Help a poor Noob out

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:08 pm

guys, I'm VERY new at recording. I have a questions that will be pretty simple you guys that have been doing this a while. My question is this...What is a bus and what is its function?

Thanks in advance for helping this noob out!

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 3:23 pm

The function of a bus is to get you from Point 'A" to Point 'B'...in the city, in life, and in audio terms. A 'bus' (short for "bussline" used in telephone company terminology in the old days) is simply a route that the audio signal is directed through. It can be the main stereo outs, the main Mono out, the various Aux Sends, etc. These days the term is usually indicative of 'subgroups' that the various input channels are routed to. But this is probably 'way over your head.
Seriously, Noob, go out and get The Church Sound Handbook (by Yamaha). don't be afraid of the term "church"...there's a lot in there that will help educate you on this kind of stuff.

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:48 pm

another way, is to think of the mixer as a giant series of 'Y' adapters.
Anytime you tap into a line to 'y' the signal somewhere else(in addition to where it was originally going), you're on the buss Gus.
Enjoy the ride

Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 4:54 am

moonbaby wrote:

get The Church Sound Handbook (by Yamaha)

a quick search on Google resulted in 0 match for that query Sad

May be the title is not that? I've found [url=But may be the book ]this[/url] that is also Yamaha...
I am interested in books for studying Smile

Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 7:07 am

My mistake. Actually, there are (2) books out that are sponsored by Yamaha. Both are available at the MIX Bookshelf. Go to that site, click "Live Sound", then "Church Sound", you will see both:
Sound Reinforcement Handbook and Guide to Sound Systems for Worship.
I have the SRH and almost every church I've mixed in has the Worship one. Both are great references throughout your career.

Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 7:56 am

career? hmm, who know, actually it is just an hobby Smile

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 4:01 pm

A bus or common signal line is used simply to route signal signal to another part of the console. If I have a signal on ch. 1 I can use the bus assignment buttons to rout this signal to any other channel that I choose. This is typically used when you want to manipulate the signal but also have the unaffected signal to blend together. Keep in mind that there are plenty of other scenarios for using a bus but this depends heavily upon how sophisticated the console you are working on is.

This topic sponsored by: