Master bus compression

Throughout the years i have read a truck load of stuff about compression and master bus compression, yet, i only feel like i got a grip on it a few months ago.  Here's why.  For this 5th entry i present you: Master buss compression. The reality ( kind of )

TB Buss Compressor

To put some perspective on what i'm about to write i'd like you to know a few things about me.

1- I'm a sound design/recording techniques graduate from Trebas. ( for some extra credibility ;) )
2- I've been trying to get better at this since 2005 ( graduated almost 10 years ago )
3- I have no mentor and i've been trying to figure this out on my own since i graduated.

I have to credit some sources for this enlightenment. ( No it didn't came to me from a higher realm )

1- Kenny Gioia  mixing tutorials ( http://www.groove3.com/str/mixing-rock.html )
  
2- Stillwell audio Bombardier ( http://www.stillwellaudio.com/plugins/bombardier-buss-compressor/ )
  
3- TB bus compressor ( http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-buscompressor/ )

A few years ago all i saw on the web was people debating bus compression. Is an SSL type compressor better then a Neve type compressor ?  What about brand X and brand Y ?  Yeah but what kind of music are you mixing ?  and blablablabla.  Took me a while to realize  that most people are looking for a magic box rather then actually understanding how to properly compress the master bus.  Although different compressor will yield different results what i would like to leave you with is a concept.

There is two ways to go about compressing the master bus. The first one is the most commonly talked about and it involves using a rather short attack time to catch the peaks ( mostly drums ).  Here's where the SSL vs Neve vs Fairchild debate takes place.  The idea is to retain the biggest peaks while making the elements in the back rise in volume.  It brings the elements closer together and it is widely considered as the "glue" factor.  The setting i often start with for this kind of compression is a 3ms attack and a 100ms release on an SSL type compressor. Sometimes i drop the attack to 1ms, sometimes i put the release on auto. Attack depends a lot on the transients info so since we are mainly compressing the drums at this stage i listen carefully to how the kick and snare are reacting to the attack setting.  For the release i try to make the compressor VU meter fallow the movement ( beat ) of the song.  A longer release, aside from the fact that it can make the compressor breath, will change how the high frequencies behave. ( listen for the hi hat ). A shorter release can make the compressor pump and it will also make the high frequencies stand out a little bit more as it doesn't always gets compressed.

The amount of compression will determine how the peaks will be controlled and how much the lower elements will rise. Listen closely to the volume of the pads vs the volume of the drums. This kind of compression will more then likely make the volume of the bass rise too so take also that balance into the equation as you are dialing the compressor's settings.  Listening in mono can be of some use here as you won't be influenced by the side volume vs the mid volume ( m/s ) but always take the final decision in stereo. Three db is enough to start with. I often dial it back a bit as the mix moves along and i usually end up with only one or two db of compression.

Most people will recommend you to start using this compressor form the get go.. as soon as you start mixing but my experience tells me otherwise.  I usually get a rough balance going before i turn on the master bus compressor.  Once the main levels are set ( kick, snare, bass, lead synth and main pad ) and that i have a bit of a mix going, i will compress the master bus in search of the glue factor.  You have to try both ways a while before finding out which one works the best for you. There is sadly no real short cut here. It has to be a plus for the song though.  If you put something on the master bus and it doesn't make you feel better about the song right away, please, do take it out immediately and either reconsider the idea of bus compression or, more then likely, revisit what you have done previously in the mix up to this point

Stillwell Bombardier

Second way to go about master bus compression is the least talked about.  It also makes the whole debate about brand a bit less relevant because it relies more on a technique then anything else.  I do have to admit that Stillwell Bombardier and TB bus compressor would be great contenders for this application but i  reckon that i can get similar results with Reaper's own ReaComp.  There's two ways you can go about it.  Either using a RMS compressor with a variable RMS knob ( Bombardier ) or by using a compressor that lets you set the attack very long ( TB bus compressor ) Funny enough, ReaComp can do both.  While generally a bit too transparent for me i have to agree that it does a fairly good job as a buss compressor when you are looking for transparency... which i usually am on master bus. When i want some more mojo i will fallow the compressor by TB Reelbus. ( more on that later ) 

So if you are going theRMS way ( and this is according to Stillwell audio Bombardier manual ) Set very short attack and release time. Set in feedback mode if possible. Set rms length above 100ms. Use very low ratio. Preferably under 1.5 and aim for 1-2 dB of GR.

