Sending a track to the same bus multiple times and dif. pans

[hidden]

Hello all, this is my first topic here after searching a lot with no success for a technique I need.

 

I have a guitar track that I want to send to a bus. This bus has my guitar effects.

 

What I want is to send this guitar track two times to the bus, but with different pannings. The first send needs to be in the left channel, and the second in the right channel (let's say 85% left, 85% right).

 

I don't want to record the guitar twice, or duplicate the guitar track. Just use Logic's tools to open the guitar track in the stereo.

 

I'm used to this technique in Reaper, where it's fairly easy to do, but I cannot find a way to do the same thing in Logic.

 

Is this possible? If not, what's the common way to achieve this?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Rev. Juda Sleaze]

Recording the guitar twice will give far better results than anything else.

 

If you don't make the left channel different from the right channel, all you're really doing is changing the level of a mono signal.

 

If what you want is stereo effects on a mono signal, then insert stereo effects on your aux channel being fed guitar from the bus. If you want those 85% L/R pan settings, the easiest way is to duplicate the track (not sure why you want to avoid that).

[hidden]

Well, I want to avoid that because in Reaper I can route the output of a track and send it to the same bus twice (or even more times) adjusting the panning. That way I get a clean way to route the mono signal to an artificial stereo signal. In fact I'm duplicating the mono signal in the routing itself, not in tracks.

 

What you say about recording the guitar twice has much sense, and I think I will go that way.

[camillo jr]

Yes, with a twice recorded track, you'll get a real difference between the two sides of the stereo image. Outside of actually recording a new track, I've done the same thing by duplicating sections of a single track - IE, take the chorus from one section and put it on a new track but in the same place as the chorus from a different section. But I only had to do that because I only had one guitar track from the client. If it's easy enough for you to play it again, that's the way to go.

[David Nahmani]

The first send needs to be in the left channel, and the second in the right channel (let's say 85% left, 85% right).

Note that, as others have indicated before, sending the same amount of the same signal into the same bus on either side is the equivalent of sending a single signal with its pan centered: when you consider a mono signal sent to a bus with its pan centered, that means you're sending the same amount of that signal to both the left and the right of that stereo bus. So the results are exactly the same.

 

But anyway definitely agree with the recommendation to re-record a new performance for the double. Only then will you get that double sound, that thickness, that warmth, that come from layering multiple performances. You could record a single violin and send it to as many busses as you want, delay it, pan it and effecting it all day and you'd still never get anywhere close to the sound of 20 violins playing the same melody. That's because the 20 violins all have a different timbre, a different attack, a different pitch, a different vibrato rate, a different vibrato range, etc etc... : that's what creates the thickness, the warmth, the "bigness" of an ensemble. You can't recreate that with signal routing and/or plug-ins.

 

Good luck!

[Simon Morrison]

Another option is to use a specialized stereo expander (mono to stereo) plug-in.

 

These plug-ins typically incorporate Hass effect delays, pitch/tone/EQ variations and mid/side encoding to create a realistic stereo image.

 

Here are some good examples:

• Brainworx bx_stereomaker: http://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/plugins/detail/bx_stereomaker.html

• MeldaProduction MStereoExpander (free): http://www.meldaproduction.com/freevstplugins/mstereoexpander.php

• MeldaProduction MStereoGenerator: http://www.meldaproduction.com/mstereogenerator

• NuGen Audio Stereoizer: http://nugenaudio.com/stereoizer.php

• Vacuumsound ADT (free): http://www.vacuumsound.de/plugins.html

• Voxengo Stereo Touch (free): http://www.voxengo.com/product/stereotouch

• Waves PS22: http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=231

 

 

 

 

Logic Pro 9.1.7 | Mac OS X 10.8.2

[camillo jr]

Thanks Simon, my Vacuumsound ADT has been MIA for a long time. I just DL'd the latest version and it's showing up again in Logic. Yeah!

[trafficarte]

Also in Logic there is a useful plug

[Rev. Juda Sleaze]

Also in Logic there is a useful plug

 

I really see that as an interesting effect rather than a go-to useful plug. In the same league as ring modulation for me, and I only use it about as much.

 

The Vacuumsound ADT plug is priceless (literally! ) for me when dealing with non-layered vocals.

 

But, as Cam, David and myself have said, nothing beats layered recording for depth and thickness. I personally hate that sample-delay layered sound. Yuck

[trafficarte]

Also in Logic there is a useful plug

 

I really see that as an interesting effect rather than a go-to useful plug. In the same league as ring modulation for me, and I only use it about as much.

 

The Vacuumsound ADT plug is priceless (literally! ) for me when dealing with non-layered vocals.

 

But, as Cam, David and myself have said, nothing beats layered recording for depth and thickness. I personally hate that sample-delay layered sound. Yuck

 

I pointed out the Logic Spread 'cause I've seen Simon listed similar plugs, like the Waves one.

If I'm forced I prefer to make a layer with another instrument ( I'm not a guitarist...) and put it on the background...

[Rev. Juda Sleaze]

Although the way they work is different, no?

 

Don't most of those plugs put left and right channels out-of-phase with each other? Do any of them do the splitting frequencies left and right like Logic's Stereo Spreader?

 

I'm just saying that for forced stereo on a mono signal, I'd use sample delay, preferably a modulated one like the ADT plug mentioned above. For more width I'd spread with phase tricks like the Direction Mixer (or those plugs that Simon Morrison listed).

 

For me, the Spreader isn't a plug for making something stereo (though obviously, it does technically), it's an interesting effect, but I think the name of it is misleading, that's all.

[trafficarte]

You are right, I've never used the PS22, I've seen it looks similar to the Spreader, but it's not the same.

I myself use sometimes the Logic Spreader, but ( as you point out) as an effects by itself, not to stereolize something...

 

[Rev. Juda Sleaze]