sidechain compression

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hackman
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sidechain compression

Post by hackman » Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:44 pm

ive been told that this is a good way to stop kick and bass interference, other than that i know nothin about it
what is it and its uses? and how do you set it up in logic?
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serox
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Re: sidechain compression

Post by serox » Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:47 pm

hackman wrote:ive been told that this is a good way to stop kick and bass interference, other than that i know nothin about it
what is it and its uses? and how do you set it up in logic?
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Post by edjrussell » Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:43 pm

evening benny boy,

Side chain compression is basically using say a kick drum to trigger a compressor to reduce the gain of another signal. i.e. set the side chain input of a compressor to receive the signal of your kick channel and then every time your kick hits the compressor will reduce the level of your bass (or what ever instrument you have the compressor on) and allow the kick drum to hit through in the mix.

To set up side chain compression in Logic

1 Make a copy of your kick drum channel.
2 Send the signal of the copy to a bus
3 Make sure you turn off the out put of your second kick track other wise you will hear the kick twice
4 Open up a compressor on the track you want to side chain
5 Top right of the compressor says "Side chain input" set that to the bus you just sent your kick to.
6 Now just mess around with the compressor settings until you get desired gain reduction and ducking time.!!
:D

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Post by hackman » Mon Nov 03, 2008 9:09 pm

nice one geezaar!
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Post by Sharmaji » Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:46 am

edjrussell wrote:evening benny boy,

Side chain compression is basically using say a kick drum to trigger a compressor to reduce the gain of another signal. i.e. set the side chain input of a compressor to receive the signal of your kick channel and then every time your kick hits the compressor will reduce the level of your bass (or what ever instrument you have the compressor on) and allow the kick drum to hit through in the mix.

To set up side chain compression in Logic

1 Make a copy of your kick drum channel.
2 Send the signal of the copy to a bus
3 Make sure you turn off the out put of your second kick track other wise you will hear the kick twice
4 Open up a compressor on the track you want to side chain
5 Top right of the compressor says "Side chain input" set that to the bus you just sent your kick to.
6 Now just mess around with the compressor settings until you get desired gain reduction and ducking time.!!
:D
you don't need to dupe yr kick track. if it's audio, you can just select that channel to be the key for the sidechain. if it's midi, send it to a bus, disable the output of the bus, and use the bus as the key. less steps --> more rock.
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Post by dj $hy » Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:50 am

Sometimes nice to have a ghost track tho! Means if your kick stops you still have the affect of sidechain. Otherwise when it all stops pumping your sidechained sounds will sound... well different! ;)
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Post by manray » Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:13 am

Use sparingly if you ask me. (unless you want that phat side chain effect)

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Post by rob sparx » Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:47 am

For those who don't use logic check out the "dbaudioware sidechain compressor" and TC works "compressor/de-esser" (part of the TC bundle ) - both excellent plugs and very easy to use no "send that 2 a group then rerouted back via the flux capacitor in reverse LFO" bullshit that u get with some sidechain plugins!

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Post by edjrussell » Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:29 pm

you don't need to dupe yr kick track. if it's audio, you can just select that channel to be the key for the sidechain

Exactly as Shy said if you don't have it on a seperate track and your kick stops all your side chaining will stop!

Just make sure that on your duplicated track it has the same kick (or whatever your using as your sidechain input) as your audible kick other wise it will sound very messy and out of sync.

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Post by manray » Tue Nov 04, 2008 2:43 pm

edjrussell wrote:
you don't need to dupe yr kick track. if it's audio, you can just select that channel to be the key for the sidechain

Exactly as Shy said if you don't have it on a seperate track and your kick stops all your side chaining will stop!

Just make sure that on your duplicated track it has the same kick (or whatever your using as your sidechain input) as your audible kick other wise it will sound very messy and out of sync.
But do you want your bass ducking when there isn't a kick? Maybe you do maybe you don't. The original question relates to ducking bass to let the kick come through the mix a bit clearer. If you cut your kick you don't NEED to duck the bass, though you might think it sounds better.

