audio Buses in Vegas
 

Hi folks,

I'm just learning Vegas, and I wanted to find out how to make changes in the volume of the audio - using the bus track.

I checked the help file and finally figured out how to see the audio bus track. But there it sits.

I can change the volume of various tracks using the pot in the mixer, but I see nothing on the track itself.

I bought Vegas 4 Editing Workshop and on page 247 it shows some tracks with various markers and volumes going up and down, but I don't see anything in the book that actually tells you how to do that.

Suggests?

thanks for the help!
Milt Lee

On ANY track (regular or bus - for now it sounds like you need to ignore the bus track(s)) add a Volume Envelope. Then you can add nodes as needed to adjust the volume.

i woudl only use bus tracks if i had a specific audio file which i wanted to run an effect through ON ITS OWN.

I use to do ful 5.1 productions using only bus tracks, but it DOES get fiddly and from a stereo source can be a knightmare arranging a 3d pan..

IMO, bus tracks should only be used when necessary, and ony when an effect fo rna individual source is required.

for example, i would have my backing music is stereo, however, i would duplicate the track, run it thru a bus and routed for the rear speakers. Now once the routing is sorted, i woudl then run a nice fat reverb, this gives that spacial fatnes and clarity of the raw material.

Another example is ro run an interview into a bus track, route it to the centre channel, and then throw in your compresion and EQ, THEN with the backing, run a low pass filter through it to cut out most of teh lower frequencies, to get teh persons voice to really stand out while maintaining a nice clear backing track, albeit filtered.

thers lots you can do, i would sugest experimentation with the 5.1 panner and keyframes along multiple tracks.

dont forget to create your LFE channel, i usualy run a duplicate track of teh finsihed work, then run an EQ with bass specific frequencies. This keeps things neat.

To get the Volume Envelope on a track right-click on an empty
spot on the track (not on an event = media item!) and choose
Insert/Remove Envelope -> Volume

Thanks for the advice!

I actually really only wanted to use whatever I could to adjust the volumes of the individual tracks but I think it actually makes more sense to mix the track in SAWSTUDIO and lay it back onto the project. I'm not concerned just yet with keeping voices in sync but when I am, I will see how this process works.

Otherwise, I would probably just mix everything else - leave the voice tracks alone, and allow Vegas to do the final mix when I render the project.

For now, it's all sound effects, music and narration.

Thanks again,
Milt Lee

There is no need to mix before render. Just let Vegas handle it all along.
Download the Vegas manual. You'll find an Audio flow chart somewhere (page 30-something, I think). Vegas can solve your audio problem I'm sure.

One of Vegas' strongest suits is audio. It can easily adjust the audio if you add a volume envelope! Just select the audio track and press "V" - there it is!

volume envelope
 

That is soooo cool.

I think I better read the manual a little better. Now the next thing will be to figure out how to adjust it up and down as I go.

thanks!
Milt Lee

Double-click the blue line (or right-click and tell it to add a new point). Now you can click and drag it higher or lower or you can right-click it and pick or enter a specific value.

if u go to view, you can go into each individual bus track and set it to a "rubber band" basically the bus (like the volume) will be available for "keyframing" or auto adjsutment , these changes will reflect in the mixer console.

Peter, I don't understand why you are saying to add a bus instead of just placing the volume envelope on the audio track. Either way requires a volume envelope somewhere to dynamically change the volume.

OK, per this discussion, I get envelopes (as someone said, it's Avid rubber banding... piece of cake), but I'm still out to lunch on what a bus is exactly. According to the manual, "An audio bus track exists for each bus or assignable effects chain in your project and serves as a timeline representation of each bus of assignable effects chain." If you were explaining this in langauge a child could understand (obviously the level I'm at), a bus is what and I want to use it/them when? (Anybody know a good audio for dummies site or reference book? Jay Rose's book doesn't go into stuff this basic.)

Buses are groups for audio tracks. Say you have four different tracks with dialogue on them and you want to give all those tracks a common treatment. You assing them all to the same bus. Then, on a large project, instead of having 26 different sound tracks (which you still have) you work with probably five buses. Take a look at the audio signal flow chart in the manual. You'll see it all graphically there.
If you have less than say 6 audio tracks in your projects you need not worry about buses.

Generally speaking, you would use busses to control SEVERAL audio tracks. Suppose you have several tracks related solely to drums. You may want to create a bus and direct all of the drum tracks to that bus. Now you have a single point from which you can control the overall volume of the drums instead of having to make the exact same changes to every drum track.

basic audio in Video
 

I really agree with Marcia. I've been doing production work for 30 years, and frankly the information that these software programs comes with is terrible. It really doesn't explain what to use things for, and precisely how to do it.

I need a Teach Yourself Visually for Vegas 4.0, also for Cubase, and Kompakt.

But having said that, I do really appreciate the help one can get here. This really is an excellent forum.

Milt Lee

Hey, wow. I get it now. You guys are awesome. Again.

Thanks all.

"Peter, I don't understand why you are saying to add a bus instead of just placing the volume envelope on the audio track. Either way requires a volume envelope somewhere to dynamically change the volume."

your totally, right, however what im referring to is a split your track into an indivdual outputs by using busses.

Basically assign a sound to a track, assign the track to a bus (which can then be rubber banded like a normal volume automation), route that bus to an output within the mixer, add your effects and voila...

this bus can be routed to any 6 audio channels, and is a good way for LFE manipulation :)

hope this made my post a lil clearer.

Well Peter,
A few things are unclear - to me anyway:

Splitting the track - does that mean you are keeping one signal intact and then sending one to the bus?

What is rubber-banding (in this context)?

What mixer are you refering to, an external one?

What is LFE (manipulation)?

LFE is low frequency effects. Or the "bass" channel in surround
(ie, the .1 in 5.1).