Today, I have done some accounting work before I got going with today's topic. That is a must to do anytime you buy or sell something. I just paid a studio for help with mixing and mentoring. Ugh. So I have to get all the paperwork in order....Now for the fun stuff:
The difference between auxes, sends and busses still eludes me. Sorry, if you think that I am a dumb blonde, but, because I still don't get this, I have decided to call today National Get Fix That Aux Thing Day. I have been doing a few things w/o really understanding them and my templates are a mess. Time to clean them up so I can do some awesome reverb effects, automate sends etc.
The truth is there are many YouTube videos out there trying to help confused users of Logic Pro X. Because there are so many, I take it that I am not the only one who is confused (i.e. not a dumb blonde).
Here are the ones that helped me get clarity:
This first one goes through the basics of how a bus is created, how to control the sends, pre/post- fader . VERY BASIC.
1. Logic Pro X #3: Signal Flow Using Sends, Busses, and Aux
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2. Logic Pro X Signal Routing (Aux Sends, Busses, Aux Tracks...)
Bob Sell gives this illustration which I think is good, really. It helps us understand the differences.
Basically, this is how to think about auxes, sends and busses.
guitar = instrument track
The volume control button = the send knob (controls how much of the signal he wants to be sent out)
He can sit there all he wants and play really hard but no sound is going to come out of the guitar unless it gets hooked up to an amplifier, right? He needs a cable from the guitar to the amp.
The cable = his "buss"
A buss is an electrical pathway to get the signal to its destination.
If you don't plug the other end of the cable into the amp, you won't get any sound. It has to be plugged into its destination, THE AUX TRACK.
Then, he goes on to explain why LOGIC PRO X IS CONFUSING. (Thanks, Bob, I thought that it was me all along!) He even says that he keeps getting questions about this from all over. I feel relieved. It's not my hair colour after all. Everyone thinks Logic is illogical on this...
He says that it is Logic's tendency to create things automatically for you that have created a great deal of confusion. You saw this in video #1 already. As soon as the dude chose a midi instrument, Logic created two sends and two auxiliary busses automatically.
(To this I'd like to complain to apple that we can't click and drag my auxes into any kind of order easily.)
Why Logic Pro gets confusing: It creates aux tracks automatically but not necessarily with the right names. You have to pay attention, rename them and color code them
He also gives a great tip on creating midi tracks from a drummer track (easier to edit!) but explains the problems of trying to add reverb to it in Logic
1. create a software instrument track below the drummer track
2. create the same drum kit that is on the drummer track by going down to the instrument button on the midi instrument track you just created and choose instrument > drum kit designer > stereo
3. Choose the drum kit of your choice.
4. Drag the drummer track down into the midi track. Now you can edit it in the editor as you wish.
THE PROBLEM:
If you want to take that midi track and send the snare out to a reverb, then the whole drum kit with all its parts is sent to the reverb not just the snare. Not good to slap reverb on to a kick and the overheads, things can get boomy and cluttered So what do you do?
He switched the instrument to "multi output" (See step two above. instrument > drum kit designer > multi output). What happened is that in the editor a whole bunch of new aux tracks were formed (You can only see this in the editor). Now each of the instruments have received their own aux track.
By pressing the plus button you can activate the various aux tracks, one for each of the instruments in the drummer kit.
Here is the whole #2 video. I recommend it to all who think Logic's way of doing auxes, sends and busses is illogical.
Questions
What is unity gain? In video #2, Bob used the option and click command to create something called unity gain. (+0 dB) What does that mean?
#3: Logic Pro X - #66 - Mixing (part8): Aux Tracks, Busses, Submixes, Submasters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-S1Cy_hXKc&t=198s
Sending all tracks of a certain type to a common bus is
Vocabulary
Bus is a digital audio pathway through which a signal travels
References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7HMm7SmYKA