Have a look at this:
http://woodcreststudio.com/samples/Routing.jpg
I just made it up. The group channels are supposed to be stereo.
Almost every mix is 100% automated. The only exception is demos. With demos, I focus more on achieving a stable dynamite sound. If there is time to automate, I will, but most of the time with quick demos are “Faders Up”
Automation passes are made in view sets. Depending on how I want to mix, I may make a pass of dry treatment blending of the vox for instance with a guitar group. Then come back and do a wet vox pass after. It all depends. The view sets I make are different every time. A lot has to do with the actual dynamics and flair of each instrument, how they play off each other and what frequency domain they fall in. It also depends on how I want to join and position instruments in the stereo field’s width, height and depth. If 2 instruments are counterpointing each other, I will create a view set for that and dedicate a automation write pass dedicated for them.
Thanks again, Tom. I can see how you’ve routed things on that screenshot.