BUS MASTERING LIKE SKRILLEX EXPLAINED IN ABLETON

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Today we're going over how to use Bus Mastering in Ableton like Skrillex. It uses a series of Limiters to add layers of compression to create a cleaner sound with less competition between musical elements against the Limiter Threshold.
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[@sosusmusic]

came back to rewatch this one but gotta say your videos changes my mixes like crazy and so many of my goals like releasing with monstercat and deadbeats came true... i owe so much to you

[@DjKimsey]

Which template do you suggest is best out of these three?

[@byKobra]

@@DjKimsey Yes please 🙏🏼

[@romanx3267]

This video is a Gem. Great job dissecting this. I think the simpler routing has a detriment effect, he is not limiting the melodic elements and top basses together just for loudness, but as a back and forward effect. whenever a sound disappears in one of the groups the limiter pushes the other group up. That also happens when he mixes the hype chain with the group chain. If the hype chain is empty for a second the basic chain gets louder. And also on the pre masters, if drums get silence for a second whatever is pushing next to it will get louder. It´s a really smart way of doing super fast volume automation that allows to create dynamics by taking elements out without leaving an empty space of frequencies.

[@aaronluncford5290]

Loved the diagrams that helped me visualize the routings more clearly. Thanks for making a follow up video, I've been using the Skrillex method you explained last year and it's been the main way I master tracks now. I love how it enables layering of groups in the master.

[@CypiXmusic]

Another good one! Love the diagrams, that stuff sets you apart from other tutorials!

[@tttrd]

your videos made my mixes go from night to day i owe you so much, thank you for everything you do i appreciate you

[@White5hade]

This actually makes a lot of sense. Been struggling with figuring this out for a while but I think I understand it now, especially with the examples and charts. Thanks Ahee!

[@juvinchaudhary5607]

you one of the most knowledgable and best person in youtube's pro producer community. im talking about the likes of mr.bill and pro twitch producers.

[@l3tho836]

Thank you so much for this. I was always weary of adding limiters where I would slap it all at the end. Def eye opening in layering with limiting. 🤯🤯

[@MelloMattTech]

This changed the game for me. Using the Invisible Limiter instead of Pro L with the hybrid template, and it's giving good results. Sounds so much better than my old master chain, thanks so much!

[@BLOODLVL]

Live Suite 11 on Tuesday, I hope you're upgrading :) would love to see a new template pack sometime!

[@bularecordz]

Man you already had my attention when you played the comparision between the two. Subscribing right now. That's some real shit.

[@MrSiwat]

Thanks. Great ideas there. I like that creative use of limiters.

[@justingodde2062]

Shout out ill.gates, the producer dojo, and the beat maker boot camp last week where this video got a mention. Great stuff! 🙏🏼🔊♾️

[@Octwavian]

cool stuff, but PLEASE level the speech vs music volumes. should I run youtube through my own compressor and limiting chain ?? :) keep it up.

[@l3tho836]

Yeah you should

[@audi787b]

Do it, you won't.

[@ryan-ud7lk]

I actually do this, highly recommend

[@prismaticsignal5607]

Hey thank you AHEE!! Your advices are simply great!! And i like your genuineness...you're a great guy!!

[@nOne_Dubz]

Charts made this make WAYYYY more sense! Thank you for the knowledge

[@machinemademan]

i had to use these templates for over a year then come back and rewatch this to learn all the stuff i wasnt ready for the first time. and fix some routing mistakes. im working on making a version that uses sonible plugins instead of fab filter just to see the results of their tech

[@cosmo1231]

This video has opened my eyes to a new light. Thank you so much bro

[@adanoize]

Good shii, thanks for this, been running the bussing technique blindly and this helped me get a better understanding of the concept. Keep it up brotha

[@KitKalvert]

Very useful and inciteful - this video is helping me achieve what I need.. thank you so much!

