Setting Up VP28's on 2 Bus

Direct out stereo 2 buss master, back in ADC to 2 tracks. Thats with ur buss comp in front of it though...That's how I'd do it, cept I'm planning on ML's in that position, I will also be bypassing my master fader...permanently

I'm so of the OTB mindset, I thought u we're talking about a console, even so, for final mix, I'd come out of ur daw into stereo comp, into Vp's, into an ADC, back to 2 tracks in ur daw( stereo is fine)

Not clear on that, John. What do you use for ADC after the analog master bus if the audio's already been 'Burl'ed?

OK, I get it now. After the VP28 and Burl, it stays digital.

Mine are hardwired right after my summing mixer, and after them I go to my BLA Sparrow Red, then back into PT to an Aux (master) buss. On that buss I have all my buss processing and I monitor off of that, then I route everything to an PRINT track just like John is doing when I'm ready for mix down, and then exporting that file from the region list menu.

The VP28's totally changed everything for me, I found you don't have to hit them all that hard for them to do something really nice, just basically run through them and they sound incredible. What I like about having a lot of headroom before I hit them is if I do want to add some goey saturation all I have to do is turn the output of my summing mixer up and watch my level on the Aux master. I just couldn't love those Pre's more for the buss, it's like what they were meant for honestly.

I'd like to use VP28's on my 2 bus except I only have one at the moment and it's a black PCB one. Would it be ok to pair it up with a current rev?

Yes they will match as a pair.

Now that's service.

I use Cubase but I have them setup as an insert in the first slot of the 2Bus. Usually have VBC or some light compression after these and finish it off with VTM. I'll just create another track with the 2bus as the source when I'm ready to print. I like it setup as an insert so I can easily bypass to hear what's happening.

I can't speak for tony on why he'd do that but I can take a guess because I do something similar in my 2-buss chain (my compressor is ITB at this point, though):

He's probably using the compressor with a slow attack time on his 2-buss. Oftentimes, that will allow for a big transient to come through before the compressor can really compress the signal. I end up using this style of compression because, to me, it helps the drums hit harder than they seem to when using a faster attack time. On a lot of the stuff I end up mixing, I'm looking for aggressive, punchy, transient-heavy drums and this is one of the ways I try to get there.

Anyway, the compressor is allowing a big transient through and squeezing the body of the sound to be more consistent...but we probably still need to rein that transient in eventually if we're looking to get an appropriate dynamic range. He's probably running it into the VP28 and pushing the level pretty hard (either on the front end or the back end - I don't know what the VP28 likes more) to get the transformer to saturate on the transients and soft limit/limit/clip them in a different manner than a compressor/limiter would do it.

I like running my 2-buss out through transformers (mine are in preamps but it could be any gear with good-sounding transformers, really) for that very reason - pushing the level into that gear a little higher than what might seem normal seems to give me a little "free" saturation and transient limiting with little downside.

My ears like a little saturation on the 2-buss and I can get as much as I want with this sort of signal chain. The additional benefit of some soft-clipping/limiting from the transformers is just icing on the cake.

What Op amps are you guys using in your VP28's for the Mix Buss?

I have several vp28s at my own place and I have evangelized every studio I work at. I just bring them in, use them and by the time I'm done, an order is placed at capi hq. I track whatever through them. Anything. Same as with the mixbus. Every single mix goes through them right from the start. Mostly as a pt hardware insert (pre compressor) in an aux track that gets printed once I'm done, but whenever I'm summing analog, the sum goes through them before ADC. I've always used gar opamps. Always prefered the 2520/1731 combo with either litz or regular 2623s.