What does BUS mean in terms of Audio Mixing and Recording?

Answer:

BUS relates to how separate audio channels are routed through a mixing desk, (real or virtual).

Example 1: a 16:2 mixer has 16 channels that can be simply mixed down to the 2 channel stereo main output

Example 2: a 16:4:2 mixer has 16 channels that can be organized into 4 separate sub-groups (busses) before they reach the 2 channel main stereo output. This is very useful in many ways:

A 4 channel bus can be controlled from one fader - much easier!

Sub mixes can be created for separate groups of instruments: bus 1 = drums bus 2 = electric guitars for example; with different EQ, compression, reverb etc settings for each bus.

First answer by ID1155635566. Last edit by Chammusic. Contributor trust: 6 [recommend contributor recommended]. Question popularity: 1 [recommend question].