[@samusbros66]

It's scary how accurate sounds to the Quest For Fire mix, greetings bro!

[@Planetugm]

Yo!! That end beat is sick!

[@umanoid1523]

Makes sense. I sub-master/ Group and limit all my tracks. Kicks. Bass.Snares. Drums. Synths all get there own EQ, compressor and limiter. I also do some gain staging. This gets fed into my sub master ( some more compressing,limiting and add some eq top end which gets fed into the master bus which also gets the same treatment of final eq ,compressor and limiter to glue them together. Ive been playing with some plugin alliance emulations where i run everything through ssl desks on default with some slight eq and variance adjustments. Testing out a few of their mastering compressors too. Again very slight compression and adjust the variance adjustments. Mono the low end and widen slightly. Im still figuring out this final chain which is new. I used to just use izotope and now im mixing it up.

[@Levelingpie]

Duuude thank you sooooo much, i've been looking for something like this for soo long, and it was that simple. LIVE SAVER

[@Atom_007]

The routing diagrams were key, thanks!

[@akashik_sound]

Looking at your Hybrid Template for example...How many DBs of gain reduction are you going for at each stage of limiting. Such as the group stage, chain 1 stage, premaster stage, then master stage? Are we going for something more aggressive at the group stage such as -5 to -8 db then easing it up as you head towards the master, or going for something light such as 2-3 db GR at each stage gradually all the way to the master?

[@MatthewRare]

I was originally going to comment separately, but this feels like a similar question to tack on as an addendum to Akashik’s - I am still somewhat puzzled on the original ‘Mumbai Power’ limiting schematic, more specifically the “Hype Chain,” and what those settings might have been. It makes sense to me that you’d glue the top end of your bass line (120Hz + with melodic / FX) but I don’t get the idea of smashing the sub energy with a limiter prior to your master limiter? I don’t believe those settings were ever shown in the Skrillex tutorial (if I remember correctly), so I’m left to believe that chain is meant to blend it as best as possible with the kick & snare chain before hitting the final limiter? Solid question though @Akashik!

[@Rhekluse]

I would think that on busses you want to control the ceiling and not just reduce gain purposefully for the sake of loudness. As you go down the process path (premaster + master) you simply have a more control over the summed signal to work with and can then decide how much more reduction you need. At around -3db+ or so you have a potential for distortion on most signals with very little RMS, So you want to 'listen' for distortion caused by clipping at all points of reduction.

[@rjstrange]

So far I limit my groups into a waves L2 limiter with no IRC at all, each group limits at -10 db and also has a -10 db threshold so it basically acts as a brick wall limiter. Then my basic chain return and hype chain return are both at -7.5 db and -7.5 threshold, then group chain return is -5 db and -5 threshold. Then my pre-master is -2.5 db and -2.5 threshold, and all of them use auto release. I then fed it into a final waves L2 with limit set to -0.2 and pushed the threshold down on a track I was working on down to -5 threshold and I was able to get -12.2 integrated (long term average) LUFS and up to -9 LUFS at intense points and not exceed -0.9 true peak (thanks to the True peak limiter on Waves WLM Plus metering plugin), and this was just during my initial pseudo master that I gain stage into before actually mixing.

[@MoDzZz135]

You are so smart man, thank you for all that you do. My music has improved so much since I found your channel

[@djkrptdnb]

It’s funny how you can hear the difference between the old example and the bus mastering very clearly, yet it’s not that easy to explain - the word “fighting” gets used a lot in these sorts of mixing tutorials, when talking about EQ as well.

[@citadelo5ricks]

IMHO: Agreed, "terms of art" like fighting are somewhat confusing. It basically means that two or more sounds are affecting each others' volume by triggering the same limiter. This causes an undesired loss of control of the volume of those sounds. Like the kick on a master limiter "pumping" all the other sounds in and out as it triggers the limiter. This hierarchy of busses formulation may change with fine grained spectral limiters. At the moment, it may be too much to ask to just send it all to a master spectral compressor, but this is the direction we're headed. Like sonible smart limit.

