How To Make Groups and Bus Channels In The Mixer - FL Studio Basics

In this video I show a quick and simple way to create and use Bus or Group channels in the mixer on FL Studio 12.
I quickly start by showing how the technique is carried out by routing audio from individual channels such as a Kick, Snare and Hi Hat to a group channel called "Drum Bus"
I'm also trying to make a case for why and how you can use them.
To experienced mixers, this is very obvious but to beginners it's not always easy to see why they will help you.
They make it easier to handle MACRO decisions and balances in a mix by helping you focus on the bigger picture. It's also very useful when you want to try parallel compression or add reverb to a whole group.
EDIT:You can select all the channels you want to route by holding "Shift +Ctrl" while clicking on them and then route them all at the same time, but I didn't want to over complicate the tutorial :)
Some audio legends also call bus channels "Buss" channels. I think you have to reach a certain level or stardom before you are allowed to add the extra "s"...I'm not too sure.
Have a great weekend,
Michael

[@yasin6904]

Love that in your videos you don't just show how to 'do' but you break down the context and importantly the 'why'. Really appreciate your videos!

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks ever so much for making such wonderfully informative videos! Amazing work my friends!

[@inthemix]

Produce Like A Pro Thanks Warren, we should email again soon,we have lots of projects in the works and one of them might be great for a remix video on your channel? We've been getting great results from our remix contests so far and it would be great to get your community involved too 😀

[@guyguillermo569]

I feel so stupid for producing so long and not knowing this is possible. 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@emanuellgustea122]

Wwhhhaaaattt no waayyy!! I like both channels

[@111bpm5]

🍑🍑

[@ELECTR0HERMIT]

This is the GO-TO KZbin channel for FL STUDIO, always find what I need here and always clearly presented. Just perfect.

[@budchops]

Bussing is very useful coming from a learning audio engineer. I used to put my reverb, delay, EQ and all directly on my mixer tracks. Completely changed the way I record and has now changed how I make beats in FL Studio. Great tutorial, very well explained and easy to understand 👍

[@eeshwar.mp3]

good comment, but its funny how you said bussing lol

[@atmajp9275]

@@eeshwar.mp3 bussy

[@s_imini]

Bhuuus!

[@SkyQuakee]

Bussing

[@grimblegrumble]

After having twiddled about in FL Studio for over a decade I've learned through doing. But now, thanks to the internet and awesome people like yourself, I can finally learn things that would have literally taken me years, in 1-2-3... Thank you so much!

[@aviworking4823]

Wow, I've never really been the type of person that comments on video's but you make me feel the need to. You've been so helpful in my growth even as an upcoming producer and i really appreciate you for the work your doing. Keep up the Good work

[@dolbearrr]

@LamboTruckLemon what does that make us then :0

[@PLively]

Hi Michael, I just wanted to thank you. FL Studio is my preferred DAW, despite peers all still subscribing somewhat to the out-dated premise that "fruity Loops isn't a real DAW". You are my "go-to" source of tutorials in FL Studio. None of this "Whatsup" nonsense, no "but first, I want to send out a big thank you to [place your sponsor here]". Just "Let's get straight into it"! You concisely explain what the tutorial is about and then show how to do it with examples. Brilliant. Thank you.

[@SPANISHFLYENTERTAINMENT]

Brother, you are the BEST here on KZbin! I thank you sincerely for ALL that you do and ALL of your HELP. I have always believed since my greatest icon musician father taught me, that talent without the knowledge and education behind it is only half complete. BLESS your life for your HELP!!! My work FLOW has become better because of your guidance. And I am in my late 40's. You being a Millennial, I assume, should teach anyone that anyone can learn from anyone should they open their hearts and minds to young or old mentors! Much respect little brother! I salute you!!!! -Rock E Ramos

[@NewMateo]

Dude as someone who only played lots of guitar and is now learning fl studio to make edm I just want to thank you guys. This is all awesome and helping me get around fl studio. Seriously appreciate it.

[@JJBTKD1983]

So helpful. 'You're the best around, nothing's ever gonna keep you down'

[@DirtyHerrie.official]

Everything I've learned is because of your channel. I'm self learning and your videos are so in depth and perfect for someone like myself. Thank you for all your effort and tutorials!

