• Hi and welcome to the Studio One User Forum!

    Please note that this is an independent, user-driven forum and is not endorsed by, affiliated with, or maintained by PreSonus. Learn more in the Welcome thread!

Multibus compression - "brauerizing" in S1 - is it worth it?

MC2

MC2

New member
Such a topic for discussion :)

Looking at the various audio routing revelations implemented in S1, I wonder if it makes sense to try to port Michael Brauer's “brauerizing” mixing “algorithm” (i.e. a specific version of multibus compression) to S1? There are implementations for ProTools or Logic....
If so, in what way?
Without having the limitations that Brauer had in hardware solutions, is it possible to switch to a more extensive version of buses? In addition to A,B,C and D, is it possible to expand the number of them?
I'm curious especially in terms of electronic and instrumental music.
 
With S1, you can have as many busses as you want, so, yes you can expand it.

Worth it? I think that's an individual decision. I don't have Michael Brauer's ears or skill, and that's a pretty advanced technique. I went through a phase of sticking on all manner of bus processing, thinking I was helping, only to find the mix fall apart when I disabled it. For me, doing that times 4 is probably not my best move.

It's easy enough to try - create 4 busses (A, B, C, D), stick on the plugins that have a similar flavor to the gear MB uses, and route your tracks to the appropriate bus. Give it a shot and report back?
 
I agree with everything @js1 said above.

I found trying Brauerizing very inspiring a few years back as it made me think of my mix in a more orchestral way, if that makes sense. Remember Brauerizing is just an approach, not a prescription or solve-every-bad-mix solution 😜

I no longer follow Brauerizing to the letter but use a modified version which works better for me and the projects I'm working on.
 
Last edited:
Lukas said:
Then why are you posting it in "Tutorials, Tips & Tracks"? 🙃

Moved to "Community Support".
Click to expand...
Oh sorry, well I just had a problem where to put this topic. It was not obvious to me :)
Thanks for your help :)
 
Thanks @js1 and @LiveFromPFD . Well, that's what I wanted at the beginning to reproduce exactly what Brauer did, but not everything is so obvious and transferable 1:1 because, however, there are some differences between Pro Tools and S1. Besides, it is his philosophy and way of working... not necessarily mine :) On the other hand, as you write I am currently thinking about simplification to implement the idea itself, because anyway, in addition to the differences in the DAW, there are also differences in plug-ins and in ... budget. Though the compressors themselves :). Well, and also probably there will be differences depending on the type of music. At my place orchestrations and electronic and ambient music reign supreme (no acoustic instruments or singing). And yet this is a completely different specificity. Brauer refers to equipment from the old days. I try not to stick with history at all costs and rather go with the times when it comes to available sound processors.
Hence the questions about your observations or opinions, because there is always something to learn that you haven't paid attention to before.
 
Trying to follow such a decorated veteran with budget is a fools errand anyway 😆 I'm sure those $10k+ compressors Brauer has sound wonderful, especially for someone who knows them soooooo well.

IMHO what Brauer showed us was grouping tracks into busses with various colors is a far more creative way to mix, than throwing various shades of color on individual tracks (which honestly can be maddening). In our digital world this approach has the added benefit to reduce latency and CPU since you use fewer plugins, which is always a win.

No reason a free or $50 compressor whose color YOU like on a special mix bus before master isn't worth experimenting with. In the years since I went in deep with Brauerizing, I have my favorites now which I return to time and time again. Saves me time and frustration as my mixes come together faster and better than before I learned Brauerizing. But I am so thankful for Brauer's veteran insight on mixing from a more 5000ft level. Brauerizing is just not about the gear he used is what I learned.

I think I'm a good driver. I don't own a Ferarri and never will. But I enjoy driving my non-Ferrari I'm sure every bit as much as a someone who owns a Ferrari. Would driving a Ferrari be better? Maybe, but that isn't my life and I'm fine with that. My muddled way of saying use what you've got to its most and enjoy your ride 🤩
 
Hey LiveFromPFD, I think in the end, you have it right. Some years back I was at an AES convention here in NYC. I might have been caught in one of those magic moments in time, because I was in the Slate booth talking with Steven about the Raven MTZ 43". Going over the monitor itself, I see less available for the Studio One version and..... who's behind me but Michael Brauer. Steven Slate shortly afterwords shows MB both a summing and lift Slate plugin. SL was all excited about their potential as they were new, and obviously right up Michael's alley. Did Brauer ever use them? Who knows, but I think your point of absorbing the higher altitude information is what counts. Never discount that cheap alternative item, or some esoteric whoo-doo that gives you the right sound. I've learned some very slick pointers between the lines from various sources. It's those small elegant pointers that come up during mix or mastering sessions that sort of check if we're in the lane or not.

So point being, I wouldn't put much stock in if some mastering engineer such as MB solely refers to vintage equipment, because it's likely many things on a whole that make up that pallette. So you pick your info and adopt what works and doesn't work for you. After all, you're likely (hopefully) creating something different anyway.

Cheers, and good mixing!
 
