This is why I subscribed to this channel . You cover everything from symphonic to extreme metal..and everything else..but the most important of all is... We the subscribers, we ask questions.. you listen and respond to us. Best UA-cam channel around! Thank you so much.
It should be noted that Reaper has multiple different ways of doing busses: The folder system (which is very fast), submixes (which when not being edited are frozen, which means you can handle large mixes with a lot of VSTs more easily) and sends with the "send to parent track" option disabled (or with the tracks using different parent channels as outputs) come to mind.
I use Cubase and I use the grouping function to do just what Glenn's talking about here. And he's right it's a lot easier, and is a lot less work for your computer. All the music I mix is my own, and I don't play metal. But I still hear helpful things in these tutorials. Thanks !!
Been using this kind of stuff since forever but it's great to see it presented again for new people to learn how useful it is. Since I focus on live sound, I often get questioned why I'm burning busses for something and then also using a DCA/VCA group on them as well. Simple: Busses are an audio destination, while DCA/VCA are merely for automation/control. Subgroups/busses become very critical in live sound because of the immediacy of things. I'm gonna make my crew watch this video and then we'll go over the finer points and Q/A with hands on. Any excuse to be on the gear is a good thing!
Glenn, you fool! You forgot to autotune the vocals, synch each instrument to the 32nd beat and loop the drums every second measure. Now it will never sound modern enough!
Add the same kind of reverb with the exact same settings and all that jazz ;) Gleen is getting old, he forgot. I'm sure the gods of modern production will make him repent soon...
I got to get this lesson next payday. I do videogame music covers that have symphonic elements and getting all the tracks (64 in the one I'm working on now!) is nuts. The guitars get lost in the layers and so does everything else aside from bass and drums. This lesson is going to save the project. Thanks for sharing this Glenn!
For our knowledge: Folders and Busses are not the same thing in Reaper. It's a huge difference on how each one is handling the signals coming from tracks and the effects sends and returns. And there are also VCA faders which is actually the pro way to go because they don't alter the gain structure of tracks (combine a VCA with a Bus and it's a powerful tool)
Okay so I’m not an engineer for recording and mixing in a musician but I just think your really entertaining and your “stupid texts from musicians to engineers” teaches me how not to be a douche bag thank you good sir
From a live engineers perspective to efficiently mix live a well planned mix using DCA or VCA mix bus, sub grouping etc is a must, look not so bad with a small band but things can get complex and a good mix flow helps, I found this out the first time I had to mix an orchestra at an outdoor concert, you learn real quick what a good set of VCA faders is worth lol. Not a big studio guy these day Glenn as I jumped ship back in the 90's when I got bitten by the live mix buzz... Love your work man keep at it.
Great stuff Glen. I have no training in music production but this is exactly how I use buses. It may be in the full version - but why and where you would use a pre and post send on a track would probable be helpful to the guys.
Busses Gain staging Very useful, I can’t imagine mixing without busses 🚌 and I’m SIMPLE I THINK 🤔 my current project only has like 13 or 14 tracks and I have 5 busses Vox, Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Sub Mix
Cheers from Texas! 🤘😎🤘 Aside from the products you have, there are so many jewels on your channel; which don't cost a penny! thank you so much, for what you do Glenn! e.g. Killer free example! Rock on! M
Cubase is also a pretty decent alternative to a mix bus.. I know this will ruffle a few feathers but hear me out! The simplicity of use and the ability to link/group fader and tracks together is a fantastic asset to the daw, and in my mind it makes up for some of its shortcomings
Great introduction to busses. I felt relieved when I learned the magic of bussing tracks. I also felt like an idiot for taking so long to learn about them haha.
You say "Drum Leveler" at 3:16...what are you using a vst ? If so which one. I'm super stoaked that you have every aspect of mic-ing & mixing. Thank you.
I've been using Mixcraft for years and when I saw that they finally added the ability to put submixes (busses/ folders) inside of other submixes, it was a game changer for me. Also the ability to drag and drop effects to other tracks. And select multiple tracks. Mixcraft 8 sure was a huge jump... :P
I'm using all kinds of buses everytime: sends, buses for different groups of instruments, sub-buses for ever more precise division by the groups. For example: I have guitar buses, where all my guitars placed. Then it has sub-buses for rhythm and lead guitars. Same goes for every other group of instruments. And yeah, that sped my workflow waaaaaay up in the time.
Probably alot of overdubs and bunch of ear candies tracks. The whole point of the studio is to push a song. Just think of Bohemian Rhapsody's studio vs live
Sorry to include a question in a three year old clip...*Do you EQ channels before the bus if there are frequencies that are in jeopardy of building up? Reductive EQ?
Shit, you're using a Mac? Now I can't wait for your review, it's gonna be the most honest review of Mac vs Windows for music production I'll ever watch
I'm brand new to this man I've been a musician for most of my life and I've been in the studio a lot but just tracking... I never did anything in the realm of audio engineering.... I just played and helped produce and that's it! But since Covid19 I've been slowly developing my own home studio and I've been researching, learning reading watching and asking some of my close friends and some of my colleagues who have been recording music longer than twice the time I've been alive.. (25 years lol) but your channel has taught me so much so I thank you Glenn and whoever else is part of running your UA-cam channel. You guys are awesome and I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge of recording and capturing music to the world.. I do have a question though... What if you have 4 different tracks using the same plug in (ex: 4 guitars using a amp sim plug in) but with 4 different settings dialed in on each guitar track? I got a bad ass tone but when I turn on all the other tracks FX, it's too much for my DAW (Reaper) and can't use all plug ins and FX at once and keeps cracking and popping when I try to listen to the whole song and mix all together... Can you do something like make a bus for tracks that use the same plug in(s) with different settings on each track??? My apologies if that's a dumb question...im brand new....