[@razhua]

after all this years this videos are so useful and still relevant. thank you

[@SAM-yq2lm]

This is something I had been waiting for , Michael. The way you teach is really great and makes cOmplex stuff very simple and easy to implement. Personally , I love all your videos and save to my hard drive every time something's new. Thankyou you guys. I could never see Fruity in such a way the way you showed. Best wishes for your music as miavono

[@inthemix]

Shubham Bansal Thank you very much. Please do expand on this technique and try adding your own twist to it. Anything is possible. Best of luck to you too my friend 😀

[@kumplexxbeatz4762]

Interestingly enough, FL Studio was my introduction to production back on 2003. I quickly switched to Reason , then Logic, then Maschine etc...... Thinking FL Studio wasn't professional enough... Man was I wrong. Your videos are a god send. Keep up this exceptional work. If you ever think something is too advanced for your subscribers, DON'T. I love the geeky stuff.

[@thaluck9]

I come back from time to time just to hear Mikes analogy! Priceless 👌👌

[@d-not-u]

Bro, years later, still one of the best. Just to be humble 😉. Thanks for sharing!

[@mac2484]

Streams & rivers !! Perfect Explanation 👍 It helped me a lot !! Before i never used to select "Route to this channel only" but instead i just routed it so it just my sound so muddy kind of... Thanks !!😃

[@RCS-CHARTS]

You're not in the mix "You're the mixer itself". You also just taught us how to create automations. I was going to learn on it right after this video, lol.

[@JMot10n]

I don't even know how, but yesterday I was thinking about how to bus and group channels, and today this video is recommended. Thanks!

[@HLordz301]

I've been a Pro tools user for a long time. i used to do just use FL studio for creating the music and mixing on PT..but now trying to all do my production on FL studio. this video was very helpful

[@existentialrap521]

I knew how busses worked, but I just didn’t see the use cases for them. Now I see why they’re so powerful. Thx, G Processing power consumption and grouped effects are the reasons why I’ll start using em Bussing the effects to an entirely new input also blew my mind. I was like, why doesn’t he just change the effects ON the drum bus, but then I saw you change the volume of just the effects and it clicked oooFFF

[@azzandavid3219]

The best man to give us courses in detail in the best way possible, Thank you so much, without you man I would still be really low

[@ezzykeyz8510]

Thanks for teaching me what have been missing for a long time now

[@takhetabyo871]

this is video was not suggested in my youtube...i intentionally searched for it..thanks now i understand what grouping is

[@folktronic]

Awesome tutorial - thanks Michael. And thanks Nick for the Ctrl+Shift tip - I was trying Ctrl and Shift separately clicking with no joy, but knew there must have been some way:)

[@kor6862]

That was a great analogy sir with the streams River in the ocean. I like that

[@Dainjamouth]

This has completely changed how I mix! Thanks bro (even 6 years later!)

[@JoGoStudios]

This still works in 2023. Thx for the tip. This should definitely help me improve my balancing.

[@thisisalbe]

Thanks for the tutorial. If you hold Windows Key / Command Key, starting with the channel you want as the bus, and drag (to select multiple channels at once)...you can then right click the bus channel and route all selected tracks to this track ONLY. This is much faster and more efficient than individually selecting the tracks and routing them.

[@mikeb.3654]

Dude. I hope you get paid well from this. Very few people have what you have, and that is a natural ability to teach. I have come to this channel in EXTREME frustration and you have calmed me down and helped me get through some sessions in FL Studio. Thank you man, for real.

[@parzival8331]

You're just the best KZbinr on learning mixing! Thank you very much!

[@acedon5188]

Thanks! Ive been trying to do just that for 8 hours now. I'm glad I found your channel.

[@growingoaks]

Anyone else just hear a crazy EDM rhythm on this? Good tutorial. I love your channel for real. You always keep things concise BUT ALSO UNDERSTANDABLE. Rare thing to see for me tbh.

[@growingoaks]

Found this video again apparently, didn’t think id heard of this before 💀

[@AndrijaMusic]

"streams, river, sea" :) amazing tutorial and explanations! thank you so much man :)

[@LETHAL407]

Your video's explain things incredibly well and it's very straight forward. Keep doing what you're doing and thank you!

[@SouthYarraMan]

