parent" folder being "GTR BUSS", which has my FX chain for distorted guits (TSE 808 - X50 - NadIR - EQ).
I've noticed that my faders for GTR L & GTR R are controlling the amount of signal hitting the ampsim. No matter post-fader, pre-fader, etc. Normally I wouldn't care about this, but in this particular case I have a 3rd guitar track for Center and really don't want to have to set up another entire chain as my computer is really weird handling just 1 or 2 chains on 128 samples right now. =/
I have GTR L and GTR R on tracks with 0 FX. These are in a folder, with the "Parent" folder being "GTR BUSS", which has my FX chain for distorted guits (TSE 808 - X50 - NadIR - EQ).
I've noticed that my faders for GTR L & GTR R are controlling the amount of signal hitting the ampsim. No matter post-fader, pre-fader, etc. Normally I wouldn't care about this, but in this particular case I have a 3rd guitar track for Center and really don't want to have to set up another entire chain as my computer is really weird handling just 1 or 2 chains on 128 samples right now. =/
He's Dead, Jim
Member
I don't think you can put a center track (or any third track) if you're using two hard-panned tracks on the same guitar buss with an amp sim. Every time I've tried it it's caused problems with the sound/signal processing. That's why I make a separate bus for solos. I might be talking out my ass, but try making a 3rd bus and A/B'ing it.
- Folders are always post-fader, at least in Reaper. I'm not sure what you're clicking on to change it to pre-fader, but it's not actually doing anything. The pre-fader and pre-fx settings only apply when you're using Sends.
- As the previous post said, amp sims only work properly with a full-left and full-right signal. The cab sim might be okay with a third track, since it's just applying a combination of reverb and EQ, but I'm not sure.
- If your computer is struggling, see if your DAW has a freeze function. It will render (say) the left and right guitar tracks through the amp chain and then turn off the amp sims, lightening up your processor load while you work on the third track. You can unfreeze any time you want.
- Your sample rate should only be an issue while recording. If you're just mixing and the computer is still struggling, you're probably maxing out your CPU. I can't speak for any other DAWs, but Reaper has a really detailed processor usage window telling you exactly how much each plugin is drawing. Maybe you've got a really heavy drum sampler going - unless you're working on the drums, freeze it. Maybe your EQ plugin is using a lot of CPU for some reason - try a different one. Etc.
bryan_kilco
Member
Yeah, I have crackling and popping while the drum VSTi and guitar chains are frozen as well, and only using 1 guitar chain to record. While mixing, I up my buffer size a lot. But as of lately, I've been having to track guitars at 256 samples which is a bit high for me. I think I really need to get a Texas Instrument chipset. And as far as the guitar chains go, I guess I'll just need to keep freezing and starting another buss for any center/lead parts.
Fox Mulder
The Truth Is Out There
The signals don't get treated differently unless panned hard; Kind of analogous to driving 2 guitars into the same amp if you don't. Therefore, you definitely aren't talking out of your ass.