If I'm not mistaken, you mentioned reverse phasing to kill/manipulate bleeding from drums and other instruments like it, I'd guess that bleed track is for that (genious) purpose
Hey Glenn, have you ever used pitch correction or auto tune on the di track of guitars to help fix notes going sharp, flat or reducing semitones after tracking?
If you use Guitar Busses from where should you reference your tone in reaper? should you reference from the sent tracks or from the Buss when recording
Hi, Glenn! What would be the perceived difference of EQuing each channel separately vs EQuing on the bus? Say, simple HP and LP on each channel vs one stereo EQ on the bus with the same settings.
Hey Glenn, I have a couple of questions to you: 1. How 'hot' do you record (of course without clipping)? Recently, I've seen another tutorial claiming that I should not record too hot (they sayed max. -6dB) as it would impact my sound negatively. But acoording to my understanding, I lose information if I do not exploit the 24 bits as much as possible. So what is your optimal input level? 2. Following on from the first question I'm wondering what your input routing looks like? Do you use an analog mixing desk before the A/D converter? Or do you go directly into your interface if you do not use any analog gear? I'm asking this since I'm often thinking of EQing and slightly compressing my signals before the A/D conversion to increase the input level. Or should I just do this in the box with plugins? 3. Do you have any recommendations on affordable channelstrips that are great for metal drums (especially kick & snare)? Lots of channelstrips are designed for vocals (e.g. SPL ChannelOne, Mindprint Envoice, etc), but rarely for drums. What should I pay attention to? 4. The bass player of my band does not use a plectrum and has a really bassy sound (hardly anything above 800Hz). When we're playing live I really like this sound as it leaves the mids for the guitars, but it is quite hard to handle in a mix. Do you have any suggestions on how to incorporate such a bassy sound in a metal song? Or should we revise his setup?
Noob question about EQing...if i bus all of my rhythm guitars together, they will all be EQed the same, correct? what if im using two different guitars with different pickup sounds... wont i need to EQ them differently in order to grab the best frequencies of each? would i just EQ them separately, then bus them together and just not EQ them as a group? I hope that makes sense.
Cheers glen, I was w I ndering do you know about cakewalk being free? And if you do.. why haven't you used it? It supports all plugins.unlimited tracks.x64 os windows support. Just wondering, keep up the great work.. and are you bussing all guitars thru it before the bus or on the bus?
Hey Glenn, as far as compression, would it be a bad habit to compress individual tracks then again on the bus track? For example: I play my rhythm guitars 4 times with 4 different amps and the wall of sound is s amazing but I compress to bring all the guitars subtleties out..then I pan to my go to settings for “my” sound. Then I compress again on the bus to glue them together..am I overthinking this?
Oh crap! And yes..I’ve been compressing them twice! Sounds like I have a lot to learn yet. Maybe I should start by getting the original source (guitars) great at the get go. Really easy to fall into sloppy and tweak it into a good sound. Thanks Glenn..I’m a bit embarrassed.
Glenn, I have a question regarding the use of Busses and the application of panning. If you have the guitars on a bus track and treat that track with whatever E.Q. and/or effects, do you only pan the original tracks since you've bused them ? I hate to sound clueless but I'm a little confused. I have been watching your channel and picking up great tips. Thanks again.
You have to pan the original tracks, if you want them to be in different places in stereo. Otherwise all tracks would be panned the same way if you do this on the bus pan.
Mmmm that drum performance though. Super tight, but with a loose/relaxed feel. Gotta love that human element that makes music music. Make tender whoopie to yourself, Glenn.
Is quad tracking rhythm guitar really necessary? I've recorded left and right and it sounds good. Should I be recording an extra track for each side or is simply copying the tracks fine?
Maybe someone on here can help me. I’m a noob of an engineer so bear with my ignorance. In Cubase, I have two mono rhythm guitar tracks, one panned left and the other right. I discovered how to use group channels so I put them in one channel, but when I did, the panning function disappears and the guitars are both centered. Why did this happen and how can I fix it? I just want to be able to throw my guitars on their own busses because it does make things so much easier. Any help would be much appreciated. Also been a huge fan Glen, love the show.
Good point. I see a lot of errors in the use of these terms these days, so I'll try to help... There is indeed a difference between the three. Groups or Subgroups are used when a signal (usually post-channel processing) is routed at unity gain to a secondary destination channel. These are usually stereo (with the destination channel controlled by the pan function), but can often be mono channels in digital software. The signal is usually removed from the mix at the original channel and heard through the subgroup, which is then routed to the mix bus. A bus is a signal routing facility, whereby a copy of a channel signal can be sent elsewhere, with controllable level. Most often this is used to describe the signal sent from a channel to an external device, effect or monitor mix. This is often referred to as an aux (auxilliary send). A VCA (voltage controlled amplifier) is where a fader is used to control one or more channels using a voltage, rather than the signal actually passing through the channel, as with a subgroup or aux bus. The advantage is a cleaner signal; the disadvantage is the lack of an actual signal to route or process. Hope that helps.
