Why to Use AUX Channels?

One of the oldest tricks is to bring back the signal from the effect on a separate track, so that its ratio can be modified later in the mix, however, the advantage of using aux tracks does not end here, as we can easily modify not only ratios, but also for example with vocals we use quite often the sidechain trick, which means that we put the originally effected track in the foreground until it plays, as the compressor lowers the volume of the effects, this can be especially useful when we want to make loud mixes and it is very important to preserve a nice articulated sound image.

AUX channel setup can be used with:

– reverb
– delay
– chorus
– stereo imager
– comb filter
– phaser
– noth filter
– distortion
– compression
– saturation
– transient designer

Common Problems

We can’t say enough how important timing is in the mixing process. When dealing with hardware/software effects the evil of latency comes to play and this must not be overlooked. The anatomy of a typical send/return aux channel assumes that the signal will arrive back without delay and thus remain in sync with the originally sent channel. In reality in most cases this is not true as all hardware/software effects needs sometime to process the signal, some do it so fast you cant hear it, some will do it slower so some slight delay can be caught in the act if you pay attention. In modern DAWs this phenomenom will be dealt with by the built in automatic delay compensation, but this system also could have some errors that needs to be check to be sure. The origin of the errors could be if the VST driver reports wrong delay times to the system or if multiple types of processes add up that will create some additional delay that is overlooked in the process. A very annoying problem could be if the computers perfomance is not stable thus can’t be calculated with a fixed value. This can happen due to performance variation caused by temperature changes, or with some background processes stealing some power from the DAW.

With analog hardware the compensation is so much easier as there are always fixed values for the delay. These build up from the time of the digital to analog conversation plus the effects processing time and at last the analog to digital conversation time. Analog has some benefits as their compensation times used to be in the 2-20 miliseconds range, while the plugins can range up to 200 ms! When it comes to reverbs it is very hard to notice the small latency as it is not a tempo related effect. Delay on the other hand can highlight these issues pretty fast by creating an unwanted galloping horse rhythm.

Benefits in Mastering

Using AUX channels helps a lot when it comes to mixing and mastering. If you were to send your track for a mixing engineer it is essential to have your tracks laid out properly with auxes. Failin to do so your end result will be much less satisfactory than you expected. One of the reasons behind is that if AUX effects can be turned off completely than any mistake can be undone easily by rerecording it again. This is often the case with a lot of our clients who send us EDM tracks. A wrongly set parameter on the effects can ruin a whole mix if it can’t be dealt with during the process. By using aux channels you give this option to the engineer or if you mix for yourself you’ll have a chance to replace an effect you may not like in the mastering process.

Songwriters and producers mainly focus on the arrangement and sound design rather than painstakingly strove to dial in the perfect effect setting. It is not a problem because those finetunings must be done with the final mastering chain in mind, or better doing these final touches during running the track thru the analog mastering chain, which is We do every single time. If the track would have an already fixed “burnt in” amount and setting of effects this trick could not be done.

Replace Effects

Another common approach is to listen carefully and catch the artist vision than replace the plugin effect with a higher tier one. We use our trusty Strymon effects to make them synths really standout from the mix by adding them depth and width. Bigsky used to replace the free reverbs most of the time. Timeline is the classic delay effect replacement, while Volante comes into play when a more analog sounding tape delay is needed. Re-recording or as We call it Retracking is a more time-consuming task, which makes it a proportionally more expensive service, but if you combine it with mastering than it can be a very cost effective way of boosting your track to maximum potential.