{"id":3373,"date":"2021-11-19T16:30:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T16:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/?p=3373"},"modified":"2021-11-19T16:30:47","modified_gmt":"2021-11-19T16:30:47","slug":"best-mix-bus-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/best-mix-bus-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is The Best Mix Bus Chain for A Professional Mix?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"best mix bus plugin chain\" data-id=\"3400\" width=\"661\" data-init-width=\"1200\" height=\"453\" data-init-height=\"823\" title=\"mix bus chain\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/mix-bus-chain.jpg\" data-width=\"661\" data-height=\"453\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Having the proper mix bus chain on your track is not only a key ingredient to professional-sounding mixes&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>But it can shave hours off of your mixing process.<\/p>\n<p>So what is the best mix bus chain for creating a professional-sounding mix?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>The best mix bus chain uses, in order, a parametric EQ, Mid-Side EQ, <strong>a compressor,&nbsp;<\/strong>Saturation, and Harmonic Enhancer. This combination of effects will help glue all of the tracks in a mix together, while also applying desirable punch, depth, and warmth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So this is what your mix bus processing chain will look like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Parametric EQ<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>High Shelf Side EQ<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Compressor<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Saturation<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Harmonic Enhancer<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"\" id=\"t-1637153976134\">Is Mix Bus Processing Necessary?<\/h2>\n<p>Technically, no. Nothing is really necessary when it comes to music because it all depends on the &#8220;sound&#8221; that you&#8217;re going for.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That said, mix bus processing can go a long way toward creating a crafting a professional mix, and it enables you to do so in much less time.<\/p>\n<p>Mix bus processing is what is going to help you create a professional mix that almost sounds mastered.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is because all of your tracks in your project are going to be fed to your mix bus where they are all summed together into one whole.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Any processing you put on the mix bus will shape all of your sounds at once.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t correctly, mix bus processing will help glue all of your tracks together, and add more desirable punch, depth, and warmth.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"\" id=\"t-1637153976135\">What Is A Mix Bus Chain?<\/h2>\n<p>A mix bus chain is simply the order in which you put effects\/plugins on your mix bus.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The order in which you place plugins on your mix bus is important because each subsequent plugin is effecting what has already been effected by the previous plugin.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For example, if I add saturation first and then compression, I will be compressing the saturated sound.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Whereas if I put compression first and then saturation, I will be saturating the compressed sound.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"\" id=\"t-1637153976136\">How Do You Set UP A Mix Bus?<\/h2>\n<p>This will be a little bit different depending on your DAW, but I&#8217;ll show you how I do it in Logic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Of course, your digital mixer will have a &#8220;stereo out&#8221; channel, but we don&#8217;t really want to use this as our mix bus, although technically it&#8217;s the same thing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The reason we don&#8217;t want to use the stereo out channel as our mix bus is because it&#8217;s a good idea to mix with references, and if you use the stereo out as your mix bus and place effects on it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Then you&#8217;ll also be effecting your references, which defeats the whole purpose of using references.<\/p>\n<p>So you&#8217;ll want to create a separate track that you&#8217;ll route all of your tracks to before they continue on their journey to the stereo out. Here&#8217;s how you do it:<\/p>\n<h3>Create An Auxiliary Track<\/h3>\n<p><span><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"creating a mix bus\" data-id=\"3404\" width=\"661\" data-init-width=\"1258\" height=\"360\" data-init-height=\"686\" title=\"mix bus 1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/mix-bus-1.png\" data-width=\"661\" data-height=\"360\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your first step is to create a new Aux track in your DAW.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is the track that we&#8217;ll be using for the mix bus.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Choose A Bus &amp; Route All Of Your Tracks<\/h3>\n<p><span><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3408\" width=\"600\" data-init-width=\"2550\" height=\"491\" data-init-height=\"1438\" title=\"how to create a mix bus-1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/how-to-create-a-mix-bus-1.png\" data-width=\"600\" data-height=\"491\" style=\"\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>You then have to assign what bus you want this new Aux track to sit on. In the picture above, you can see I chose bus 32.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn&#8217;t matter what bus you choose.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Then you need to set the output of all of your tracks to be this new mix bus track, so I set the output to be bus 32 for each of my instrument tracks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now all of my tracks are going to my mix bus before hitting the stereo out (you can see the output of the mix bus feeds the stereo out).