If you are going the peak way ( the usual way, which i saw Kenny Gioia do and which is how the TB bus compressor preset ultra clean compression works ) set the attack and release time slightly above 100ms. Use low ratio of 2:1 and under and again aim for 1-2 db of gain reduction.  You'll probably also want to use a soft knee which makes the ratio follow a slop from 1:1 to it's set value  ( i.e 2:1 ) instead of a hard knee which makes the ratio go from 1:1 to the full on set value above the threshold. In other words, a soft knee makes the compression a bit more gradual and well ... softer.

Now what this type of compression does compared to the previous one is that it lets the peaks trough a whole lot more.  So much in fact that it barely see them. Therefore the compressor acts on what's lower in the mix leaving the transients unaffected.  Imagine if you will the drawing of an audio wave with it's peaks and valleys, well the valleys is what this compression is working on. It is truly a beautiful thing to ear. It makes the "bed" of the song totally gel.  For a long time i was looking for this type of sound in my own mixes and i could not figure out how until i came across those three things in a short period of time. Then it clicked.

TB ReelBus

 The cherry on the sundae is when you use both type of compression one after the other like Kenny does.  First the long attack/rms technique then the short attack technique. One controls the bed, the other one controls the peaks.  I very often replace the second one ( peak compression ) by a tape emu.  If you didn't know,  it was one of the benefits of working with tape, it slightly compressed the peaks if driven a bit and it would also provide some saturation. TB Reelbuss is very good at this, so is Ferox but i reserve Reelbus for my master bus as it is more cpu hungry and because it is more of a proper tape emu. Even though Ferox is also base on a tape emu, it feels more like a saturation tool then Reelbus ( to me anyways ).  I like the mix glue II preset. It rounds up the low frequencies and compresses the sound.  I set the drive knob so that the needle in the VU meter hits the top 0dB mark. It's a safe setting. You can, of course, drive it more but i rather do heavier saturation on group bus and individual tracks rather then on the master bus.


So here it is. Proper master bus compression that hardly no one ever talks about.

Thanks for reading. Now go get your hands dirty and mix something :)

Side note #1 - Plugins recommendation

In the first post i made on this blog i said i wasn't going to offer reviews of products nor keep you informed about products updates.  One thing i would like to do though is recommend you some plugins i use on a daily basis and tell you why i like them.  So here it is. This 4th instalment will be about plugins recommendation. Hope you find something to add to your toolbox.

1- Eq - TB Equalizer ( 25$ as part of the TrackEssentials pack )

I have to admit there's a lot of contender in this price range of the market. DDMF, Overtone DSP, even Reaper's own ReaEq ( just to name a few )  But the thing that makes the TB eq stand out for me is the work flow.  It has an auto gain function for each band which, if you haven't work with this kind of feature before, adjusts the output of the plugin in relation to the input.  In other words, unless you are using extreme eq setting, the volume will remain the same if you bypass the plugin. Because your decisions aren't based on volume changes it's a lot easier to ear how the curves you are dialing affect the tone of the instrument and it's placement in the mix.  Now that i'm used to it,  i can't see myself going back working without it.

Second thing about the TB eq i like a lot is how the mouse wheel works with the different parameter values.  I work a lot with the mouse wheel and this is the eq that is most comfortable to me. 1db increment for every  band in the bottom tool bar. Perfect.

There's also a spectrum analyzer that you can turn on/off.  Some might say that this is not a big selling point but to me it is. The ReaEq has it permanently showing. Great for finding troublesome area but you kinda end up eq'ing with your eyes and not your ears. The DDMF IIEQ Pro spectrum analyzer isn't very unstable on my system. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. IIEQ PRo was my go to eq before i got the TB eq.  It has some features that the TB eq doesn't have so i still use it.  It's by no mean a bad eq.

http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-equalizer/

2- Compressor- Hornet ChannelStrip MK2 ( Hornet MultiComp )
( 72 $ for ChannelStrip MK2, 43$ for the MultiComp )

Compression might deserve a status entry of it's own but what the heck...i'll try to keep it simple. 
The Hornet ChannelStrip features two MultiComp and one eq.  You can rearrange the order of the 3 processors.  I generally like to compress before i eq so for me it's Dynamic1 fallowed by Dynamic2 and then by the Eq.  There is some times where i might put Dynamic2 at the end of the chain and make it act like a limiter to catch some peaks here and there. You can, of course, switch them on and off individually.