Hey, Glenn. Long-winded question but please hear me out. Typically, when I mix a song, I start by recording and mixing the drums. I then render my drum track for editing, make a new edited project, record guitars, etc. Then make another edit of the full mix, and sometimes further edits of that edit. My point is, everything starts to get extremely convoluted with 5 or 6 (or several more) projects on my DAW and endless rendered edits, it has gotten to the point that if I want to just slightly tweak a mix, I have to go through a thousand steps and half the time, I can't even remember how I ended up at the final product the first time. Do you have any advice that could help me clean up my editing process so it is not such a headache for me in the future? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and fuck you, Glenn!
Glenn, I have a mastering question for you :) while I'm mixing, I never go past the 0db on my Master Bus, but when I listen to my full mix it sounds very weak in volume and not loud enough compared to standard pieces of music. Any advice on how to get a proper volume without passing this 0db limit? I'm using Samplitude Pro X3 if that can help. Thanks, cheers from France!
Yann Leroux you achieve those ear splitting levels of volume by the use compression, eq, saturation, and limiting. Mastering is an art in itself but careful and informed use of the Slate Digital FX mastering plug in is a very good place to start
@Yann Leroux The stock mastering tools in Samplitude are amazing. You can use a master bus compressor (am-munition) with a slowish attack and a long release to increase the RMS (power) of the signal. Set it to a gentle 2 to 1 ratio. Follow it up with a peak limiter (sMax limiter) set to -0.3db to bring up the level and gobble up any peaks. Am-munition does have a peak limiter, but I find it sounds a little crude. That's why I'd use the sMax. EQ can be applied at any stage before the limiter. Do experiment, though. The master bus EQ provided in Samplitude does a great job, sound-wise, as it can work in over-sampling mode as well as phase linear. Here's a couple of sights with some tutorials for Samplitude.... www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiYkPP7j_3hAhUGFnwKHYdCAtoQFjAAegQIAxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fchannel%2FUCkNcvSO-G9A4mkoRS7f7J1Q&usg=AOvVaw070SKo9RlE4-nOMG_DWSmP.... ua-cam.com/channels/MWlmMtB93Eh9x7GVI_M9dg.html
Yann Leroux Stock plug ins are often overlooked but as a rules they’re very good. I don’t know what stock plug ins come with each DAW but my feeling is that yes absolutely you can use stock plugins but you would need to learn some guidelines as apposed to one of these paid for plug ins where there is simply a dial you can use to get your mixes louder. The Slate mastering plug in, forgot its name, is just that plug in. 😀
Something that can help a lot is using a different amp and/or cabinet for the solos, as the dominant frequencies are different for each, they won't clash with the rhythm guitars and cut better through the mix. Usually more mids work better for solos and more lows and highs for rhythms
@@CoTeCiOtm thank you for your answer 😁 that's what I already use to do but... meh. I don't know. Something's missing. I was wondering if there was any other magical ways haha
Please somebody help me.. I’m losing so much hope. I cannot pan to the right whenever I group my guitars into a single channel for bus reasons. The volume disappears completely when I pan either track hard right, but doesn’t when I pan hard left. Please, somebody please help me. I’m using reaper. I really don’t know why I am having this stupid issue that nobody seems to be able to help with
@@SpectreSoundStudios wow thanks for this quick response. Really not sure what polarity could be flipped. If you mean phase flipping I already tried clicking the little phase button on each track but got nothing. I’ve been looking through so many forums. Couple of people seem to have the same problem but I can’t find any solution.
@@SpectreSoundStudios man thank you so much for the attentiveness. I’m honestly quite beside myself right now, very upset that I can’t figure this out. I’ve looked into the panning law thing but couldn’t really see how it related to my situation, or at least that doesn’t seem to be my issue. I will try resetting reaper to the defaults. Thanks again for the quick responses. Much love.
I have subscribed because I love your take on things, and your delivery.... except like all hosers you really need to learn to pronounce an O. Seriously love this channel.
Is it important to have so many tracks to get a fat wholesome sound? I noticed how big your mixes sound is it that due to having so many tracks as well as being a skilled engineer?
As well as having a big microphone arsenal to blend with each instrument and each track. Also he's mixing a good band that incorporates more instruments other than the standard ones you see in a metal group, so their mix will definetly stand out even in a live scenario.
Hey Glenn, Soon, i'll be recording my friends' jamming session (my 1st project, just so i can learn shit). I'm using Cubase and my Zoom R24 as interface, 9 mics (shure alta7 kit + sm57's) and a mixer. If i recall correctly, from a previous video, you were recording 1 guitar with 2 mics going through a mixer to get a thicker sound and sending it as a mono track into the interface. I was thinking of doubling it, 2 mics for each guitarists, each player panned L/R (basically using 4 mixer tracks to go into 2 interface channels). Have you ever tried this? Your thoughts? Remaining 5 mics will go to mic the bass speaker, kick, snare and 2 overheads. Vocals will be recorded separately. The last thing I'm concerned about is bleed. I'm thinking of pointing the amps against the walls and put a blanket over the cabs and their close mics (maybe the kick too). Is this a good idea? Sorry for the longass question. Cheers from Moncton, NB Marco
Very cool! Thanks for this vid, Glenn. One of the things the new people will need to know though is what are sends. I know but I bet a lot of beginners are lost because of the terminology. Not ot mention that the fucking companies won't agree on what to call things. Kinda makes you wonder just how MIDI ever came to be.