[@JL-vg9tx]

Always the best

[@stykzmusic-2692]

Thanks Ahee ;) watched this as I'm mixing. I use Reason 11 but am using this idea the same. Love your videos.. Very inspiring!!!

[@rippinmiami8821]

REALLY ENJOYING IT

[@d3dt3kplays97]

THANK YOU AHEE! amazing opened up mix nicely

[@d3dt3kplays97]

is it ok to pute your limiters on return tracks?

[@OfficialAHEE]

@@d3dt3kplays97 only if it makes it sound better. ;)

[@walkernotte3019]

Also. Thank you. your music is even better than your tutorials, and your tutorials are s teir.

[@Darksagan]

This is dope. Exactly what I was looking for and it makes perfect sense too.

[@DaVoskDocta]

ye its very good technique. I personally use 3 buses: BASS/Synths/Drums -> Premix -> Master.

[@chriskill6661]

why do I get lag when using limiters? If I put a limiter on any individual tracks, the timing of the track gets completely messed up. I can only use a limiter on the master track. any help would be great thanks

[@Slooby]

@@chriskill6661 I use FL but have you tried consolidating/freezing ur tracks before sending them to your premix?

[@chriskill6661]

@@Slooby yeah it happens on audio tracks as well... I think it may just be the Pro L2, I'm getting better results using "transparency mode" but anything else has serious latency. Weird. Might have to just stick to less CPU heavy limiters :(

[@Slooby]

@@chriskill6661 hmm, that's weird. maybe plugin lag compensation is disabled or not calibrated correctly in your daw. try looking through the forums on delay compensation or lag compensation and see if anyone has a similar issue :p

[@chriskill6661]

@@Slooby appreciate you 🙏

[@Radassdnb]

I love you Ahee your content is just like a mad business! Helped me alot in various situations I struggled with. Keep it up man! Really appreciate that. I wish you all the best!

[@logie8000]

Awesome! Thak you very much man, very insightful into different styles of routing opening the door for some additional creativity and experimentation!

[@jamesramsden5319]

In case anyone's wondering, here's the nut's and bolts of why this works: So, limiters are essentially compressors, so that means all they do is apply gain reduction over time. The thing you need to know about compressors is that they always (yes, always, you cannot get rid of it entirely) add a little bit of distortion to the signal, and they add more distortion the more dramatically they need to move the gain around to do their job. Ifoverall f your song needs more dirt, what do you do? Well, I think it's clear that you saturate individual tracks until you get it, not the master channel, because the saturation will quickly get too muddy and you'll los*eseparationtheirboth TL:DR Skrillex is a genius.

[@mooselessness]

Are you saying that compressors create distortion in a non-linear way? Let's say a compressor needed 1db of gain reduction, and in exchange for that created 1db of distortion (just making up the number). If I understand correctly, then a compressor that needed to create 10db of gain reduction would create MORE than 10db of distortion (using our fake number). So if you don't want distortion, it makes sense to have 10 compressors each giving 1 db of gain reduction, rather than 1 compressor giving 10db gain reduction. Is that correct?

[@infatuated9970]

This works because limiters cut peaks thereby reducing dynamic range. And this is important when you want to get your mix as loud as possible because peaks are what will clip first. Putting limiters on individual tracks and groups gives you more control of the output signal's dynamic range. This also helps create a sense of separation between individual tracks and groups because of the different limiter settings gluing things together. I'm not an audio engineer or anything but this is what I gather.

[@eferg16]

Super clear explanation. I liked the idea of your template being another artistic choice instead of just the way.

[@bohman3231]

Awesome! Appreciate the break-down and I am excited to experiment with different routing. I have the Hybrid as my default. I missed vol 3 too!

[@sallydboy]

The flow charts were amazingly useful! Thanks for this information!

