Plug-ins on master bus

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Level 1

8 points

Plug-ins on master bus

Hello,

As an experiment, I have placed a waves Abbey Road REDD 51 Consol plug-in on my master bus. This gives a slight analog coloration to the overall mix. I really like the sound of the mix running through this console.

As a rule of thumb, I know that it’s generally not a suggested practice to pull down the level slider on the master bus track… The better method is to leave the slider at zero. There are a few different reasons for doing this, but I won’t go into it here.

Because I already have a plug-in installed on the master bus, would it be disadvantageous to pull down the “output” levels on the REDD console.

Even though I have practiced adequate gain staging throughout the mix, the Corus sections are pushing the levels a little hotter than I would like ( although never clipping). Ultimately, I would like to leave between three and six DB headroom for potential mastering.

I’m sure the best method would be to go across the entire mix and start reducing some levels so that when I get to the chorus it doesn’t push things too hot. But this would be very tedious and time-consuming.

Maybe just pulling down the output on the plug-in by a few dB would achieve this, and I would not have to touch the slider on the master bus. But maybe this is not a good idea?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Posted on Feb 9, 2018 8:51 AM

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Answer 1

Indyuser

Level 5

4,623 points

Feb 9, 2018 12:26 PM in response to wgspar2

I believe there may be some confusion on the term master bus. In logic there is an output channel strip which behaves similar to what you are calling the master bus - there is also a master channel strip which is likely being referenced by those indicating to leave the master alone ( they are referring to Logic's master channel strip).

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Answer 2

wgspar2 Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 9, 2018 12:38 PM in response to Indyuser

Yes, I’m actually referring to the channel strip in Logic titled “stereo out”. Now I see that this has no bearing on the “master/VCA” chanel. sorry for the confusion. And thanks for the clarification!

So just to summarize, it sounds like it’s perfectly fine to make adjustments on the stereo out Chanel, but the master/VCA channel should not be touched. Am I correct?

Thanks

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Answer 3

wgspar2 Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 9, 2018 12:05 PM in response to octopi

thanks so much Octopi!!

I’m not really sure about the logic behind why other people have told me never to touch the slider on the master track. The only thing I can think of, is that by pulling down the slider on the master fader, things that are lower in the mix may disappear. but if that were the only reason, it seems much easier to bring up the individual levels of the lower tracks once the master fader has been brought down to an effective level, as opposed to bringing all tracks down except the few that might be a little bit on the low side. Know what I mean?

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Answer 4

octopi

Level 4

3,630 points

Feb 9, 2018 9:57 AM in response to wgspar2

Pull down the level on the master buss track. There's is no difference between doing this or reducing each track by the same amount.

As an experiment, pull a finished track into Logic, and pull down the track fader to -10. Bounce out.

Now put the fader back to 0 and pull the master bus down to -10. Bounce out.

You will find that the two files will null perfectly.

So just pull down that master fader a little and you're sorted.

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Plug-ins on master bus

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