My own experience was dont wash it everyday. Any shampoo worked, rub a towel to remove most water but let it dry naturally. Worked for me, dont know about others
"bus" or "buss" ? I know that some engineers use one or the other word...out of curiosity I took a look within some of the large consoles user's manual like from SSL, API or NEVE .. and they use the term "bus". In the NEVE one I saw they use the plural "busses" but the singular word is "bus" everywhere ... I wonder how people started using the word "buss"
I can already hear Glenn rant about one, "This L'Ignesix conditioner is absolutely fucking retched dogshit but they try to sell this off-white pearly glam pus in these fancy bottles as if it were Crom's cum they scraped off one of their manager's wife's back! This product has to die", and then proceeds to place it in the driveway, set it on fire, and burst it with a sledge hammer, covering the neighbourhood in flaming, sputtering, fragranced napalm.
I went to recording engineering school in 1990 & we did everything analog. I actually prefer sitting at a board & putting my fingers on the knobs. But, we didn’t have boards with 75 channels. We would have to ping-pong.
This is why I subscribed to this channel . You cover everything from symphonic to extreme metal..and everything else..but the most important of all is... We the subscribers, we ask questions.. you listen and respond to us.
Best UA-cam channel around!
Thank you so much.
It should be noted that Reaper has multiple different ways of doing busses: The folder system (which is very fast), submixes (which when not being edited are frozen, which means you can handle large mixes with a lot of VSTs more easily) and sends with the "send to parent track" option disabled (or with the tracks using different parent channels as outputs) come to mind.
The title is click baity, I came here expecting to see Glenn mixing audio while driving a bus
TechYK totally right. I expected some yellow school bus
WTF? You got the wrong connection & missed the bus? Glen the bus conductor will get real mad, he don't like empty space 🚷
@@doctiberius2717as a busdriver i feel personally offended. Please watch your language online before you trigger people on the internet😅😅😂😂😂
@@brennendehexe7934 wow that was 4 years ago, bus technology has changed so much since this light reached you earth man 🌎
I use Cubase and I use the grouping function to do just what Glenn's talking about here. And he's right it's a lot easier, and is a lot less work for your computer. All the music I mix is my own, and I don't play metal. But I still hear helpful things in these tutorials. Thanks !!
Thank you for the direct straight to the point explanation.
That guitar tone is pretty sick
Been using this kind of stuff since forever but it's great to see it presented again for new people to learn how useful it is. Since I focus on live sound, I often get questioned why I'm burning busses for something and then also using a DCA/VCA group on them as well. Simple: Busses are an audio destination, while DCA/VCA are merely for automation/control. Subgroups/busses become very critical in live sound because of the immediacy of things. I'm gonna make my crew watch this video and then we'll go over the finer points and Q/A with hands on. Any excuse to be on the gear is a good thing!
Glenn, you fool! You forgot to autotune the vocals, synch each instrument to the 32nd beat and loop the drums every second measure. Now it will never sound modern enough!
Add the same kind of reverb with the exact same settings and all that jazz ;) Gleen is getting old, he forgot. I'm sure the gods of modern production will make him repent soon...
@@SteamvilleQuintet Ture! Outrageous. Pure heresy! People have been burnt for much less. Repent & renounce your false beliefs, Glenn! Save your soul!
That's because I didn't want the listeners to fall asleep
...and I thought I was a TrackHead.
I got to get this lesson next payday. I do videogame music covers that have symphonic elements and getting all the tracks (64 in the one I'm working on now!) is nuts. The guitars get lost in the layers and so does everything else aside from bass and drums. This lesson is going to save the project. Thanks for sharing this Glenn!
For our knowledge: Folders and Busses are not the same thing in Reaper. It's a huge difference on how each one is handling the signals coming from tracks and the effects sends and returns.
And there are also VCA faders which is actually the pro way to go because they don't alter the gain structure of tracks (combine a VCA with a Bus and it's a powerful tool)
Okay so I’m not an engineer for recording and mixing in a musician but I just think your really entertaining and your “stupid texts from musicians to engineers” teaches me how not to be a douche bag thank you good sir
From a live engineers perspective to efficiently mix live a well planned mix using DCA or VCA mix bus, sub grouping etc is a must, look not so bad with a small band but things can get complex and a good mix flow helps, I found this out the first time I had to mix an orchestra at an outdoor concert, you learn real quick what a good set of VCA faders is worth lol.
Not a big studio guy these day Glenn as I jumped ship back in the 90's when I got bitten by the live mix buzz... Love your work man keep at it.
I love the hair flipping intro. I LOVE IT!
Maybe he's born with it? Or maybe it's maybelline
This is great. Really appreciate you doing this video so quickly after the viewers comments episode. This is very helpful stuff man.
Glad you liked it!
It took me years of working to figure this out alone. This info is great for someone just starting.
Thanks, Glenn.