Very good to see. I would like to go even further in my own DAW. I have a 'send' panel on each channel strip with its own pan and gain control. Each strip allows a maximum of 16 'sends' so a lot of pre-balancing can be done before any chosen aux bus. Aux busses (stereo or mono) can be created wherever needed. In the current session, I have 20 drum & percussion instruments including the snare. I would like to do the following - hope I've explained it well! a) Send all individual drums to a group drum gain aux bus (b#1) feeding the stereo output of that into - b) a stereo drum parallel compression aux bus (b#2) c) Send the individual snare to - d) a parallel compression aux bus (b#3) e) Create a reverb aux bus (b#4) to receive audio from all bus sends So the chain is 4 busses - Group Gain>Compression>Snare Comp>Reverb>Master Output In earlier recordings I wasn't taking full advantage of the send/aux busses but wish to create a template for easier workflow. All other instruments are laid out individually in mono (or stereo when required) and logically the drums/perc occupy the first group of tracks. I would like to send all these (except for the snare) to a group gain bus so the grouped parts can be controlled with just one fader. I would adjust the volume of each 'send' to pre-balance these as they are sent to the gain bus. The output of that gain bus is going to the master stereo channel. The default on all aux busses is 'Master' but I think all busses can be sent to another bus. Probably I wouldn't want the individual drums to be heard with the grouped tracks and only want the combined signal sent to the master output. Is the concept right? Is my signal flow and effects chain in the right order? I can of course individually eq each voice on its channel strip, so there's no need for an eq aux bus. Sorry for the long explanation but its not an easy thing to set out. I guess a lot of people would like to know the same if they aren't already doing this. Would it be possible for you to make a tutorial showing how to do this as a follow-on from this video which I found really helpful, thank you!

[@icev2theworld]

Bro you got a tutorial for everything I’ve ever searched for in mixing 😭 you’re a blessing man

[@eversoundz7851]

You are a blessing man, your explanations are detailed

[@enfc]

I'm not fluent in English but your tutorial is so great explained that I've got everything. Thank you!

[@ksbgaming7]

brother you are doing a great job, i'm from india and we dont have a lot of people using flstudio. Your tutorials are really detailed. keep up the good work.

[@HazyJ28]

Once again, cheers and thank you. You just seem like a charismatic, charming, passionate dude. I can respect all those qualities. You have helped out this community time and time again and you're always contributing to the culture. I cannot thank you enough for your time, knowledge, and expertise. Thank you so much. Take care and stay safe

[@inthemix]

Hazy J thank you, I appreciate the kindness and I hope you stay safe too!

[@Mbr110]

Hi I'm from indonesia ..just starting to learn fl studio for a while. And seeing your video it's really helpful 🙏

[@deanohasajob]

in the mix and the fl studio guru is what makes fl studio possible

[@JulianJArens]

This is gonna make my life SO MUCH EASIER!

[@ianeshelman4820]

Have never seen a video from you that wasn’t helpful, thank you for the quality content

[@vaibhavsood889]

This channel has taught me since I started making music

[@countboogieedm8813]

I'm so glad I saw this video...I've been doing it individually and I'm not able to do so many things. Especially when you want to do an effect or automation on the whole drum set like you showed, this is my next level for today...thank you so much. It's insane to learn this without actually talking to a single person about it live. It's almost lonely...lol I've been learning to make EDM on my own for about 7 months and if it wasn't for you and the amazing producers that take time to show us how in videos, I would be able to make this music.

[@cody42693]

I feel you, man. Check for some Reddit communities and get involved in discussion. r/FL_Studio, r/EDMproduction, and r/WeAreTheMusicMakers are all wonderful subreddits.

[@cristianorobles1235]

Thank you so much I was in a real rough patch and this video really helped me out, keep up the great content!;)

[@thaluck9]

same

[@BigBoss-cz3sh]

Great video! I knew roughly what a bus was, but explaining the uses and showing examples really helped me. Thanks man!

[@garywright3133]

Been using logic for a few years bro after many years on Cubase/reason and the original fruity loops before the name change 🙄 Decided to buy me a nice windows laptop and hit up fl studio These videos are invaluable Awesome, articulate and invaluable work dude. Subbbbbbbed to the maxxxxxx Thank u :)

[@inthemix]

Gary Wright thanks for kind words :)

[@garywright3133]

In The Mix thanks for the excellent work my man! My words are only the truth so what’s that say about you 👍👍👍👍🙌

[@garywright3133]

In The Mix Quick (hopefully but not not really) question mate. With being a big Apple guy I have a ton of awesome apps on iPad for audio production...many korg/SynthMaster/z3ta to name a few. There’s an app I have called studiomux. Using iOS and logic OS X ... one could download the server to Mac, then add it as an audio unit (vst) in logic which then allowed me to use any of my iOS apps as instruments via studiomux in whatever project I was working on. I have managed to get the server and 64bit vst added and opened in fl studio (windows) Plug phone or iPad in via usb. I can add the studiomux vst as an instrument in fl, and I can get audio routed to fl via usb from whatever iOS app I have open. This is only however happening if I play the on screen keyboard on the iOS app but is definitely coming through the mixer channel and master channel on fl studio. My issue is that the piano roll on fl will not trigger the audio, nor my midi keyboard plugged into the windows machine. I’m assuming this is a midi routing issue which is something I’m not familiar with in fl as it’s been so long from I’ve used it. Don’t suppose you’ve any ideas bro or could steer me in the right direction? Don’t like asking for help. Prefer to figure this stuff out but I’ve spent 3 days installing stuff hahaha and I’m all out! So thought I’d pick your brain if you’d be kind enough to answer! Hope u do! Thanks again pal... Top Man!

