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  • andy_kandy_k Frets: 818
    I use a mix bus (folder) to sum all my group busses (folders) and an FX bus, which has reverb and delay tracks in it.
    I put all my mastering plugs, eqs, compression on the mix bus, and the only plugs on the master fader are things like SPAN, or loudness meters.
    That way, you can have a reference outside the mix bus, and compare EQ and loudness.
    I love Reaper for its versatility.
    Dan Worrell does a good vid on how to set up SPAN to show MS levels, good stuff.
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited May 2019
    PolarityMan said:
    I wasnt actually aware of the track manager...that has just made it into my setup.
     Track Manager is great, and you can do some neat tricks like show/hide multiple tracks with a quick zap of the mouse. I'm getting into the habit of hiding stuff that I'm not working on, which simplifies the workflow and improves focus, and it's easy to pull stuff back in. I also pin all the plugins, so they retain focus when I work full-screen in the mixer window. Of course pressing F11 helps too 
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited May 2019
    PolarityMan said:
    Reaper folder tracks basically are buses
    Indeed they are, but don't they all have to remain in place to retain the folder structure? Say you want all the Group Busses lined up in a row next to each other, then you would have to do an extra step (I think). I've been contemplating using 8 hardware faders to ride the Group Busses during mixdown automation, as it seems like a good way of getting into the flow of things if you treat it like a performance. It would probably take some custom mapping though, unless I've missed something? Or alternatively you could bounce each Group Bus to mix stems, and import them into a new project.

    I'm still fairly new at all this, but it's kinda how that Lord Algae fella does it, he sub mixes everything in buckets of eight on the faders including the instrument tracks, and he records the automation. It makes sense approaching it like a conductor would, as opposed to isolating every task.
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • danishbacondanishbacon Frets: 2694
    edited May 2019
    Musicwolf said:
    A couple of nights ago I upgraded from Cubase Pro 8.5 to 10 (there's an anniversary offer on at the moment).

    My god, it's dark.  It puts me in mind of Hotblack Desiato's ship -  'Every time you try and operate these weird black controls that are labeled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up in black to let you know you’ve done it.’  I do like the new features though.

    I'm going to build some new templates to improve my 'workflow' (or, to put it another way, give me fewer excuses to avoid making music).

    Thanks for the heads-up on qbase @Musicwolf ;
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited May 2019
    andy_k said:
    I use a mix bus (folder) to sum all my group busses (folders) and an FX bus, which has reverb and delay tracks in it.
    I put all my mastering plugs, eqs, compression on the mix bus, and the only plugs on the master fader are things like SPAN, or loudness meters.
    That way, you can have a reference outside the mix bus, and compare EQ and loudness.
    I love Reaper for its versatility.
    Dan Worrell does a good vid on how to set up SPAN to show MS levels, good stuff.
    Do you bounce down to a stereo pair before the mastering stage? I sort of mix into a mastering plugin to get a feel for it, but I was wondering if it isn't better to separate the mixing and mastering stages?

    I'm definately sticking with the Master/Submaster bus concept, but I haven't yet finalized how best to utilize them in my workflow. I certainly want to include reference tracks in the process, but I also want my stereo mixes to be in a condition where other people can have a go at mastering them.

    Currently my master bus only contains a meter plugin, and Ozone which is offline by default, and it's only there to randomly check the mix. Good tip about the free Voxengo Span plugin, I normally use it for EQ-ing or messing around with synth patches.

    As individuals we have to wear a lot of different hats nowadays 
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • Phil_CPhil_C Frets: 252
    I use Reaper too. Very basic setup, 2 mics, I add the digital backing track/video recording and line them all up. 
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  • andy_kandy_k Frets: 818
    Lately I have been having a lot of fun with this template :-
    I have a drum bus, with 3 drum VSTs,  MTpower, Slate and Labs,
    Bass bus with Kontakt and Eurobass2, 
    Keys bus, with 5 instances of Labs,
    Strings bus with another 5 instances of Labs,
    these all go to a mix bus, with reacomp, TDR Nova, Kotelnikov, and Slate Air EQ,
    Master fader has SPAN,
    then I import a MIDI file, which has say 7 instruments, drums go to each of the 3 drum tracks, for variety,
    bass goes to---er bass track,
    guitars and everything else gets spread across the 10 Labs tracks, and sometimes duplicated for effect.
    That gets a bit heavy on my system, so then I bounce out stems of everything, and put them in a folder under the Mix bus, then I mute all the instruments and work on the stems.
    I put an FX bus under mix bus, with reverb x 2, and delay, and mix in sends from the stems.
    I have tried bouncing out an FX track, but usually just use the stems and bounce out a mastered stereo file.
    For mastering, I use all the stuff on my mix bus, plus Fabfilter eqs on the stem folders, and finally Slates FGx, which has constant gain monitoring, so that gets turned off when I bounce out a final mix.
    Mixes get saved in a folder above the mix bus, so I can A-B stuff with the mix bus settings, and then I check my mixes with the loudness penalty website, aiming to get a reading of about 0 db on youtube.
    I highly recommend the Spitfire Labs plugin, amazing stuff for free content, and the Fabfilter suite is well worth the money. Slate is not too shabby either.
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  • BranshenBranshen Frets: 1222
    andy_k said:

