Question about using buses with reverb / compression

[Audacity]

Tell me if I'm doing this right.

 

So let's say I want to bus a group (like guitars or drums). First I would use the sends to get each track to their respective reverbs. Then I would change the output of the original tracks to another bus (one for each group) and put a compressor on it. So this means the reverb and compression are happening separately? Is this parallel processing and is it what you want?

 

Or would it be better to have the group compression come after the reverb?

[tristancalvaire]

No, yes, maybe?

 

Think about what you're trying to do with the compressor. Are you trying to tame volume levels? Are you trying to shape the envelope of your sound? Do you want the sound of the newly shaped envelope in your reverb? Do you want the volume levels of everything controlling the compressor, the volume of one thing controlling the compressor on everything, or the volume of something controlling the compressor only on itself? Are you working with an acoustic sound you'd like to retain realism in, or completely synthetic noises?

 

If you don't know why you're using the compressor in the first place- don't use it.

[David Nahmani]

So this means the reverb and compression are happening separately?

Yes.

 

Is this parallel processing

Yes.

 

is it what you want? Or would it be better to have the group compression come after the reverb?

It depends on the application, but there's no "better" in this case: there's only what works for that specific song. Note that if you want the reverb to be compressed the same as the dry signal you can set its output to your compressor bus so that it gets compressed along with the dry signal.

 

I believe that rather than thinking of terms of "is this technique the right way to do things?" you should think in terms of "what do I want my mix to sound like? What does it sound like now? What do I need to change, and how do I change it?" - without goals, you can't possibly decide whether or not a technique will work or not.

 

For example, let's say you have a pop song with 5 tracks of backup vocals. The backup vocals vary a lot in intensity and you decide to compress them to make their level more consistent. However you had already sent them to a reverb bus. Now that you're setting the 5 tracks' outputs to a bus and compressing the corresponding Aux, you're compressing the dry signal, but not the reverb. That means that as the compressor is changing the level of the dry, the wet stays at the same level. That means the dry/wet ratio keeps changing as the compressor works, and that means that the perception of distance of the backup vocals keeps changing. So basically, you have your backup singers moving toward you (dry/wet ratio increases) when they sing softly and away from you (dry/wet ratio decreases) when they sing loudly. Maybe that's just what the mix needs, but then again, maybe you're looking for more realism where the singers stay at the same position during the whole mix. Depends on you, your taste, the genre, the artist's taste, the instrumentation, etc etc.

[Audacity]

So this means the reverb and compression are happening separately?

Yes.

 

Is this parallel processing

Yes.

 

is it what you want? Or would it be better to have the group compression come after the reverb?

It depends on the application, but there's no "better" in this case: there's only what works for that specific song. Note that if you want the reverb to be compressed the same as the dry signal you can set its output to your compressor bus so that it gets compressed along with the dry signal.

 

I believe that rather than thinking of terms of "is this technique the right way to do things?" you should think in terms of "what do I want my mix to sound like? What does it sound like now? What do I need to change, and how do I change it?" - without goals, you can't possibly decide whether or not a technique will work or not.

 

For example, let's say you have a pop song with 5 tracks of backup vocals. The backup vocals vary a lot in intensity and you decide to compress them to make their level more consistent. However you had already sent them to a reverb bus. Now that you're setting the 5 tracks' outputs to a bus and compressing the corresponding Aux, you're compressing the dry signal, but not the reverb. That means that as the compressor is changing the level of the dry, the wet stays at the same level. That means the dry/wet ratio keeps changing as the compressor works, and that means that the perception of distance of the backup vocals keeps changing. So basically, you have your backup singers moving toward you (dry/wet ratio increases) when they sing softly and away from you (dry/wet ratio decreases) when they sing loudly. Maybe that's just what the mix needs, but then again, maybe you're looking for more realism where the singers stay at the same position during the whole mix. Depends on you, your taste, the genre, the artist's taste, the instrumentation, etc etc.

Thanks this is a good example. I was thinking since I pretty much always put reverb after compression on a track that the same would apply for buses. Guess I'll just have to experiment like always.

 

Is there a way to group compress your drums and then reverb each part individually, or at that point would you have to reverb the whole kit?

[marcel72]

Is there a way to group compress your drums and then reverb each part individually, or at that point would you have to reverb the whole kit?

Put your reverb sends on the individual channels (tracks) and bus the drums to the compressor as you wish. FX level for any kit mic is thereby independent of whatever happens after. This is a pretty normal scenario where, say, snare and toms would get more reverb than hat or kick.

 

Best, Marcel