<\/p>\n<p>Now if I want to add a reference track, I easily can, and I would just leave the output of the reference track to be the stereo out.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"\" id=\"t-1637153976137\">Best Mix Bus Chain For A Professional Mix<\/h2>\n<p>So what is the best mix bus chain for getting a professional mix?<\/p>\n<p>Our goal is to create an upfront, cohesive, and wide mix.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The following mix bus plugin chain will help you achieve this.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"t-1637153976139\" style=\"\">1. Parametric EQ<\/h2>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/equal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3393\" width=\"659\" data-init-width=\"1856\" height=\"376\" data-init-height=\"1060\" title=\"mix bus eq\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/mix-bus-eq.png\" data-width=\"659\" data-height=\"376\" data-link-wrap=\"true\"><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I like to start with EQ because you are essentially deciding on the final frequency content when start with EQ on your mix bus.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In other words, you&#8217;re basically making the final decision on what the building materials are going to be for your song.<\/p>\n<p>Start by adding some parametric EQ. You&#8217;ll want to add smooth and subtle EQ that adds powerful bass and silky-smooth highs to your track.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll want to compare your references to your EQ before making any boosting or cutting decisions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pay attention to the highs, lows, and mids of your references and how they compare to yours.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Do your references have more presence? Boost some highs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Does your track sound too muddy in comparison? Cut some low mids or bass.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here are the EQ moves I typically make:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Roll off top and bottom: Around 30Hz and 19kHz<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>1db boost around 5kHz to help vocals and lead cut through<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Cut around 1 to 2 db around 300-350Hz where a lot of mud collects<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Any other moves I make are to make the EQ curve of my song more closely match my references.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In general, you don&#8217;t want to make any boosts or cuts above 2db. You want to be very subtle here.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s it for the parametric EQ, now on to the mid-side EQ.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"t-1637153976140\" style=\"\">2. High Shelf Side EQ<\/h2>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/equal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3394\" width=\"659\" data-init-width=\"1856\" height=\"376\" data-init-height=\"1060\" title=\"mix bus ms eq\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/mix-bus-ms-eq.png\" data-width=\"659\" data-height=\"376\" data-link-wrap=\"true\"><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>You can also EQ the sounds in the middle of the stereo field differently than you EQ the sides.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I like to add a EQ high shelf to the sides, and boost 1 to 1.5db at around 8kHZ.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This will boost the highs in the left and right channels only, and provides a nice boost of air and space to your mix without increasing harshness like you would boosting the highs in the middle.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"\" id=\"t-1637153976138\">3. Compressor<\/h2>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/buscomp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3392\" width=\"659\" data-init-width=\"1862\" height=\"377\" data-init-height=\"1064\" title=\"mix bus comp\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/mix-bus-comp.png\" data-width=\"659\" data-height=\"377\" data-link-wrap=\"true\"><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The next plugin you&#8217;ll want to insert is a compressor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The goal with the compressor is to glue your mix together.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/glue-song-together\/\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"outline: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">If you aren&#8217;t familiar with what it means to &#8220;glue&#8221; your song together, or how to do it, then check out my article here.&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"tcb-post-list tve-content-list thrv_wrapper\" data-type=\"list\" data-pagination-type=\"none\" data-pages_near_current=\"2\" data-css=\"tve-u-17d2b4e0d1f\" data-total_post_count=\"1\" data-total_sticky_count=\"0\" data-disabled-links=\"0\" data-no_posts_text=\"\"><article id=\"post-3317\" class=\"post-3317 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-production tag-bus tag-compression tag-mixing post-wrapper thrv_wrapper thrive-animated-item  tve_evt_manager_listen tve_ea_thrive_animation tve_et_mouseover tve_anim_grow\" tcb_hover_state_parent=\"\" class=\"tve_evt_manager_listen tve_ea_thrive_animation tve_et_mouseover tve_anim_grow\" data-selector=\".post-wrapper\"><style class=\"tcb-post-list-dynamic-style\" type=\"text\/css\">@media (min-width: 300px){[].tcb-post-list #post-3317 []{background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5), rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5)), url(&#8220;https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/glue-compression-1024x576.jpg&#8220;) !important;}[].tcb-post-list #post-3317 []:hover []{background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4), rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4)), url(&#8220;https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/glue-compression-1024x576.jpg&#8220;) !important;}}<\/style><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"t-1633702698695\" style=\"\"><span