Last edited:
I recently found an interview with MB on Puremix, a long few hours, where he explains the what, why and how. He also explained how he made the transition from hardware to software. So he has already moved from vintage hardware to software solutions on Pro Tools. Unfortunately, to understand it well you need to know Pro Tools and have an ear like MB. Unfortunately, not all nuances are audible for technical reasons or.... simply I do not hear them :)
However, he describes quite well the philosophy of approaching the mix and selecting from the palette of plug-ins what suits him. In fact, he himself says in the interview that it used to be easier because there was a limited choice of hardware, so you used what was available on the market, and now there are many more plug-ins performing similar functions.
So I guess the only thing left to do is to understand Brauer's signal routing, try to transfer it to S1 (which is not so obvious, because I have the impression that S1 has less signal routing capabilities than Pro Tools) and choose your plug-ins based on that, and treat the interview with him as a guideline in your search for your own sound.
 
This is a tutorial on how to setup the Brauerize signal routing. I watched it and there is nothing in it from a routing perspective that can't be done in Studio One besides some differences in the naming convention:

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
  • Like
Reactions: AAV
I have watched a video about this, or a few, and I will get back on it. It looks interesting as it is not just a way of mixing, it seems to also be helpful during mixing because of the feedback the readings on the processors give. You can definitely achieve this in Studio One, no problem, maybe even easier than in ProTools, but I need to think about it to come up with teh best way. So to be continued! Hopefully tomorrow
 
I think to assimilate the Brauer approach you need to understand why Brauer developed the multi bus concept. He had a need to solve a problem, a problem that was the mix bus compressor being triggered by the kick drum dropping the volume causing the pumping effect.
His approach was to use 4 stereo buses before the main bus as a way to tame various instruments that route into the mix bus. He feeds the bass guitar and drums into bus B, this isn't just low frequencies, this is all elements of the drums as well as bass.
Bus A is things like piano, synths, sustaining instruments.
Bus C is guitars, electric and acoustic.
Bus D is his effects returns.
All buses have compressors on them just doing very subtle 1db of reduction.
The compressors he uses were what was available at the time.
Don't forget he also has a clean non effected E bus which is a great way to mix in unaffected drums so that the transients can be brought back in.
Also he has 5 vocal compressor tracks that have compressors with different sonic characteristics. He blends the 5 compressors to form a vocal tone.

Have a look at this site that details the Brauer approach in Pro Tools.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com

The only thing that I can't figure out how to do in S1 is having VCA faders on the audio tracks BEFORE the insert effects
 
I did an extensive demo of Pro Tools in the last month and as I see it VCAs in Pro Tools work exactly like in Studio One.
If you are referring to this quote, I think there is a VCA controling all Audio-Tracks before going into the folders and then there are VCAs controlling all the Instrument/Vocal-group folders before the go to the V A B C D E processing, so these would control the level before the inserts in the V A B C D E busses

Bildschirmfoto 2024-11-30 um 20.43.52.png
 
Wolfger said:
I did an extensive demo of Pro Tools in the last month and as I see it VCAs in Pro Tools work exactly like in Studio One.
If you are referring to this quote, I think there is a VCA controling all Audio-Tracks before going into the folders and then there are VCAs controlling all the Instrument/Vocal-group folders before the go to the V A B C D E processing, so these would control the level before the inserts in the V A B C D E busses

View attachment 157
Click to expand...
Yes, it's the VCA audio, pre all the folders
The way I've been able to workaround this is to group the audio tracks and use the gain input control which is pre insert to be able to alter the volume going into the FX. Not the best solution as the channel faders are also grouped
 
But you could assign an VCA fader to all audio-tracks in studio one as you can do in pro tools?
 
VCAs also work post insert in Pro Tools, VCAs are controlling the volume of a track always post insert by design even in the days of analog consoles.
What is described in this brauerizing technique paper, is, that if you control the volume of all audio tracks with a VCA, you control the volume before/ pre to the inserts of the following bus folder tracks, if you control the volume of the bus folder tracks with VCAs, you control the level before/pre the inserts of the following V A B C D E busses.
 
Wolfger said:
VCAs also work post insert in Pro Tools, VCAs are controlling the volume of a track always post insert by design even in the days of analog consoles.
What is described in this brauerizing technique paper, is, that if you control the volume of all audio tracks with a VCA, you control the volume before/ pre to the inserts of the following bus folder tracks, if you control the volume of the bus folder tracks with VCAs, you control the level before/pre the inserts of the following V A B C D E busses.
Click to expand...
Got ya.
In respect to feeding the individual channels routed to a bus there are 2 ways to feed the channel inserts. Either use the input gain control OR use the event gain.
 
daw stew said:
Got ya.
In respect to feeding the individual channels routed to a bus there are 2 ways to feed the channel inserts. Either use the input gain control OR use the event gain.
Click to expand...
Yes! (and VCAs have nothing to do with gain-staging the individual channel before inserts)
 
I watch once again the videos explaining Brauer's methodology. It is a bit complicated.
In Pro Tools there is a Dummy Bus send for each channel. And for a group of tracks a bus is created with a compressor embedded on the insert.

I wonder if this could be simplified on S1. For example, for a group of 5 tracks with a piano, we create a track folder and from it we create a group to which we assign Mix Bus A. And on the Bus A channel we insert a compressor.
We repeat such operation for all 4 buses. (ABCD)
Well, in general, if I understand correctly, sending a given channel to the Dummy Bus is supposed to cause that directly on the master output there is no signal from a single channel, but only from the ABCD buses?

If I am thinking wrong, how should it be correct?

Just why then the fun with the VCA buses?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top