Subgrouping

Another basic mixing operation is the grouping of signals so they can be treated together as one composite signal. A good example of this is background vocals. You could have as many as 24 channels or more of background vocals all singing the same phrase.

Instead of processing each vocal with separate plug-ins and sending each to a reverb channel, you can first subgroup them together into one group channel and process them as one. This will save a huge amount of DSP and allow you to mix them with one fader. Follow these steps to group any set of related tracks together:

1. Add a group channel track. For background vocals, let’s use a stereo channel. (See Figure 13.24.)

Figure 13.24 Create a group channel.

2. Route all related tracks to the group channel BV’s. (See Figure 13.25.)

Figure 13.25 Routing tracks to the group channel.

3. Insert any plug-ins you wish to use on the blend of vocals in the BV’s group.

4. Route the group channel to any FX channels such as reverb using sends.

5. Blend the final signal into the mix.

Using the background vocal example, you could route all 24 vocal tracks to one group channel, insert a compressor on the group channel, and send to a reverb FX channel, which will add reverb to all the background vocals at once. Now adjusting the group channel’s fader will mix the group of vocals into the final mix. You may still make adjustments in the blend of vocals going into the group channel as you need to. This gives you quick control over many sources with one fader.