    I highly recommend the Spitfire Labs plugin, amazing stuff for free content, and the Fabfilter suite is well worth the money. Slate is not too shabby either.
    I agree that Labs is a great plugin, amazing that it is free. It is a slippery slope though. Not before long, I ended up buying a full string library from them.
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  • NerineNerine Frets: 1971
    Pro Tools 12 HD | Native Thunderbolt
    Mac Mini
    Avid HD I/O 8x8x8 
    Avid D/A expansion. (16 analogue outs)
    Dangerous Music D-Box
    Solid State Logic SiX
    Genelec 8240a’s
    Genelec GLM
    Micro Korg 
    Kemper 
    UA Ox
    M-Audio BX5a’s 
    GIK room treatment. 
    Slate Digital, Toontrack, Fab Filter, Soundtoys, Lexicon, Waves, SPL, Kush, (and loads of other instruments and whatnot and other brands I’ve forgotten) plugins. 

    Pretty modest, but the audio quality is top notch and it does exactly what I need it to. :) 
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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    Freebird said:
    PolarityMan said:
    Reaper folder tracks basically are buses
    Indeed they are, but don't they all have to remain in place to retain the folder structure? Say you want all the Group Busses lined up in a row next to each other, then you would have to do an extra step (I think). I've been contemplating using 8 hardware faders to ride the Group Busses during mixdown automation, as it seems like a good way of getting into the flow of things if you treat it like a performance. It would probably take some custom mapping though, unless I've missed something? Or alternatively you could bounce each Group Bus to mix stems, and import them into a new project.

    I'm still fairly new at all this, but it's kinda how that Lord Algae fella does it, he sub mixes everything in buckets of eight on the faders including the instrument tracks, and he records the automation. It makes sense approaching it like a conductor would, as opposed to isolating every task.
    I have a template like this too although its not my current one. Basically I have folder tasks at the bottom all sending into 8 bus tracks at the top level of the project. Creating a simple send is dead easy to you just drag the little I/O button from you folder track onto your bus track.


    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    Im kind of debating what to do with my delay and verb tracks. At the moment I have them FX bus'ed and everything sends to these 2 tracks but the issue I find is that tweaking the vocal level doesnt behave the way I want it as what Im looking for is to reduce the whole vocal sound including FX and neither post nor pre fader send does quite the same thing.

    So Im thinking maybe I want a separate vocal FX track int he vocals Bus running the same plugiins and settings as the master one and hope that using the same settings provides a bit of that glue you get with everythign going through the 1 reverb track.
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • In the mixer you can drag from one tracks sends area to another to route the signal to it. Then you can ALT+click on the tracks 'routing' button to disable the master send for the track.

    This effectively gives you bussing without needing to use folders, meaning you can re-arrange the track order without affecting your signal flow.

    You can hide tracks from the track control panel separately to the mixer control panel; meaning you can just have buss tracks showing in the mixer and not in the arrange view if you wish.

    Typically I just use folders though. Coz it allows you to fold away the tracks you don't want to mess with.

    Bye!

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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited August 2019
    In the mixer you can drag from one tracks sends area to another to route the signal to it. Then you can ALT+click on the tracks 'routing' button to disable the master send for the track.

    This effectively gives you bussing without needing to use folders, meaning you can re-arrange the track order without affecting your signal flow.

    You can hide tracks from the track control panel separately to the mixer control panel; meaning you can just have buss tracks showing in the mixer and not in the arrange view if you wish.

    Typically I just use folders though. Coz it allows you to fold away the tracks you don't want to mess with.
    I made a new template where I unhooked all the instrument tracks and manually sent them to their associated Group Busses, and these all reside under the Submaster Bus (using the folder method).

    This may be a redundant move, as I plan to render submixes to .wav files before the final mixdown, but the show/hide scenario could be useful. I've still got my L-plates on regarding sends, returns & busses, but I'm slowly getting there.

    Note: I unchecked the parent send option on the instrument track, which now gives the correct volume levels.
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • Jonathanthomas83Jonathanthomas83 Frets: 3466
    edited May 2019
    Found the HIDPI theme for Reaper...https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=187123

    Read my guitar/gear blog at medium.com/redchairriffs

    View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
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