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Post by lorn » Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:05 pm

You can create a dope effect by switching the compressor out for a noise gate so instead of the bass ducking when the kick hits, it will only play when the kick hits (kick or whatever else you assign it to)

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Post by edjrussell » Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:12 pm


But do you want your bass ducking when there isn't a kick? Maybe you do maybe you don't. The original question relates to ducking bass to let the kick come through the mix a bit clearer. If you cut your kick you don't NEED to duck the bass, though you might think it sounds better.
Yeah this is true. I just find if you have it on a separate track it gives you more flexibility.

You can create a dope effect by switching the compressor out for a noise gate so instead of the bass ducking when the kick hits, it will only play when the kick hits (kick or whatever else you assign it to)
Yeah I use this quite allot. Sounds wicked if you use it on a pad or something and use a hihat pattern or something similar as your sidechain input on the gate.

proper jittery and chopped up sounding.

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Post by serox » Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:18 pm

edjrussell wrote:

But do you want your bass ducking when there isn't a kick? Maybe you do maybe you don't. The original question relates to ducking bass to let the kick come through the mix a bit clearer. If you cut your kick you don't NEED to duck the bass, though you might think it sounds better.
Yeah this is true. I just find if you have it on a separate track it gives you more flexibility.

You can create a dope effect by switching the compressor out for a noise gate so instead of the bass ducking when the kick hits, it will only play when the kick hits (kick or whatever else you assign it to)
Yeah I use this quite allot. Sounds wicked if you use it on a pad or something and use a hihat pattern or something similar as your sidechain input on the gate.

proper jittery and chopped up sounding.
Interesting. Not sure how I can do this in Reason but will have a look!

Any pointers would be handy.
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Post by edjrussell » Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:54 pm

Interesting. Not sure how I can do this in Reason but will have a look!

Any pointers would be handy.


Don't really use reason much these days but just fired it up and made a quick template so you can see how to set up side chaining. Not sure if reason comes with a noise gate but i've just set it up with a compressor. Hope this helps

Reason 3 by the way.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/snlw76

serox
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Post by serox » Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:02 pm

edjrussell wrote:
Interesting. Not sure how I can do this in Reason but will have a look!

Any pointers would be handy.


Don't really use reason much these days but just fired it up and made a quick template so you can see how to set up side chaining. Not sure if reason comes with a noise gate but i've just set it up with a compressor. Hope this helps

Reason 3 by the way.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/snlw76
Ah thanks very much. I should have made clear what I was on about. I know how to setup the sidechain in Reason but I was more interested in working out how to set up the noise gate and this bit:
Yeah I use this quite allot. Sounds wicked if you use it on a pad or something and use a hihat pattern or something similar as your sidechain input on the gate.
Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.

edjrussell
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Post by edjrussell » Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:14 pm

Ah thanks very much. I should have made clear what I was on about. I know how to setup the sidechain in Reason but I was more interested in working out how to set up the noise gate and this bit:

Quote:

Yeah I use this quite allot. Sounds wicked if you use it on a pad or something and use a hihat pattern or something similar as your sidechain input on the gate.
reason 3 doesn't have i noise gate i don't think but you can get pretty similar results by using the redrum to sequence a synth by taking the gate out of a channel from redrum into the gate in on a synth. think this should sound pretty similar as to just using a noise gate.

serox
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Post by serox » Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:38 pm

edjrussell wrote:
reason 3 doesn't have i noise gate i don't think but you can get pretty similar results by using the redrum to sequence a synth by taking the gate out of a channel from redrum into the gate in on a synth. think this should sound pretty similar as to just using a noise gate.
I was thinking that. Nice one.
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Post by crutch » Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:30 am

i like sidechaining with the es2. making the filter open when the kick hits ect. unpredictible but the posibilitys are endleeessss.

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Post by dubstepz » Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:35 pm

I recently picked up a great tip...

If you use camel phatt, you can use the LFO to control the master volume.

This gives you a great pumping sound on the hat's and can be used on pad's/fx too.

Saves you from finding a side chain source and is consitent through the whole tune.

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Post by xal54x » Mon Nov 10, 2008 6:36 pm

So I've got, say, an 808 kick, nice and bassy... But I've also got a nice sub bass line going on... Now I would usually EQ to sort out the clashing, but then the kick looses all it's subbyness... Now that might be the wrong way to go about thing, but it's what I do, and it seems to work ok... But anyway, would sidechaning be a good way to let me sub kick stay subby, and not clash with the bass?

Make sense?

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