Mix Bus Processing: Make your demos sound professional
You’ll realize pretty quick into your audio engineering journey that, as much as we wish there was, there is no magic plugin that fixes issues in your mix. This goes doubly so for adding effects to your mix bus. When you start to focus on mix bus processing, you should ask yourself, “Am I trying to fix things I don’t like or level up a good mix?” If it’s the former, you should always go back to your tracks and make sure you’re happy with the takes and editing. But if you’re ready to proceed, it’s time to hit the mix bus.
The goal of good mix bus processing is to find tiny, 5% improvements you can make along the way to accentuate the style you’re pursuing, in small ways that add up. I really like to keep it mellow and let the song breathe.
Here’s what I have on my mix bus:
FIRST EQ - Pro-Q3
This isn’t for problem solving. It’s for very tight, small, maybe dynamic dips and for very wide gentle boosts. Sweep for mud in 250-500 Hz, resonance in 500-800 Hz, and harshness in 2500-4500 Hz, and dip these out. Consider a mild boost in the 1500-2500 Hz range if you want more clarity.
SECOND EQ - SOOTHE2
Dynamically takes out harshness and unpleasant frequencies. I usually focus it around 4000 Hz to take more of the harshness out and somewhere in the tubby to muddy zone around 90 Hz-400 Hz.
THIRD EQ - Maag EQ4
I only use this for the air shelf, which is musical and very pleasing. Usually boost 1db (that’s it) at 10K Hz.
Multi-band Compression - Pro-MB
I tuck in any errant frequencies that poke out. Examples include: palm muted guitar in the 100-250 Hz range, mud in the 150 Hz-450 Hz range. Harshness at 2000-2500 or 3500 to 4500 Hz. Never much more than 1 db of gain reduction, nice and gentle.
Low End Processing - Bass-Mint
Glue the low end together and, optionally, bring a little clarity to the high end. I like to be very gentle, but find this is a good way to get the last of your mud out.
Nice Sounds - Gullfoss
Another dynamic, algorithmic EQ plugin, the last one before my bus compression. I will be honest: I don’t fully know how this thing works, but it’s great. I always do 15% Recover and 5% Tame. It just makes the song sound better.
Mixbus Compression - API 2500
My favorite bus compression by far. No more than 1db of gain reduction, slow attack, fast release, mild settings, 1.5:1 to 3:1 ratio, never more. Just glues it all in.
OPTIONAL: Tape Saturation
I use Sketch Cassette II for a nice vintage warmth. There are a ton of fun settings to play around with, but try not to go overboard.
OPTIONAL: Tube Saturation
Here I use Black Box for a nice modern bite.
I try to keep it simple. Overprocessing the mixbus was the biggest mistake I made when I was learning, and I made it all the time. So those are the plugins I like, and I keep them dialed very gently. Small, incremental improvements makes for a professional and tasteful mix.
Here’s a deeper walkthrough I did on YouTube if you want to learn more.