data-shortcode=\"tcb_post_title\" data-shortcode-name=\"Post title\" data-extra_key=\"\" data-attr-link=\"1\" data-attr-target=\"0\" data-attr-rel=\"0\" data-option-inline=\"1\" data-attr-static-link=\"{&quot;className&quot;:&quot;tve-froala fr-basic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/glue-song-together\/&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;How To Glue Your Song Together (What Glue Means In Music)&quot;,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;tve-froala fr-basic&quot;}\" data-attr-css=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/glue-song-together\/\" title=\"What Is Glue Compression In Music? (How To Blend Your Tracks Together)\" data-css=\"\" class=\"tve-froala fr-basic\">What Is Glue Compression In Music? (How To Blend Your Tracks Together)<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/glue-song-together\/\" style=\"\"><span><span>Read More<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/article><\/div>\n<h3>How to Glue Your Mix Together<\/h3>\n<p>I recommend using a compressor that is built for gluing a track together, like <a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/buscomp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" style=\"outline: none;\">IK Multimedia&#8217;s Bus Compressor <\/a>(pictured above).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is a VCA compressor, which makes it great for blending your mix together.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You could also use a Variable mu style (tube) to achieve the compression as well.<\/p>\n<p>Tube compressors will introduce subtle harmonic distortion, and famous models include the Manley Vari-Mu and the Fairchild 670. Each will provide a warm, smooth sound.<\/p>\n<p>Emulations of each of these compressors can be found below.<\/p>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/dynamu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2558\" width=\"293\" data-init-width=\"1076\" height=\"107\" data-init-height=\"394\" title=\"dyna-mu\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/dyna-mu.jpg\" data-width=\"293\" data-height=\"107\" data-link-wrap=\"true\" style=\"\"><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/dynamu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IK Multimedia Dyna-Mu<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3124\" width=\"293\" data-init-width=\"728\" height=\"106\" data-init-height=\"264\" title=\"IK670\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/IK670.png\" data-width=\"293\" data-height=\"106\" data-link-wrap=\"true\"><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IK Multimedia Vintage Compressor<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t have any plugins that model these hardware compressors, that&#8217;s okay. Just can also use whatever VCA or Tube compressor you have.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Consider testing each and seeing which one you like better.<\/p>\n<h3>Mix Bus Compressor Settings<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Attack: 3 (slow attack)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Release: 0.6 or auto (medium release)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Ratio: 1.5 to 2<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Threshold: Enough to apply 1-2db of compression<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Make-Up: Enough to balance out any loss in volume<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What we&#8217;re looking at here is a slower attack, and a medium release.<\/p>\n<p>Too fast of a release will cause a &#8220;pumping&#8221; effect, and too slow will kill the dynamics.<\/p>\n<p>So I would use the &#8220;auto&#8221; setting if you have it on your compressor, or else use your ears and adjust to taste.<\/p>\n<p>This ensures a gentle and subtle level of compression so that you get the gluing effect you want, without squashing out all of the dynamics in your song.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"\" id=\"t-1637153976141\">4. Saturation<\/h2>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/KramerTape\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3395\" width=\"659\" data-init-width=\"1488\" height=\"547\" data-init-height=\"1236\" title=\"mix bus tape\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/mix-bus-tape.png\" data-width=\"659\" data-height=\"547\" data-link-wrap=\"true\"><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I also like to add some analog warmth to my tracks since I do everything &#8220;in the box&#8221; (i.e. in the computer and not with outboard gear).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the olden days, EVERYTHING was colored by tape saturation because songs were &#8220;cut&#8221; (recorded) to tape.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Since I make music that I want to have a more vintage vibe, I like to add some tape saturation to my mix bus sometimes with <a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/KramerTape\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the Kramer Master Tape plugin.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If that&#8217;s too extreme for you, you could just stick to your hardware modeled compressor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So I guess I would say this is optional.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"\" id=\"t-1637153976142\">5. Harmonic Enhancer &amp; Width<\/h2>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/pusher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3390\" width=\"400\" data-init-width=\"872\" height=\"652\" data-init-height=\"1422\" title=\"Infected mushroom\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Infected-mushroom.png\" data-width=\"400\" data-height=\"652\" style=\"\" data-link-wrap=\"true\"><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I love harmonic enhancers. You can basically just call these &#8220;sound gooder&#8221; tools.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You throw one on your mix bus and it just sounds better!