That new intro is way too epic with the wavy slo mo hair hahaha love it!
Great stuff Glen. I have no training in music production but this is exactly how I use buses. It may be in the full version - but why and where you would use a pre and post send on a track would probable be helpful to the guys.
Busses
Gain staging
Very useful, I can’t imagine mixing without busses 🚌 and I’m SIMPLE
I THINK 🤔 my current project only has like 13 or 14 tracks and I have 5 busses
Vox, Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Sub Mix
love that Lewitt The LCT440 has become my go to vocal mic
Glenn Fricker is a cool guy. Love his sarcastic humour, because when it comes from him its much more charming
Watching these tutorials makes me lvl up fast!!
Cheers from Texas!
🤘😎🤘
Aside from the products you have, there are so many jewels on your channel; which don't cost a penny!
thank you so much, for what you do Glenn!
e.g. Killer free example!
Rock on!
M
glenn's using a mac! Holy Shit, does L.A. have some sort of dimension shift around it?
Everybody in LA is an apple sheep 😂
@@user-io3zv9rb8c your profile name is "wife beater" . Your argument is invalid
The mix on the bus goes loud and loud...
ᛞᛖᚾᚾᛁᛋ ᛏᚱᛟᚹᚨᛏᛟ yeah you kinda beat me to it. my comment slightly different. 🍻
Cubase is also a pretty decent alternative to a mix bus..
I know this will ruffle a few feathers but hear me out!
The simplicity of use and the ability to link/group fader and tracks together is a fantastic asset to the daw, and in my mind it makes up for some of its shortcomings
@MorbidManMusic Agreed. linking faders is NOT the same. Cubase does have some fantastic bussing capability, though
isn't the bleed track just the sound of the separated mics bleeding into eachother so it ties in the sound a lot better?
Great introduction to busses. I felt relieved when I learned the magic of bussing tracks. I also felt like an idiot for taking so long to learn about them haha.
You say "Drum Leveler" at 3:16...what are you using a vst ? If so which one. I'm super stoaked that you have every aspect of mic-ing & mixing. Thank you.
I've been using Mixcraft for years and when I saw that they finally added the ability to put submixes (busses/ folders) inside of other submixes, it was a game changer for me. Also the ability to drag and drop effects to other tracks. And select multiple tracks. Mixcraft 8 sure was a huge jump... :P
TheRealMikeShea i just upgraded from mixcraft 7 base to mixcraft 8 pro for 30 or 40 bucks. I probably have alot to learn
I'm using all kinds of buses everytime: sends, buses for different groups of instruments, sub-buses for ever more precise division by the groups. For example: I have guitar buses, where all my guitars placed. Then it has sub-buses for rhythm and lead guitars. Same goes for every other group of instruments. And yeah, that sped my workflow waaaaaay up in the time.
75 tracks? how will they sound live? dry as the sahara desert? I'm jealous!
Probably alot of overdubs and bunch of ear candies tracks. The whole point of the studio is to push a song. Just think of Bohemian Rhapsody's studio vs live
@@marcorock101 perfect answer
Sorry to include a question in a three year old clip...*Do you EQ channels before the bus if there are frequencies that are in jeopardy of building up? Reductive EQ?
Shit, you're using a Mac? Now I can't wait for your review, it's gonna be the most honest review of Mac vs Windows for music production I'll ever watch
Is that a Ratta Blanca cover? Cause the lead guitar is note for note the same as one of their songs
who?
I'm brand new to this man I've been a musician for most of my life and I've been in the studio a lot but just tracking... I never did anything in the realm of audio engineering.... I just played and helped produce and that's it! But since Covid19 I've been slowly developing my own home studio and I've been researching, learning reading watching and asking some of my close friends and some of my colleagues who have been recording music longer than twice the time I've been alive.. (25 years lol) but your channel has taught me so much so I thank you Glenn and whoever else is part of running your UA-cam channel. You guys are awesome and I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge of recording and capturing music to the world..
I do have a question though... What if you have 4 different tracks using the same plug in (ex: 4 guitars using a amp sim plug in) but with 4 different settings dialed in on each guitar track? I got a bad ass tone but when I turn on all the other tracks FX, it's too much for my DAW (Reaper) and can't use all plug ins and FX at once and keeps cracking and popping when I try to listen to the whole song and mix all together... Can you do something like make a bus for tracks that use the same plug in(s) with different settings on each track??? My apologies if that's a dumb question...im brand new....
Do you always quad track your rhythm guitars or are there any instances when you just do two tracks?
If I'm not mistaken, you mentioned reverse phasing to kill/manipulate bleeding from drums and other instruments like it, I'd guess that bleed track is for that (genious) purpose
Hey Glenn, have you ever used pitch correction or auto tune on the di track of guitars to help fix notes going sharp, flat or reducing semitones after tracking?
Hahaha love that intro Glenn!!
tdr nova does the same thing waves C4 multiband does and its free and doesn't contain any analog phasing issues
Question? when you do the drum crush , do you just send the drum bus to it or do you send each close mic to both the crush tack and drum bus?
One or the other. You can tweak individual levels to the crush with discrete sends
Wow, wow! Did you switched to MacOS?
gotta be the new imac 2019
If you use Guitar Busses from where should you reference your tone in reaper? should you reference from the sent tracks or from the Buss when recording
Hi, Glenn! What would be the perceived difference of EQuing each channel separately vs EQuing on the bus? Say, simple HP and LP on each channel vs one stereo EQ on the bus with the same settings.