[@flywittzbeats4008]

Best mastering vid out there

[@shankzdank]

Thank you bro

[@eXpas04]

Very nice, thank you for this and the diagrams are definitely screenshoted!

[@westsid3lov392]

Thank you for all your help brother!

[@justinturnergnome110]

The example is a little biased due to using Ableton's limiter, which is quite shockingly terrible. If you switched the Ableton limiter to the Fabfilter on the single limiter processing there would not be as much of an audible difference. The reason you got extra volume through cranking the bus mastering was because you used the Fabfilter limiter to crank and not the Ableton limiters gain. I tested every popular limiter plugin (through perceived distortion measurements) to write a dissertation on them. Ableton's limiter was at the bottom of that list. AOM Invisible limiter was at the top followed by iZotope Ozone 9 "Maximizer" (very close to AOM's performance). Next behind was Fabfilter Pro-L. Slate digital was pretty high on the list too but AOM invisible limiter on clip setting beat them all. Anyways, the point is that the cleaner sound is being generated by you using a better limiter to increase the volume during bus mastering. If you swapped out the fabfilters for Ableton's limiter and repeated the experiment you would quickly discover that the large audio difference was just Ableton's limiter.

[@justinturnergnome110]

I still advocate this bus mastering method. Just wanted to point out that the example is probably biased.

[@bebenzomusic]

🔥🔥 nice , thanks fot sharing !!!!

[@awantetodo]

This lesson was great thanks everything is really clear, much appreciated

[@joshvishnu6900]

this is seriously cool! changed my perception of mastering a lot!

[@javierherredia]

WOW. AND HERE IVE ALWAYS BEEN AFRAID TO SPLIT UP MY BUSSES MONGST DIFFERENT LIMITERES... EVEN TH THATS HOW ALL MY MIXES WANT TO END UP ANYWAY (IE. AFTER DUPLICATING GROUPS/BUSSES WITH LIMITERS ON THEM THAT GET CHANGED I HAD IT COMPLETELY BACKWARDS... THE LESS GING THRU THE LIMITER THE BETTER, NOT TO MENTION YOU GET TO CHOOSE SPECIFIC CEILINGS. THANK YOUSE

[@FlyingGuillotine]

Great video as always, Chris!

[@MrBrownstone98]

This is the shit man, immediate quality jump in my mix!

[@ShiShiWorld]

amazing man, thank you

[@holmquist5806]

Thanks bro🙏🏻 You’re really helping my mixes👍

[@musiclearning2983]

you finally upgraded ableton haha

[@KKStix]

Great visuals!! Loved this!

[@MASSDECEPTIONTV]

Great stuff bro! Are you still utilizing this mix down technique on your new releases?

[@averagemaverik5715]

Hey man, thanks for the tutorial, the diagrams made it a lot easier to follow How does Sidechaining come into this? I usually have all my groups routed to single side chain bus, what do you think is the best method to implement these together Cheers again Tony

[@jordyfresco]

I've been having the same thoughts. In my opinion, put the side chain bus AFTER the Pre-Master Limiter and then route the side chain bus to the master. That way you can have multiple groups on the same side chain and it keeps everything tidy

[@davidvulich]

Is the premaster a send/return track or an audio track with grouping???

[@aaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiii]

Hi! I didn’t get idea of skrillex’s hype chain. It contains only subs group and then goes to next bus. So what’s the point of it? P.S. your hybrid scheme looks effective and not so overcomplicated, I have to try it 👍🏻 thank you!

[@SubDocta]

LEGEND

[@noldskool4874]

thanks! very interesting way of routing.

[@DJStratosfox]

Been out of the music game for a bit & Needed something to snap me back. I think I just found it. Can't wait to jump back into Ableton with some of these new racks.

[@michaelc8569]

Great stuff thank you Ahee

[@supreemo_official]

brilliant, I learned something amazing today :D thank you ahee!

