Anyone here experimented with Rear Bus processing?

Recording, Mixing and Producing
#1

As I was re-installing the computer, I pulled up an Andrew Scheps lecture at Oxford University on mixing and played it in the background while I was crawling around on the floor patching wires for almost 2 hours. At the end, someone asked him about rear-bus processing. He said to the room “I’m quite well known for my use of the rear bus, but who here doesn’t even know what that is?”

I had never heard of it before this morning.

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#2

I have so many bad innuendos in my head, but I’m going to bite my tongue. Instead…
What the hell is rear bus processing? Is it a surround sound thing for the rear channels?

What a stupid thing to say. Hey, I’m famous for doing this thing. Oh, but no one knows what the fuck it is. Ha! I’m famous, but I know something you don’t know even though it’s the source of my fame, fortune, power, and men on “the inside”, so fuck you. That’s an oxymoron. I assume he means that people have heard of it, but don’t know what it does. He could have definitely put that better.

#3

nope, never heard of it. Is it some sort of 5.1 thing?

#4

The term "Rear Buss"comes from the fact that the technique originated when he was using an old Neve Console originally designed for quadraphonic sound, so it had 2 stereo busses - a “front” and a “rear” buss…

It’s basically parallel mix compression. He used the rear buss as a parallel compression buss for the music…

He explains it in this video @ 53:14.

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#5

The Village People would know what this is.

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#6

That’s what he said!!

#7

I hadn’t heard of this either. I’ll check out the video!

#8

Yes basically parallel compression

#9

For the entire mix lol.

#10

parallel compression on a whole mix can be great

#11

Boz’s ‘Manic Compressor’ does parallel compression using one track, so putting it on the master buss would be the same thing no?

#12

It depends what else is happening on the RB track. I place transient designers and saturation units behind my parallel compressors, thought I don’t know if I’d do any of that on a rear bus.

So yes, theoretically…if you only used the Manic on the 2 bus, and blended wet/dry I don’t see why it wouldn’t be the same.

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#13

Is the same if you do 50 50 mix

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