[@inthemix]

Gary Wright hmmm... sounds a little complex, I'll have a think about it and I'll let you know if I have a brainwave or anything :)

[@garywright3133]

In The Mix Cheers dude I appreciate it chum. In logic or cubase midi routing and audio routing are very well laid out and easy to do. If you come up with anything gimme a shout! I’ll have a nosey later for some midi routing tutorials on KZbin. Thanks mate... I asked just on the off chance you might know. Cheers again 👍

[@thenewido]

Excellent, informative video. People should use your videos as examples to learn how to create videos, not just music.

[@brendanmarch4552]

Honestly I always take away so much knowledge from you channel thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[@akimyoung8507]

If there awards given on KZbin this guy would have to get a nomination for sure

[@jood_aep]

This guy for real is the best guy on this app

[@Kxngfroz_e]

Omg I finally get it.. so thank you... am coming from mixcraft to fl studios 20 i i finally see what the bus track is for and how to use it effectively ... thanks again... this was super vivid.....

[@davidlilja8610]

I’ve Said it before but I’ll say it again. This channel is THE BEST

[@ashwinth_fredrick]

The way you teaching is really good!!!! Thanks a lot!

[@coen1303]

Thank you so much for putting out these video's, it really helps me out a lot! 🙌🏼

[@MrLucasErler]

Thank You very much! now all makes sence to me. You rule one of the best tutorialchannels here on KZbin. please go on.

[@athioxent]

I just want to say that I appreciate what you do. Thank you for these videos man, they've helped me get to the next level of producing.

[@Calicrazedbeats]

Found this very useful. This makes things a bit easier for DJ Stem distribution of audio tracks such as drums, kicks, melody and vox.

[@PrathameshKamat90]

I started learning FL studio last week and yours was the first channel I came across while searching tutorials on KZbin. Amazing videos! I will go through all of them and try to learn as much as i can over the next few months. If I have any request I will let you know. Thanks again for taking such efforts to teach and sharing information & the "secrets" of audio mixing.

[@cody42693]

r/FL_Studio, r/EDMproduction, and r/wearethemusicmakers are great subreddits you can check out for info too.

[@bennetwekwerth9561]

If you hold ctrl and drag over the mixer channels you can select more than one ;) love your vids 🙏

[@djedwinmartinezmusic312]

I love your tutorials, you are very knowledgeable. You also really know how to break everything down which makes it very easy to learn. Thanks for sharing the knowledge.

[@darrenlogie2642]

Amazingly concise information that is intelligible to a dumpling, like me. Thank you.

[@Overxpossed]

Nice video! You can simplify the process bt Ctrl+shift clicking on the channels you want to bus-in and then 'routing only' to the bus channel. If you want to heard or mute only what goes through the bus, just Alt+click on the mute button of the bus channel. You can mute a group of channels for many purposes. Hope this helps! and thankis for the video!

[@The_Horse-leafs_Cabbage]

Exactly the vid I needed. I'm taking a course on mixing Metal Songs, but wanted to transfer the guy's knowledge of Reaper to FL Studio. Wanna become more organized, instead of the hodgepodge, off-the-cuff method I have now.

[@Skaerex]

This deserves so much more views, its so much better then al those cocky youtubers that think they do good tutorials

[@hailstrom9780]

You are quite literally a life-saver mate.. I wish you every success in the future.

[@dreamer9071]

Your videos are very easy to understand!I started my music journey and i hope i will be able to show me my progress within this year!

[@alltrxth]

you are very informative every time. you are the reason I got Kali Audio LP-6’s too

[@prime6253]

You literally have everything one needs to learn about fl studio.

[@whateverprecisely]

THANK YOU this is exactly what I needed to make a volume automation for the entirety of my track

[@manpost18]

Just started this and it’s a big time saver . Thanks for the share . It goes a long way .