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/pusher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" style=\"outline: none;\">One of my favorites is the Infected Mushroom Pusher by Waves<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It works especially well on Electronic music.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Other great ones include <a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/MixCentric\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Greg Wells Mix Centric<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/particles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" style=\"outline: none;\">Scheps Parallel Particles<\/a>, both by Waves.<\/p>\n<p>What a harmonic enhancer actually does is introduce new subtle frequency content to your track.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s what the &#8220;Magic&#8221; knob does here in Pusher.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The result is more depth, punch, and brightness, without actually making your track louder.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pusher also has a nice stereo image control to help you add some stereo width to your track.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I would, however, be very cautious about adding much stereo widening to your mix bus, as this can cause phase issues.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This means sounds can start to cancel each other out, and you get an ugly sound.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s better to use panning during mixing to create your width, and then be very careful with widening on your mix bus.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You can use a tool like iZotope Insight to make sure everything is in phase.<\/p>\n<p><span><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2786\" width=\"659\" data-init-width=\"1200\" height=\"591\" data-init-height=\"1076\" title=\"Lissojous\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Lissojous.png\" data-width=\"659\" data-height=\"591\" style=\"\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Also, when using your harmonic enhancer, be sure to adjust the output so that you aren&#8217;t making your mix louder with this.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/loudness\/\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"outline: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">By the way, if you&#8217;re not sure what volume level you should shoot for when mixing, then check out my article here.<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"tcb-post-list tve-content-list thrv_wrapper\" data-type=\"list\" data-pagination-type=\"none\" data-pages_near_current=\"2\" data-css=\"tve-u-17d38e1bae6\" data-total_post_count=\"1\" data-total_sticky_count=\"0\" data-disabled-links=\"0\" data-no_posts_text=\"\"><article id=\"post-1113\" class=\"post-1113 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-production tag-loudness tag-mastering tag-mixing post-wrapper thrv_wrapper thrive-animated-item  tve_evt_manager_listen tve_ea_thrive_animation tve_et_mouseover tve_anim_grow\" tcb_hover_state_parent=\"\" class=\"tve_evt_manager_listen tve_ea_thrive_animation tve_et_mouseover tve_anim_grow\" data-selector=\".post-wrapper\"><style class=\"tcb-post-list-dynamic-style\" type=\"text\/css\">@media (min-width: 300px){[].tcb-post-list #post-1113 []{background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5), rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5)), url(&#8220;https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/orange-mega-phone.jpg&#8220;) !important;}[].tcb-post-list #post-1113 []:hover []{background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4), rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4)), url(&#8220;https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/orange-mega-phone.jpg&#8220;) !important;}}<\/style><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"t-1633702698695\" style=\"\"><span data-shortcode=\"tcb_post_title\" data-shortcode-name=\"Post title\" data-extra_key=\"\" data-attr-link=\"1\" data-attr-target=\"0\" data-attr-rel=\"0\" data-option-inline=\"1\" data-attr-static-link=\"{&quot;className&quot;:&quot;tve-froala fr-basic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/1000-spotify-streams\/&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;How To Get Your First 1,000 Streams On Spotify Fast (For Free)&quot;,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;tve-froala fr-basic&quot;}\" data-attr-css=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/loudness\/\" title=\"How Loud Should My Mix And Master Be?\" data-css=\"\" class=\"tve-froala fr-basic\">How Loud Should My Mix And Master Be?<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/loudness\/\" style=\"\"><span><span>Read More<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/article><\/div>\n<h2 id=\"t-1637153976143\" style=\"\">Mix Bus Before &amp; After<\/h2>\n<p>I went ahead and threw this mix bus chain on one of my tracks so you can hear what all of these sound like together.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Watch my short video below to hear what my track sound like without any mix bus processing, and then what it sounds like after mix bus processing.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"\" id=\"t-1637153976146\">What Can And Cannot Go On A Mix Bus?<\/h2>\n<p>On a mix bus, we&#8217;re looking to shape dynamics, tone, harmonics, and the mid-side content of a mix.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That means there are certain effects that can and cannot live on mix bus.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\" id=\"t-1637332239756\">What can You Put On A mix bus?