The compressors can do a lot.  They both have 3 compression mode. Fet (1176), Opto (La2a),
VCA ( a hard knee feed forward rms comp a la SSL ).  These are generally the 3 types of compressor i think of when i need compression so it is very intuitive to me.  It's easy to set up the very popular  La2a > 1176 ( or vice verse ) > EQ chain in one plugin instance.  That's definitely a plus. The Eq is a mix between an SSL type eq for the mid bands, a resonant low shelf à la pultec for the low shelf and an " aggressive " console high shelf  ( which i'm not sure if it's supposed to be SSL or API like ) The eq makes it possible to clean up a track and give it some color at the same time.  An auto gain compensation would truly rock my world.  Still,  it's a great complement to the TB eq.  The plugin it self is light and easy to set up.  It sounds great and covers 90% of my compression needs

Also worth mentioning, when you turn the analog switch on, the plugin will engage 1 of it's 3 different saturation algorithms. A different one for each compressor and an other one for the Eq. There's also the very popular oversampling switch which is not that heavy at all compared to a wide range of other plugins i've tried.  Kudos Hornet !
The only difference between the MultiComp as a solo instance and the MultiComp in the ChannelStrip is an added hi pass filter in the detection circuit and a sidechain input.  Check out the new MultiComp Plus for some new features.

http://www.hornetplugins.com/plugins/hornet-multicomp-vst-compressor/

3- Reverb- Valhalla Vintage Verb ( 50$ )

I often use 3/4 reverbs Fx return per mix and more then often they are all provided by the same vst. A hall, a room, a plate and an ambiance sends are what i use 95% of the time.  Prior to working with Valhalla Vintage verb i was working a lot with Audio Damage Eos which i find out recently was coded by Mr. Sean Costello who is also the founder of Valhalla reverbs ( coincidence ?? )

This thing just sounds good to me no mater what.  Bunch of great presets to get you started.  I usually just tweak a few parameters and i'm right where i want to be.  The Shape Attack it's where it's at for me. It helps you place the wet signal far or near in the "virtual room".  A lot of attack will push the sound further in the
sound field and a short attack will bring it forward.  So once you have set how you want your virtual room to sound you can easily change the position of the sound in it.  Awesome !

I choose the VintageVerb over the Valhalla Room because it says that it is reminiscent of  the 80's reverbs and that RoomVerb was more of a real space kind of thing.  Since i make 80's inspired electro music i felt the choice was obvious.  You might chose otherwise but after trying them both i can honestly say that they are extremely well made and easy to use.  I wish they were a bit lighter on cpu but for the sound they provide i feel it is totally worth it. 

https://valhalladsp.com/shop/plugins/valhalla-vintage-verb/

4- Saturation - TB ( TB Ferox free, TB ReelBus 25$, TB time machine free )

I ear you.  Is this an add for Tonebooster's plugin or what ? No.... but it could be.  I mean i like his stuff very much. His track essential compressor ( even if it's not my go to ) is a really good and easy to set up general track compressor.  His Eq as become my go to Eq.  His bus compressor is a staple on my master bus since i got it some months ago.  His reverb used to be one of my go to reverbs for it's cool presets and lite footprint on the cpu ( of course i still use it ).  His limiter is again my go to limiter and his saturation tools are.... well,  the only ones i use.

Ferox and ReelBus are both tape saturation emulation.  Ferox is a more straight up saturation tool and ReelBus is a dedicated tape emu.  I mainly use Ferox on single tracks and on some busses ( try the tape compression preset on the drum bus ) and i use ReelBus on the master bus.  Ferox can also act as a tape delay ( very cool ) Of course ReelBus is heavier on the cpu being a more realistic emulation.  Most time i choose the preset that suits the song best and i tweak the big Drive knob so that the VU needle hits the center 0 db mark ( not the one before the redline ) It is the last thing on my master bus before the limiter and it contributes to the 'glue' factor a whole lot.

