From the course: Mixing and Mastering with Pro Tools

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Master buss processing

Master buss processing

Not to be confused with mastering, master bus processing is a trick that mix engineers have been using for decades to get a gelled and punchy mix quickly and generally make the mixing process more fun and interesting from the get-go. By placing effects like compressors and saturation on your Master Fader or Master Submix and mixing through them, every decision you make during the mix process is made through the lens of the Master Bus effect. The result can be quite stunning. So if we look at what we are doing here on our master bus, I have got a compressor and I'm mixing into this limiter here. Now traditionally the history of mixing into a compressor kind of came about when SSL started putting dedicated bus compressors on to their consoles. So the story was the record producer would come in and the A&R executive would be there and the engineer would turn on this bus compressor and the mix would just sound like a record and that's why they called it the Record button. Now, why would…

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