Mixing: Drum Bus

Yeps I second the question/idea: what is usually or currently on your drum bus for processing? just to offer some ideas, and relying on my typical thinking here:

-I like to have any deep/sub content separate from other items with more mid or upper freq/harmonics

-I like to bus things based on musical/rhythmic moment and interactions as a rhythm unit

-For fx like verb, amb, delay, etc---how I prefer to summ/bus that depends on the overall musical intention of including the fx.

For example, if Im adding snare verb to create a wider stereo spread or sense of acoustic space (where the verb is integrated into the sound of the snare itself(or the other way around) where listeners often cant differentiate between the verb and the snare as they are perceptively one) then I bus/sum it all together. If the verb is meant to be perceived separately/uniquely from the snare I find separate processing has been beneficial

Getting back to sub content/deep items like 808/kick, I like to separate this from kit bc of the need for separate dynamic control.

Two ways I decide what is specifically needed per situation:

1: is the drum arrangement sparse and/or slow
2: is it fast and/or technically complicated.

I find this help me decide whether or not I can rely on deliberate swing in bus compression for movement or character from the gear/plug (this would be from slow/sparse rhythms into the bus comp). The alternative here is multiple buses for exact control of different dynamic movement--- to end up with thoughtful control of complicated and/or fast parts that would normally result it mucky bus comp if all funneled together.

Typical multi bus groups for busy drums/perc or busy song :

1.sub/bass items (808, boomy kicks)
2. punchy kicks
3. mid items: snare, various perc if snare isnt mid drive complementing some bass percussive element
4.cymbs or OH/rooms with majority of cymb work
5. amb drum mics or room mics
6. misc items or groups odd but related with rhythm to one another

I just generally set comps here to taste(in solo) while inditracks feed multi buss comps based on default send levels (the inditrack fader balances decided prior to setting up busses),
then,
spend time in full mix context adjusting the send levels of each individual sends to these compressor busses for final balance relative to full song. This final "in-context send-balancing" is what decides the swing of compression pumping (subtle, intense, or not). When rhythms are esp wild, busy/fast: I tend to just two-level deep compress these busses in solo often (limit/compress just before perceptual squeeze/dist happens, then immediately compress again with additional low ratio colorful compressor to reach final boundaries of dynamic squeeze)---this approach is appropriate to me because the goal here is eliminating pumping or deviations in level, exactly what helps busy rhythms standup and be heard in a busy fast song

inny-wayzz.., rant aside: I suppose it all about taste. I like to compress like thar aint no tomorrw, always & shamelessly. so I've noticed the related limitations here and try anything that highlights the musical end-game of each song through this avenue.

I would probs only truly encourage that last notion, highlight the musical-mojos no matter what

-MadHat
 
Wow, thank you so much for that detailed response. Really! haha. but I am new to mixing. I produce and compose, but have yet to put out any music because of this mixing dilemma. Currently my drum bus consists of: 808, kick, hi hat, hi hat reverb (extremely low and faint), snare, snare reverb (very faint), and open hi-hat. The drum arrangement and beat itself its fairly fast. There are rhythmic change ups within the beat occasionally. It is at 122 bpm. This song is hip hop

In regards to multi bus compressing, are you saying I should/could bus compress each individual drum instrument? For example, create bus to bus-compress the snare; create new bus, bus-compress kick, etc? Again, I'm new to this particular stage of making music haha.

Thank you!
-BP
 
bornwithpicasso said:
Wow, thank you so much for that detailed response. Really! haha. but I am new to mixing. I produce and compose, but have yet to put out any music because of this mixing dilemma. Currently my drum bus consists of: 808, kick, hi hat, hi hat reverb (extremely low and faint), snare, snare reverb (very faint), and open hi-hat. The drum arrangement and beat itself its fairly fast. There are rhythmic change ups within the beat occasionally. It is at 122 bpm. This song is hip hop

In regards to multi bus compressing, are you saying I should/could bus compress each individual drum instrument? For example, create bus to bus-compress the snare; create new bus, bus-compress kick, etc? Again, I'm new to this particular stage of making music haha.

Thank you!
-BP
Click to expand...

Hello! Thank you for your kind words, also apologies if the rambles were a bit too ramble lol

I would definitely like to point out the thoughts above are just one point of view based singular expereince, I think over all I hope those ideas can stimulate exploration. I personally really enjoy trying things out---new techs, processes, etc---and seeing how that adds to or revises current personal strategies. Also brief rando-thought: use personal taste as magic-compass on voyage! Ahoy!preference is informative in itself and constantly reflecting what is exactly important to you at this exact time! But as it was----I can try to clarify for your last question there if I can:

First thingy: I believe i was talking about buss processing as dynamic processing specifically---compressuon, limiting, etc. I think that might be important to keep in mind when talking about purpose of grouping items to busses

I was suggesting buss treatment as a way of grouping related or interconnected content. Example: if your open and closed hihats have complicated and/or complementary rhythms I would throughly enjoy processing those together with downward compression bc it would highlight the rhythmic fluctuations and movements of these together (or balancing dynamic ranges equally if that is the purpose of this hypothetical buss).