Time Machine is a bit crusher/sample reducer plugin.  Aside for some bit crunching on drums and on some synths i mainly use it for its analogue warmth preset. It sounds so good. It just compresses the sound a tiny bit, rounds it up, darkens it a touch.  Its what i feel hardware tools should sound like.

http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-ferox/

Drums mixing part 1

For this second  installment i'd like to talk about some of the tips and techniques i use for drum mixing.
Drum mixing is a popular topic and although you can find  a lot about it on-line i will try to touch on a few subjects that aren't talked about a lot.  Remember that i'm mixing electronic music and although some of the tips here apply to live drums, there's a lot more to live drums then we, computer based musicians, are used to.

Part 1 -  Drum limiting - When tape is you friend

Drum limiting is a subject i have rarely come across in most mixing tutorial i have read or watched. Yet, i very often turn to limiting to tame some peak elements or when transients are too emphasized. 

Most people think about master buss limiting when i bring up the subject but there's actually two kinds of limiting.

• 1- Normal limiting. Any compressor with a ratio set to more then 10:1 could be considered limiting.

• 2- Brick wall limiting. Contrary to "normal" limiting they do not let anything pass the threshold.

This is usually the kind of limiting you'll find on the master buss when you are trying to make the whole track sound louder ( think L2 here and most volume maximizer, i personally use ToneBooster Barricade ) But brick wall limiters can also have their use on buses or individual tracks that have too much transient information ( in this situation they might be called clippers, although clippers usually add some distortion and brick wall limiters usually don't )

Tape ,by nature, acts like a soft knee limiter. It compress ( limit ) the highest peaks while adding some saturation and taming some of the transients.  No wonder it is so highly regarded by old school engineers who had the chance to work with such devices. Mixing ITB you either would have 2-3 plug-ins doing a precise thing or you would have to turn to a good tape emu. ( see note and extra tone tip lower )

Of course you can achieve something similar ( though not an actual replica ) with a compressor.
Some will do a better job then others but the principle is the same for all.  Set a ratio of  10:1, ( some people say no more then 2:1, experiment for yourself ) a fast attack ( 1 ms or less ), a fast release ( 50ms or less ), short soft knee ( 3-6 db ) and set the threshold as to catch the only the biggest peaks.  I found this technique more useful on buses then on individual tracks.  It tightens them together i a uniform way.  Although nothing prevents you from using it on single channels.  It's also worth mentioning that a soft knee limiter ( none brick wall ) might give you better results then a compressor. When tape is not doing it for me i turn to the Kjaerhus GPP-1 ( a soft knee limiter with an optional brick wall function ) Sadly that company do no longer exists but keep an eye open for soft knee limiters. They handle audio a bit differently then compressors set with a high ratio and a soft knee.

Note if you don't already have a tape saturation emulator i whole hearty suggest Tonebooster's Ferox ( free of charge )  and Tonebooster's ReelBus ( 25$ ) I use them both with great success.  Ferox has a saturation tool for drum buss and individual tracks. Reelbus on the master buss. Try the presets to begin with, you'll thank me later :)  

http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-ferox/
http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-reelbus/

Extra tone tip :  Tapes can be used at different speeds. usually the lower the IPS is ( inch per second ) the less high frequencies you will have.  Try lowering the tape speed on harsh snares and cymbals to benefit from this natural roll off.  If it's too much roll off for you try to boost the highs frequencies with a hi-shelf before the tape emulator.  Might just be what you are looking for :)

Though the use of tape and compression can be thought of as an effect and have creative purposes, i think about brick wall limiting as it purely being a problem solver. ( much like multi band compression.... but that's for an other time )

Transients are the very first peaks of an audio signal if you zoom in enough to see them. ( see image below ) They are bright and percussive and they are what contributes to the attack of the drums.
Generally speaking, transients on drums are a good thing. It's what makes the drums cut trough, it's what allows you to make your drums sit lowers in volume while still being clear and audible. It can be hard for a compressor not quick enough to catch them. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing though. Consoles, preamps, compressors and tape machines of yesterdays all contributed in the audio chain to rub some of those transients off. They rounded them down, making them softer and less prominent. Less irritating for the ears.

