Can I Put Kramer Master Tape On An Individual Instrument Buss?

[shroom81]

Wag; It's the same thing your using Group tracks for, you send a bunch of different channel's to one channel and then you have a buss

[do_androids_dream]

What exactly is a buss?

A buss is basically a signal path. You 'buss' some signals together to go somewhere else ie. to a track with a fader to control that group of signals. What you're already doing - grouping - is the same thing.

[wagtunes]

Wag; It's the same thing your using Group tracks for, you send a bunch of different channel's to one channel and then you have a buss

Thanks. So if I want Kramer on every, say, synth track, I just send all the synths to a group channel and then throw Kramer on the group channel?

[BlitBit]

Wag; It's the same thing your using Group tracks for, you send a bunch of different channel's to one channel and then you have a buss

Thanks. So if I want Kramer on every, say, synth track, I just send all the synths to a group channel and then throw Kramer on the group channel?

Unfortunately this won't work because tape saturation is a non-linear effect. This means that it makes a difference whether you first sum the channels and then apply the effect to the summed signal or first apply the effect to all tracks and then sum the results.

To put in a more mathematical way: f(x) + f(y) does not equal f(x+y). Here x and y are two channels and f(x) means applying the effect to channel x.

[shroom81]

Thanks. So if I want Kramer on every, say, synth track, I just send all the synths to a group channel and then throw Kramer on the group channel?

Np, yes sir that's good practice for saving cpu and nice to be able to process different elements together. When you process elements together it can have that "gluing" effect and the mix will sound more coherent.

Blit; While it's true tape plugins is an accumulative effect the more you use the more "vintage" your mix will sound but there is nothing wrong with applying it only to the buss if he want's to... You can have multiple buss'es with tape emulation's on each one as well as on the master.

[wagtunes]

So it really depends on what I'm going after. If I want the entire track to be saturated to hell, I'm better off putting it on each individual instrument channel, correct?

[BlitBit]

[...] there is nothing wrong with applying it only to the buss if he want's to [...]

Sure, if you want to you can do anything. Just wanted to make sure that he's aware that unlike for some other effects it makes a difference.

[wagtunes]

Okay, let me ask you this.

Say you're doing a hard rock track all ITB, meaning even the guitars are virtual. You want it to have that super saturated 70s or even 60s old tape analog sound.

What would you do? What plugs would you use hands down without question and how would you use them on say something like this?

Drums
Bass
Rhythm Guitar 1
Rhythm Guitar 2
Lead Guitar
Organ
Brass
Strings
Synth Pad
Lead Vocal
Background Vocal 1
Background Vocal 2
Background Vocal 3

[martinjuenke]

Yes you can, but I wouldn't because of WUP!

[Boone777]

As you will find out, there are presets in Waves Kramer Tape for kick and snare...and it does sound good. What I have found particular though about it, it does'nt work on everything. So it's good to have alternatives like saturations, channel strips or other tape emulations.

If you do a lot of mixing it might be a good thing to read a good book on the subject it can only improve your audio skills. Even just as a musician, it is well worth it to read on the subject, it can greatly improve the way you choose your instruments, sounds and frequencies to get your compo started on a good foot soundwise.

[ghettosynth]

Somebody at another forum I needed more tape saturation on my mixes. The recommended Slate. I have Kramer. He said that's only for the master buss. Is this true or will it work on individual tracks? There is a stereo and mono version for the plugin that's been installed. Really don't want to buy yet another plugin if I don't need it.

Why wouldn't it? That just doesn't make any sense to me at all.

[wagtunes]

Somebody at another forum I needed more tape saturation on my mixes. The recommended Slate. I have Kramer. He said that's only for the master buss. Is this true or will it work on individual tracks? There is a stereo and mono version for the plugin that's been installed. Really don't want to buy yet another plugin if I don't need it.

Why wouldn't it? That just doesn't make any sense to me at all.

I was kind of puzzled by what he said too, which is why I came here to confirm. When it comes to FX, that's a weak area for me.

[Googly Smythe]

I'm in the "do what you like" camp.
Most of what's been written here is true. But unless you have 24 carat golden ears, by the time Soundcloud has done it's worst, no one will know whether you used a tape saturator, a console saturator or a fuzz box.
And it's my belief that in the age of tape, most engineers tried to avoid saturating the tape, anyway, whilst recording at as high a level as possible.

In the studio, rules are meant to be broken. So put Kramer Master Tape where the hell you want.

[deastman]

Most definitely you can. You can use it for more saturation on individual drum tracks, to add grit to guitar,and to add some dirty to a bass track. That's just to name a few. Think about it, back in the day all tracks were recorded to tape. The idea of outputting them to a buss may have more to do with being dsp-efficient as it will be harder on your computer to put KMT on every single track versus a buss.

Um, no, the concept of busses pre-dates digital audio workstations by a few decades. Because you could only afford one Urei compressor or only had space for one giant reverb tank in your recording facility. Routing signals is not something that was invented by software developers.

As for the original question, come on... you're a smart guy... what exactly would prevent you from placing an effect at a different point in your signal chain, and what disastrous chain of events do you imagine it would unleash if you did?

I know what a buss is. And I think most people on this forum do. Don't be a dick. The um, no. You come across as a bitch. Nobody respects passive aggressive snipes.

I apologize. In the future, I will refrain from being a dick, a bitch, making passive aggressive snipes, and using the words "um, no".

[ATN69]

As Hans Zimmer says, "If there is a rule, break it"