The biggest difference I find is keeping things in phase better.
Hey Glen, any chance you can bring the Headrush Gigboard into the channel for testing?
Thanks for your videos
"loudness war" video when?
Hey Glenn,
I have a couple of questions to you:
1. How 'hot' do you record (of course without clipping)? Recently, I've seen another tutorial claiming that I should not record too hot (they sayed max. -6dB) as it would impact my sound negatively. But acoording to my understanding, I lose information if I do not exploit the 24 bits as much as possible. So what is your optimal input level?
2. Following on from the first question I'm wondering what your input routing looks like? Do you use an analog mixing desk before the A/D converter? Or do you go directly into your interface if you do not use any analog gear? I'm asking this since I'm often thinking of EQing and slightly compressing my signals before the A/D conversion to increase the input level. Or should I just do this in the box with plugins?
3. Do you have any recommendations on affordable channelstrips that are great for metal drums (especially kick & snare)? Lots of channelstrips are designed for vocals (e.g. SPL ChannelOne, Mindprint Envoice, etc), but rarely for drums. What should I pay attention to?
4. The bass player of my band does not use a plectrum and has a really bassy sound (hardly anything above 800Hz). When we're playing live I really like this sound as it leaves the mids for the guitars, but it is quite hard to handle in a mix. Do you have any suggestions on how to incorporate such a bassy sound in a metal song? Or should we revise his setup?
Noob question about EQing...if i bus all of my rhythm guitars together, they will all be EQed the same, correct? what if im using two different guitars with different pickup sounds... wont i need to EQ them differently in order to grab the best frequencies of each? would i just EQ them separately, then bus them together and just not EQ them as a group? I hope that makes sense.
Probably a dumb question, but would you have all the tracks panned and leveled with each other and then sent out to the bus?
Cheers glen, I was w I ndering do you know about cakewalk being free? And if you do.. why haven't you used it? It supports all plugins.unlimited tracks.x64 os windows support. Just wondering, keep up the great work.. and are you bussing all guitars thru it before the bus or on the bus?
Hey Glenn, as far as compression, would it be a bad habit to compress individual tracks then again on the bus track? For example: I play my rhythm guitars 4 times with 4 different amps and the wall of sound is s amazing but I compress to bring all the guitars subtleties out..then I pan to my go to settings for “my” sound. Then I compress again on the bus to glue them together..am I overthinking this?
Are you talking metal guitars? Try to NOT compress those!
Oh crap! And yes..I’ve been compressing them twice! Sounds like I have a lot to learn yet. Maybe I should start by getting the original source (guitars) great at the get go. Really easy to fall into sloppy and tweak it into a good sound. Thanks Glenn..I’m a bit embarrassed.
mix buss > school bus
both will take you places, but I prefer to let Glenn take me to school
Glenn has been schoolin us for years. The right way to learn shit 😂
@@marcorock101 ya he has!
@@marcorock101 i learned so much from his channel over the years!
Glenn, I have a question regarding the use of Busses and the application of panning. If you have the guitars on a bus track and treat that track with whatever E.Q. and/or effects, do you only pan the original tracks since you've bused them ? I hate to sound clueless but I'm a little confused. I have been watching your channel and picking up great tips. Thanks again.
You have to pan the original tracks, if you want them to be in different places in stereo. Otherwise all tracks would be panned the same way if you do this on the bus pan.
Mmmm that drum performance though. Super tight, but with a loose/relaxed feel. Gotta love that human element that makes music music. Make tender whoopie to yourself, Glenn.
Is quad tracking rhythm guitar really necessary? I've recorded left and right and it sounds good. Should I be recording an extra track for each side or is simply copying the tracks fine?
Start with two. Then try four. Go with what you like
Hey Glenn I was wondering how do you get a bandname ? - cheers from Texas
Just noticed you boosted 2k on the guitars with the api, never considered this before. I’m guessing it helps with cutting through? 🤔
off topic and probably answered elsewhere, open to answers from anyone: is that theme included with reaper and if not where can I find it
thanks for doing it so soon. really can use it🤘
Maybe someone on here can help me. I’m a noob of an engineer so bear with my ignorance. In Cubase, I have two mono rhythm guitar tracks, one panned left and the other right. I discovered how to use group channels so I put them in one channel, but when I did, the panning function disappears and the guitars are both centered. Why did this happen and how can I fix it? I just want to be able to throw my guitars on their own busses because it does make things so much easier. Any help would be much appreciated. Also been a huge fan Glen, love the show.
What Reaper theme is that? I like it!
i mix with stocks but i dont use mix buss processing at all . maybe in the future i will .
Do I spot a MAC Glen? 😗
@Pink Scissors Media Please explain what's wrong with Reaper. I'm very curious.
@@SpectreSoundStudios I think he meant it's okay that you're using a Mac because you're using Reaper.
Can the bass bus have a shorter fader?
What are the differences and/or benefits of using sub groups, busses and vca's?
Good point. I see a lot of errors in the use of these terms these days, so I'll try to help...
There is indeed a difference between the three.