The attack part would be considered the transients

It's not uncommon for me while mixing drums to become very aware of the transients. They hurt my ears, they make me doubt the volume of my drums, they make it seems as if there was some high frequency info i couldn't pin point. ( i still struggle with this from time to time, even on my own songs )  I HATE those kind of transients. They are there mostly because i'm all in digital and that the rubbing described earlier is not there. Some are so annoying that even a compressor with a very fast attack cannot control them properly. Here comes the brick wall limiter to the rescue.

Like i said earlier, a tool i very often use for limiting duties is the Kjaerhus GPP-1 but any brick wall limiter can do the job just fine. The key to taming transients is to not over do it.   I frequently don't need more then 1db of gr ( gain reduction ) to get rid of them but boy does it make a difference.  At first you might not be able to ear them properly.  Transients are a subtle thing.  They are most noticeable when i put up the whole song and bypass the brick wall limiter on either the kick or the drum buss ( it is usually on one or the other but not on both at the same time )  The volume doesn't change but they immediately pop out of their pocket. It's a back to front thing ( more experienced mixer may ear it differently, less experienced mixer may not ear it at all  )

Of course you have to make sure you are not killing all the transients.  Drums without transients can sound 2 Dimensional ( as oppose to 3 ), lifeless and not exiting so do address with care.  Some other instruments that could benefit from transients control are bass, plucked synths, synth bells and of course any type of percussion.

As you can see tape seems to does it all. It compress, saturate and control some of the transients.  Very cool stuff and not just on drums. The tips and techniques here can be applied to a lot of instruments.  Go a head and experiment.

Tip : Listening at very low volume while addressing transients can make it easier for you to ear them. Ref. the Fletcher - Munson Equal Loudness curves to see why at lower volume we
tend to ear higher frequencies a bit more.

Advance Tip : It's a good idea to check for transients on most instruments at some point in your mix. At low volume as recommended. You can control the annoying ones and
add some to those part that don't seem to have enough or that may benefit form a little bit of sparkles.

Note2 We talked about transients control here but we haven't touch on tools that do exactly the opposite. They accentuate transients.  I feel that most of you reading this may already be in the know regarding such tools and technique so i deliberately omitted them from this post.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have learn something

Don't hesitate to correct,  hate or love me in the comments below ;)

Next topic ( part 2of 4 ) will be : Drum reverb - Not just the snare

Welcome to my new blog.  I will be posting ideas and tips about mixing music in-the-box ( ITB ).
I am not an audio professional.  I am simply an audio technologies enthusiastic, an electronic music creator and a mixing nerd.  I won't be sharing a lot of news about new products and products up dates, there's already a ton of that out there. Instead, i'd like to put the emphasis on the psychology behind mixing and evolving as an "audio engineer".  Most of the time the most effective tips comes from the tools you already have inside your DAW ( digital audio workstation ) and it doesn't require you to buy any new products.  Audio software companies are like any other businesses, they are tring to sell you their products.  I'm not here to sell you anything.  I am simply doing this to share what i know and to put some of my thoughts in a structured format ( it helps my brain ).  One thing to take into consideration is that i am French Canadian ( Montréal ) and that English is not my first language but since most things audio related are in English ( manuals, tools, DAWs and etc ) i think it's only appropriate to make this blog accessible to most. ( like Fab Dupont does at PureMix )

So, as a first entry, i'd like to remind you of a super simple tool ( dare i say knob ) on your DAW's mixer and it's the mute button. ( Dhaaaa, right ? ) But one thing that keeps getting me good results is the muting of tracks while mixing. Let say you just dial in the perfect eq curve on a bass track. It cuts trough, it supports the kick and it is not overpowering everything else. Awesome ! Then i suggest you try this little tip to see if, indeed, it was the perfect eq curve : Mute it ! Mute the bass track for 5-10 minutes and keep on mixing. You ears, by focusing on something else, will more then likely forget what you just did or rather what your bass track sounds like  and will "reset" them self.  After a few minutes, when you feel you have nailed ( i.e. ) the pad track, un-mute the bass track and see if it still wows you.  If it does then great but if it doesn't adjust whats needed and mute it again. Repeat and repeat and repeat again. 

I found this tip most useful on instruments with a lot of lower frequencies ( low mids and down ). So go ahead and try it with the kick, the bass, the pads and etc... but it works for everything.

Thanks for reading :)