[@jasongravely7217]

This is badass! Thanks man!

[@dillonbuffi6694]

Thanks Ahee

[@itsfuujii]

I neeed a full version of this song please!

[@ekozumusic]

Great vid! Excellent explanation of a super useful technique!

[@Stickybudsmusic]

Dope stuff homey thanks.

[@tvdubroolz]

Do you have any future plans for making your magic racks available on other DAW’s? I love your videos, and I’d love to show you some support by buying your products. But I’m a FL usuer. I know these patches could be recreated in FL Studio but since I don’t know how they’re put together that’s hard.

[@TRXST.ISSUES]

The Skrillex Limiter pathing looked wild P_P

[@joeyf808]

Lots of questions!

[@bismanjitsingh1975]

love this guy

[@CJ-sn8dz]

This is gold!! Appreciate it man!

[@drop_table_music]

A+ content.

[@user-en1oc8xn8q]

very helpful info thanks @ahee

[@difractomusic]

Nice ! Thanks !

[@cryptochiefs4752]

Big value right here thank you

[@stek-op4690]

That was really good and informative

[@jonathanaguilar3148]

YOURE THE MAN!!

[@blushhbass]

This is fantastic thank you

[@manofgoat]

Love this thanks man

[@iknoweverythinginthisworld]

like clipper more for detailed mix, but your way is good for edm

[@islamelnabawy9600]

Amazing bro

[@PerryLevy]

Do you master the track after mixing it through this template? I wonder because your only using L1 and most ppl use Ozone.

[@edm7544]

bro how can you compare a stock limiter to a PRO L2 that seems biased or got me more confused if not , pro L2 doesn't sound drastically bad even if u turn it up too much as compare to a stock Ableton limiter, please explain?

[@loidis9347]

you should use the same limiter for the comparison, but still good info!

[@zach5539]

Which one of the templates do you reccomend and why?

[@HowardCharlesUK]

That Pro-L2 really looks like a great limiter. I have the Ozone maximizer instead, is it worth me getting the Fabfilter limiter too?

[@shadowkercaine9694]

Yea its worth it

[@STATXMUSIC]

Absolutely worth it. I have both and use the FF limiter 100% of the time now.

[@krkr5625]

Ozone maximizer squashes sound more than limiter

[@PassingTheDog]

not really

[@cyberhawken]

Not unless the fabfilter limiter has a feature your lacking with the Izotope limitier.

[@Chanslam]

You are a legend

[@LaFortuneMusic]

Are you doing this process throughout the whole process? or you wait for the end just as a final gain staging

[@Adamveckz]

Nice one!

[@ap7390]

I have a question! , if I also have a group with all my send channels like reverbs, delays & other fx i like to mix in parallel. Would i send this group to the premaster? And would it still be okay to use these sends on the vocals bus that are routed to the master? I use logic pro x btw i hope that doesnt make a big difference

[@ChevyQuis]

Dope content boss man

[@raoulchristopherson238]

Thank you! At what stage in production do you do all this routing? Is it something you already have setup on your template or do you typically do all the routing stuff during the final stages when you are mixing/mastering? Or is it something to keep in mind as you are creating/producing? I’m asking what you do personally or what you’d recommend.

[@jamest3336]

I would definitely have it set up on templates

[@coleycole2nite]

He does it at the beginning I believe. Pretty sure he mentions that in other videos.

[@CasualChrisMusic]

Great video thanks for the help

[@snaredrum954]

Thanks for this! I’m pretty new to it all. I’ve been using bus compressors for groups not limiters. Do you literally just use limiter or are you compressing on individual tracks as needed prior going to the routed limiter? Thanks so much 🙌

[@mesdeep_official]

Can someone tell me what's happening ong the "hype chain" like what effects or what are you supposed to do on that chain?

[@trigigiga]

What're the "chain" busses exactly? Is it named that because stuff is getting sidechained there?