Groups or Subgroups are used when a signal (usually post-channel processing) is routed at unity gain to a secondary destination channel. These are usually stereo (with the destination channel controlled by the pan function), but can often be mono channels in digital software. The signal is usually removed from the mix at the original channel and heard through the subgroup, which is then routed to the mix bus.
A bus is a signal routing facility, whereby a copy of a channel signal can be sent elsewhere, with controllable level. Most often this is used to describe the signal sent from a channel to an external device, effect or monitor mix. This is often referred to as an aux (auxilliary send).
A VCA (voltage controlled amplifier) is where a fader is used to control one or more channels using a voltage, rather than the signal actually passing through the channel, as with a subgroup or aux bus. The advantage is a cleaner signal; the disadvantage is the lack of an actual signal to route or process.
Hope that helps.
Is there any significant difference between grouping track in "Folder Tracks" or "Submix Busses"??
Nope, just that you can then move non foldered things around wherever and with Reaper it saves stuff differently on your computer. That's it.
4ch kick!!!! Boss AF!
Hey, Glenn. Long-winded question but please hear me out. Typically, when I mix a song, I start by recording and mixing the drums. I then render my drum track for editing, make a new edited project, record guitars, etc. Then make another edit of the full mix, and sometimes further edits of that edit. My point is, everything starts to get extremely convoluted with 5 or 6 (or several more) projects on my DAW and endless rendered edits, it has gotten to the point that if I want to just slightly tweak a mix, I have to go through a thousand steps and half the time, I can't even remember how I ended up at the final product the first time. Do you have any advice that could help me clean up my editing process so it is not such a headache for me in the future? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and fuck you, Glenn!
Which daw?
@@SpectreSoundStudios Sony ACID. Currently using version 4.0 which is pretty outdated
So by the time you're combining several instruments to busses, you've already equalized & added effects to each one right?
Not normally. The idea is to EQ the bus to save time
Glenn, I have a mastering question for you :) while I'm mixing, I never go past the 0db on my Master Bus, but when I listen to my full mix it sounds very weak in volume and not loud enough compared to standard pieces of music. Any advice on how to get a proper volume without passing this 0db limit? I'm using Samplitude Pro X3 if that can help. Thanks, cheers from France!
Yann Leroux you achieve those ear splitting levels of volume by the use compression, eq, saturation, and limiting. Mastering is an art in itself but careful and informed use of the Slate Digital FX mastering plug in is a very good place to start
@@xplanet2112 Thanks for your kind advice, I'll try. Will any stock mastering tools from my DAW will do the trick?
@Yann Leroux The stock mastering tools in Samplitude are amazing. You can use a master bus compressor (am-munition) with a slowish attack and a long release to increase the RMS (power) of the signal. Set it to a gentle 2 to 1 ratio. Follow it up with a peak limiter (sMax limiter) set to -0.3db to bring up the level and gobble up any peaks. Am-munition does have a peak limiter, but I find it sounds a little crude. That's why I'd use the sMax. EQ can be applied at any stage before the limiter. Do experiment, though. The master bus EQ provided in Samplitude does a great job, sound-wise, as it can work in over-sampling mode as well as phase linear. Here's a couple of sights with some tutorials for Samplitude.... www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiYkPP7j_3hAhUGFnwKHYdCAtoQFjAAegQIAxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fchannel%2FUCkNcvSO-G9A4mkoRS7f7J1Q&usg=AOvVaw070SKo9RlE4-nOMG_DWSmP.... ua-cam.com/channels/MWlmMtB93Eh9x7GVI_M9dg.html
@@humbertmedeiros9254 Thanks a lot mate, I never dared to use am munition, I will definitely try it and post my impressions here :-)
Yann Leroux Stock plug ins are often overlooked but as a rules they’re very good. I don’t know what stock plug ins come with each DAW but my feeling is that yes absolutely you can use stock plugins but you would need to learn some guidelines as apposed to one of these paid for plug ins where there is simply a dial you can use to get your mixes louder. The Slate mastering plug in, forgot its name, is just that plug in. 😀
I have an idea for the next episode ! Could you give us some ways to mix guitar solos, to make them clear in the mix !
Thank you from France ;)
Something that can help a lot is using a different amp and/or cabinet for the solos, as the dominant frequencies are different for each, they won't clash with the rhythm guitars and cut better through the mix. Usually more mids work better for solos and more lows and highs for rhythms
@@CoTeCiOtm thank you for your answer 😁 that's what I already use to do but... meh. I don't know. Something's missing. I was wondering if there was any other magical ways haha
Hey Glenn what's the difference between the bus and folder in Reaper?
Same idea
How much ram do you have on your PC?
>sees the mac interface
You were the chosen one! You supposed to destroy Apple, not to join forces with them!
Noooooo!!!!!
Yeah Logic Pro will be next
Not permanent. Need to be flixible, though
It seems his chapter with the Predator Helios left him with wounds so deep that can only be healed with the bite of an Apple
XD XD XD
Glenn Fricker: For when you want the best in dynamics-free metal mixes.
So what are dynamics, Jesse?