<\/h2>\n<h3 style=\"font-size: 20px !important;\">Can<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"\">                    <span style=\"\">Dynamics: Compression, multi-band compression<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"\">                    <span style=\"\">Tonal: EQ<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"\">                    <span style=\"\">Harmonics: Distortion, Saturation, Excitation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"\">                    <span style=\"\">Mid\/Side: M\/S EQ, Stereo Imaging<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"font-size: 20px !important;\">Should Not<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"\">                    <span style=\"\">Time-based: Reverb &amp; Delay<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"\">                    <span style=\"\">Pitch-based: Pitch shifters<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"\">                    <span style=\"\">Chorus<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><span style=\"\">Phase-based: Phasers, Flangers<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I will say the exception to what you should not put on your mix bus is if you are wanting to create a cool effect at a certain part of your song.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you are wanting to go for a degraded sound at a certain part of your song, it can be cool to add some pitch warbling across your whole mix, and then use automation to remove it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"\" id=\"t-1637332239757\">Is The Mix Bus The Same As The Master Bus?<\/h2>\n<p>Technically, yes, the mix bus and master bus are the same thing, but for best results, you&#8217;ll want to treat them as completely separate things.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>After you have finished your mix, and bounced your track down to a single stereo track, you then can open a new project in your DAW to master your track via the &#8220;master bus&#8221;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is if you are mastering your song yourself.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you want to send your song to someone else for mastering, it&#8217;s even more important to treat your mix and master bus differently.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is because of the different volume levels you want your mix and master to have.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You want to leave headroom in your mix so that when you, or someone else, goes to master it, they have room to work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The main difference here is that on your mix bus, you will NOT want to put any limiting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Adding a limiter to get your track up to commercial volume levels is for the mastering phase. <\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"t-1637153976145\" style=\"\">Next Steps<\/h2>\n<p>Having a great mix bus chain can go a long way to creating that professional sound, but it&#8217;s not a silver bullet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s only as good as how well you&#8217;ve recorded and mixed the tracks in your song.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you want to learn a proven step-by-step process for mixing your track, start to finish, so you can publish more music, faster&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/mixingchecklist\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"outline: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">Then grab my rapid song-finishing checklist here. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>__CONFIG_group_edit__{}__CONFIG_group_edit____CONFIG_local_colors__{&#8220;colors&#8221;:{&#8220;cd497&#8221;:&#8221;Background &#8220;,&#8221;144cd&#8221;:&#8221;Button &#8220;},&#8221;gradients&#8221;:{}}__CONFIG_local_colors__  <span style=\"width: 100%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"144\" height=\"230\" title=\"Rapid Song-Finishing Checklist (1)\" data-id=\"825\" src=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Rapid-Song-Finishing-Checklist-1-3-scaled.jpg\" style=\"\" data-width=\"144\" data-height=\"230\" data-init-width=\"1283\" data-init-height=\"2048\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h4 id=\"t-1598014058179\" style=\"\">Create Better Songs, Faster<\/h4>\n<p>Click below to download my free song-finishing checklist to help you create radio-ready songs without taking months to complete them.<\/p>\n<p>__CONFIG_colors_palette__{&#8220;active_palette&#8221;:0,&#8221;config&#8221;:{&#8220;colors&#8221;:{&#8220;4b114&#8221;:{&#8220;name&#8221;:&#8221;Main Accent&#8221;,&#8221;parent&#8221;:-1}},&#8221;gradients&#8221;:[]},&#8221;palettes&#8221;:[{&#8220;name&#8221;:&#8221;Default Palette&#8221;,&#8221;value&#8221;:{&#8220;colors&#8221;:{&#8220;4b114&#8221;:{&#8220;val&#8221;:&#8221;rgb(250, 194, 45)&#8221;,&#8221;hsl&#8221;:{&#8220;h&#8221;:43,&#8221;s&#8221;:0.95,&#8221;l&#8221;:0.58}}},&#8221;gradients&#8221;:[]},&#8221;original&#8221;:{&#8220;colors&#8221;:{&#8220;4b114&#8221;:{&#8220;val&#8221;:&#8221;rgb(19, 114, 211)&#8221;,&#8221;hsl&#8221;:{&#8220;h&#8221;:210,&#8221;s&#8221;:0.83,&#8221;l&#8221;:0.45}}},&#8221;gradients&#8221;:[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__ <a href=\"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/MixingChecklist\" style=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span><span>I Want To Finish Songs Faster!<\/span><\/span> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>I hope you got value from this post on what is the best mix bus processing chain.<\/p>\n<p>If so, feel free to share, and let me know in the comments below:<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>What other questions do you have about mixing?<\/em><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having the proper mix bus chain on your track is not only a key ingredient to professional-sounding mixes&#8230; But it can shave hours off of your mixing process. So what is the best mix bus chain for creating a professional-sounding mix? The best mix bus chain uses, in order, a parametric EQ, Mid-Side EQ, a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[217,107,141],"class_list":{"0":"post-3373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-production","8":"tag-mix-bus","9":"tag-mixing","10":"tag-plugins","11":"post-wrapper","12":"thrv_wrapper","15":"thrive-animated-item"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3373"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3448,"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373\/revisions\/3448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orpheusaudioacademy.com\/stagingnew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}