Here’s your set-and-forget master bus chain

Master bus chain.

Over the past week, we've been walking you through handy, widely applicable mixing chains suited to a variety of applications, from vocals to drums to bass. 

Today, we finish things off with a killer master bus chain that makes use of gain, compression and EQ. 

(Image credit: Future)

It’s pretty common to EQ and sometimes compress the master bus, but the first plugin in our master bus chain should be a gain. This isn’t to compensate for poor gain management earlier in your mix, so if you’re wanting to make major changes revisit your channel faders. However, it does help manage levels through the master bus plugins.

(Image credit: Future)

Next up, EQ. You can allow yourself two EQs if it suits – one for more precise changes and one for sweetening tasks. Either way, position them after your gain plugin. 

A more precise design can be handy for removing extraneous sub frequencies. For the sweetening task, a classic hardware emulation is ideal for adding air or applying global tilt. 

(Image credit: Future)

Mix compression can help glue the mix and is best placed after any EQs. Ideally, choose a mix-bus-style plugin (SSL bus compressor, Fairchild 670 or Neve 33609 for example). Set the ratio low (up to 4:1) with slow attack and medium or auto release. When you set the threshold, aim for a few dB of gain reduction.