Please somebody help me.. I’m losing so much hope. I cannot pan to the right whenever I group my guitars into a single channel for bus reasons. The volume disappears completely when I pan either track hard right, but doesn’t when I pan hard left. Please, somebody please help me. I’m using reaper. I really don’t know why I am having this stupid issue that nobody seems to be able to help with
Sounds like your polarity is flipped somewhere
@@SpectreSoundStudios wow thanks for this quick response. Really not sure what polarity could be flipped. If you mean phase flipping I already tried clicking the little phase button on each track but got nothing. I’ve been looking through so many forums. Couple of people seem to have the same problem but I can’t find any solution.
@@FesteringGhoul might be a panning law thing? If that doesn’t work, try resetting reaper to default
@@SpectreSoundStudios man thank you so much for the attentiveness. I’m honestly quite beside myself right now, very upset that I can’t figure this out. I’ve looked into the panning law thing but couldn’t really see how it related to my situation, or at least that doesn’t seem to be my issue. I will try resetting reaper to the defaults. Thanks again for the quick responses. Much love.
What Kind of skin/mod are you using in reaper there?
This looks much more practical
Fusion beta
I have subscribed because I love your take on things, and your delivery.... except like all hosers you really need to learn to pronounce an O. Seriously love this channel.
Hey Gleen what is name of the band ? they sound amazing ! it's very hard to find them.
Protokult. Link in description
@@SpectreSoundStudios Thanks,as more I listen I can say masterpiece you did Amazing job on that band.
Is it important to have so many tracks to get a fat wholesome sound? I noticed how big your mixes sound is it that due to having so many tracks as well as being a skilled engineer?
As well as having a big microphone arsenal to blend with each instrument and each track. Also he's mixing a good band that incorporates more instruments other than the standard ones you see in a metal group, so their mix will definetly stand out even in a live scenario.
No, The band in quesiton has a habit of jamming in as much stuff as possible.
@@SpectreSoundStudios Awesome! Thank you for the reply!
@@plumbummusic2051 Thank you!
what drum mic is he using?
Hey Glenn,
Soon, i'll be recording my friends' jamming session (my 1st project, just so i can learn shit).
I'm using Cubase and my Zoom R24 as interface, 9 mics (shure alta7 kit + sm57's) and a mixer.
If i recall correctly, from a previous video, you were recording 1 guitar with 2 mics going through a mixer to get a thicker sound and sending it as a mono track into the interface. I was thinking of doubling it, 2 mics for each guitarists, each player panned L/R (basically using 4 mixer tracks to go into 2 interface channels). Have you ever tried this? Your thoughts?
Remaining 5 mics will go to mic the bass speaker, kick, snare and 2 overheads. Vocals will be recorded separately.
The last thing I'm concerned about is bleed. I'm thinking of pointing the amps against the walls and put a blanket over the cabs and their close mics (maybe the kick too). Is this a good idea?
Sorry for the longass question. Cheers from Moncton, NB
Marco
marcorock101 use however many mics per guitarist you like but pan one guitar left and one guitar right so that you get that stereo spread in your mix.
@@xplanet2112 thats what i was planning 😁
Thanks man!
thanks glen
ha ha ha...love your style. None of the namby-pamby bullshit I've seen elsewhere. Thank you!
Very cool! Thanks for this vid, Glenn. One of the things the new people will need to know though is what are sends. I know but I bet a lot of beginners are lost because of the terminology. Not ot mention that the fucking companies won't agree on what to call things. Kinda makes you wonder just how MIDI ever came to be.
I'm wanting to grow my hair out, Your hair looks super healthy, what shampoo, conditioner do you use?
My own experience was dont wash it everyday. Any shampoo worked, rub a towel to remove most water but let it dry naturally.
Worked for me, dont know about others
"bus" or "buss" ? I know that some engineers use one or the other word...out of curiosity I took a look within some of the large consoles user's manual like from SSL, API or NEVE .. and they use the term "bus". In the NEVE one I saw they use the plural "busses" but the singular word is "bus" everywhere ... I wonder how people started using the word "buss"
I tried to mix with busses before for me it is bad idea, best thing to do is balancing between each channel processing not sub group processing...
Geat vid and glad to see Reaper being used by professionals, gives me hope I can make a professional sounding recording with Reaper (eventually, lol!)
What theme is that?!
We need a Fearless hair products review
hmmm
@@SpectreSoundStudios Heavy or light hair conditioners? The eternal question for hair farmers....
I can already hear Glenn rant about one, "This L'Ignesix conditioner is absolutely fucking retched dogshit but they try to sell this off-white pearly glam pus in these fancy bottles as if it were Crom's cum they scraped off one of their manager's wife's back! This product has to die", and then proceeds to place it in the driveway, set it on fire, and burst it with a sledge hammer, covering the neighbourhood in flaming, sputtering, fragranced napalm.
@@Anvilshock dude, you should become a writer. that was insane lol
@@Anvilshock dude you should become a writer, that was insane lol
thanks!
I’m thinking I should bus more things now.
Thank you
Word of the day: "thwack"
Awesome vid Glenn. Much knowledge dropped.
I went to recording engineering school in 1990 & we did everything analog.
I actually prefer sitting at a board & putting my fingers on the knobs.
But, we didn’t have boards with 75 channels. We would have to ping-pong.
fuck glenn that kick is punching through my tiny laptop speakers, great stuff, punchin
Grab the lesson & learn how to do it yourself!
VCAs vs Mix buses would be cool.
Huzzah!!!