[@v5q211]

When Mike explains everything is easy

[@DeRoxx4114]

I agree. Do this. I do this in all of my mixes. I even create busses within Busses. I will take everything and route it to track 1 and create a SubMix. I will then route my drums: a kick bus, snare bus, tom bus, cymbal bus, sometimes a separate overhead bus, and then a drum room bus, and the feeds into the drum bus(if you don't have room mic, route all the drums to another mixer track and put a heavy reverb on 100% and send that to the drum bus then mix in the fader for huge sounding drums.) Then if I have a bass guitar I will copy paste two copies of the bass one DI, the other I put an amp sim on and feed them into the bass bus. I will create separate buses for rhythm, clean, lead, and acoustic guitars, and lead them into one bus. Same with synths and extra percussion tracks, strings, etc. Then instead of routing all of those to the submix, I route them instead to an Instrumental Track and then into the submit. For vocals I use their tips, check out their video on Vocal Processing, it is one of the best mixing advice videos I have watched on KZbin for FL studio! Lastly, I route all vocal tracks into verse busses, chorus busses, backing vocal busses, scream busses(if you make music like me) and route them into one vocal bus which is routed directly into the submix. I will also dock to the left in order, Master, Submix, Vocal Bus, Instrumental bus. Then I put the SSL Bus Compressor. On every bus channel. Between that and leveling, that is usually 90% of my mixing done.

[@normanlove222]

awesome info! thanks for sharing.

[@DeRoxx4114]

@@normanlove222 not a problem. Last tip, make sure if you use any of this, upgrade to the latest version of FL. The last update made this process so much easier on the CPU. That was not the case in previous versions.

[@levibrazendale8217]

Thanks man. Simple, clear and easy and straight to the point, and you also gave wicked examples. Defo sub.

[@mphughes256]

Your videos are always extremely well done well spoken, clear, hq etc always helpful

[@Dripht]

Thank you. I started using buses a week ago because I used to automate synths separately and it made wayyy to many layers. I also used to press “Rout To This Track” oops lol. Thanks for the video!!

[@RealMMLVR]

This guy is an expert musician!!!

[@TheRenegades2012]

Quick to the point tutorial. love being able to jump in and get the info i need and get back to work. thank you!

[@cakershake]

You don't have to route each track individually to the drum bus, you can hold ctrl+shift and highlight all the mixers tracks at once and then right click the drum bus and then 'route to this track only' Hope that helps . . . . . . oops, somebody already said this. At least it shows what a great community this is, just trying to help each other out. Love the vids take care

[@etienneharmse6265]

Dude! This is so helpful! Wished I knew this a long time ago! 😱 Thanks a million, now I know how it works and how to do it 😎✌️

[@jasonsimmons671]

My friend you're a true pro !!!💪🏿💯💯💪🏿 ! Appreciate all the details it confuses at times but I'll keep replaying about 1,000 times and I'll get 🤣

[@iannmassoud]

Pro tip: you can route as many mixer channels as you want to a specific bus if you 1) hold control + left mouse click to select your channels you want to send, then 2) right click on the little arrow on the bottom of your desired bus channel, and finally 3) hit route to this track only. BOOM! You just saved yourself some time!

[@prashantchauhan3852]

I have always learnt something new from each of their videos!

[@elishaijaz4979]

Thank you, man! your tutorials are very informative and helpful for us. Just keep making FL tutorials and acknowledging us.

[@DrivinChillin]

Thank You Soo Much Was Finding This Tutorial All Around KZbin Thankss A Lot You Saved A Lot Of Time!

[@Nirav_Kalariya]

You are the best Man, Thank You for such tutorials💕

[@cacaca1101]

The extra "s" explanation made this video even better :)

[@obibadeemusic9966]

very good teacher...best i have seen on youtube.

[@joshualaferriere4530]

I enjoyed the video. What I've been doing, as I found it less work, was using the volume in the channel rack, and grouping similar instruments into their own channel. Obviously not as robust. I'm not sure what the use case is to have separate channels per track and then mapping to a bus. I've been simply assigning my tracks to one channel (say for drum sounds). But I defer to your wisdom on this.

[@LivingGood101]

Thank you for the very clear explanation.

[@magicalboy7618]

Thank u so much for making this very helpfull videos. This video help me a lot because I'm getting trouble for making group or bus channel ones agian THANK YOU

[@livingstone1974]

mix buses are the source of life to great sound design

[@garagemoney9237]

1:50 that analogy deserves a thousand likes

[@margauxmilan]

Thanks, I'm recording metal, this is helpful because I have 2 R and L guitars and I want to route them into one guitar bus to process them with pre amps and EQ

[@xanfow5706]

It's not a very advanced concept, but still, it helps a lot. Many times in my drop I don't use Kickstart or Gross Beat on the basses to mute the starting frequencies to provide room for kicks. Instead, I sidechain them with Fruity Limiter, using a complex method of mine, but this bus concept is easier than that and works a lot better. Thanks!!

[@EricTViking]

Great video. Excellent tutorial and the rationale at the end was also good.

[@yoelquilates]

Awesome tutorial , you explain everything very well , thank you for the understanding