Sooo, for this specific approach I encourage treating the busses like groups really. Also yes I definitely encourage individual track treatment, you can be very deliberate and precise like this. Currently I work indi tracks for best sound possible, then group work, adjust indi''s into busses, work master buss, then revise from ground up according to mastering needs

But hey! There's purty-much like 20thousand ways to shake this stick, who's to say this ways the best? It's all up to preference imho (!)

Do you have a favorite album you think has killer production elements? Get tickled by inspiration, that's home base if I've ever known it

As always, wishing the best

-MadHat
 
Hey bornwithpicasso it really depends on what you want. I think MadHat explained really well, and like he said, it really depends on what you're trying to achieve. I could say I treat 808s like a bass line (putting all bass elements in the same bus) but it depends on the track.

Generally speaking, I don't think in this as rules, what should be routed to what, but what my end goal is. I when route instruments to a bus is to apply a certain effect (EQing, saturation, compression...). For example, in Trap/Future Bass/Bass influenced music, I sometimes route the Bass line and the Kick to an additional bus channel, for a bit of tape-saturation + low pass filtering + strong compression, to create a thick-drone sound that behaves as another bass instrument, and then feeding it to the Master just a little bit. The goal here was to make the bass more continuous and penetrating like a hum (the only example I can think of right now is "Hit The Quan" haha). Anyway, It started as an experiment and I was unsure if it would be OK to do this. But now, I feel when this technique can be useful or ruin a track.

PS: if you use your own techniques your productions will be unique! Remember that :)
 
It really all depends on what you want your sound to be, sometimes including them in the drum bus can be a dope feel, sometimes it is less effective. I feel that using parallel compression with 808's tends to beef them up quite a bit and for that I would suggest routing them separately from the drum bus. I'd be glad to offer tips on that if you're curious. I also like to squash my drums a decent amount in order to get them to punch correctly, and including the 808 in that can take away from the weight of the drums. This is all in my experience. I've included a link for reference on what this sounds like, though I strayed away from parallel compression with this one.

 
When I mix with 808 is an sidechain. So this I do: first I send the kick drum to 808. Haves 4.1 ratio with threshold -22 down to -28. So each time the kick hits the 808, its ducks down a bit. When I have done it, the harmonics of the 808 you can hear it in the kick. Not loudly, just the top feaq. Then I usally use my bus plugins and the 808 sounds great.
 
bornwithpicasso said:
Should 808s be in the drum bus?
808, Kick, Snare, Snare Reverb, Hihat, and Open Hihat are all routed to my drum bus.
Click to expand...

Since you're just beginning here's the simple, reliable approach you can use right away to get it.

The point of busing your drums is for control. The control we want is for all our disparate drum samples to sound and behave similarly. Since much of the time we're working with samples, or different mic recordings etc., our samples can sound disparate (i.e. not the same).

So the PRIMARY GOAL of a drum bus is to create cohesion or what many call 'glue.' We're simply bringing things together.

With all our drums (808 kick included) sent to the same drum bus we can deliberately force cohesion by using a compressor to subtly pump the sound of all our drums in a rhythmically pleasing way.

I configure the compressor on my own drum bus with the safest and 'idiot proof' setting of 2:1 Ratio, Attack 10ms, and Release 2-5ms. The threshold should then be lowered to the point that you're only getting 1-2db of gain reduction at most. (I prefer 1db gain reduction)

I personally enjoy having all my drums (808 kick included) going into the drum bus.

Now what is the effect of bus compression on drums? The effect is like making a great aromatic, flavorful dish in the kitchen. And so when it's done all the aromas, scents and flavors are all there, but they aren't sticking out-- You can't quiet taste them, but you can smell them.

And so as any cook knows the finishing touch is simply adding salt. By adding just a little bit of salt we can bring all those wonderful flavors to life.

Salt has the effect of not only boosting all the flavors, but bringing them together by giving them all the Same overlying salted Quality. Bus compression is just like salt, you're adding it in to bring your drum dish (set) together so that everything has that subtle but SIMILAR compressed Quality.

Since a compressor is just an automatic volume fader, then the compressed quality we're talking about is just the rhythmic timing (as determined by your attack and release settings) of your compressor as it moves the volume up and down in response to the incoming signal.

This is the character quality of your salt or compressor-- that rhythmic pumping of your compressor. In the same way you've come to understand the flavor of salt you'll gradually familiarize yourself with the different rhtyhmic timings and pumping intensities of your compressor while using it to bring your drums together.

Hopefully that helps.

-Nathan
 
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