Hi,

Is it important to use "sidechain compression" in your mix and this being used alot or not. If I understand it right it allows you to make a sound stand out by making other sound(s) duck, but can you explain (perhaps write a little guide) how it is being used in practice? How do you use it for all sounds like kick, bass, vocals, etc.. interacting with each other? Which compressor plugin should I use and where do I start with making settings etc.. I read somewhere that sidechain compression can really make a difference, but where do I start with it?..

Thanks for all usefull info!

Last edited by Dance123 on Mar-18-2005 at 01:25

well if you are talking about ducking, that is a preference, but a lot of people use it. if you are talking about deessing, then i can see your point. it is highly regarded w/ certain frequencies.

Using side compression instantly gives you a pro sound...




















































No, it's not important

It's only important if you want to have a cheesy/Daft Punk like sound

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quote:

Originally posted by alanzo Using side compression instantly gives you a pro sound... No, it's not important It's only important if you want to have a cheesy/Daft Punk like sound

lofl good one!!

If you have a really bass heavy bassline that plays on the on-beat, then it may leave you little space for your kickdrums lower frequencies to come through. Using a compressor with a sidechain will allow you to bassduck. Use the drum to trigger the bass ducking. When the kick.... kicks, then the gain on the bass will be reduced. If you use this properly, you can allow your kick to come through nice and full, and retain a heavy bassline. If you over do it, then you might hear the bass ducking out. This may be the effect you desire, so it's really up to you what you want.

You dont NEED to use this technique. But from my experiance, it sounds pretty nice.

I use the Waves C1 for this, it pricey, there are other free plugins floating around that do the same thing.

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How do you make it with waves C1 ?

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quote:

Originally posted by alanzo Using side compression instantly gives you a pro sound... No, it's not important It's only important if you want to have a cheesy/Daft Punk like sound

Erm...
That's if you're using it in an overdone (not in the meaning of bad, but more in the meaning of making it pump audibly to create that certain drive). Stop generalising. Sidechaining can be used in a much more subtle way.

Like it was already said, it's not really necessary, but in some instances it can really be helpful. One of the uses is like moth told. Deessing is basically a sidechaining method too, so is rythmic gating (triggering the gate by another sound). Gated reverb is originally created with sidechaining (before the presets on FX machines dumbed people down).

Another great use is when you want to put lots of reverb on a vocal for instance. You risk swamping the mix while the vocal is singing. So you can add a lot of reverb, but put a compressor on the effect. While the vocal is singing, the reverb is ducked down. As soon as the vocal stops, the reverb gets back up again. The human ear is easily fooled, and when done right, it creates the effect that there's always a lot of reverb going on...

Sidechaining doesn't always need to be extreme (and besides, the pumping à la Daft Punk/Eric Prydz can be created without sidechaining too)...

What's Deessing?

I've seen it, of course, in waves and such. But it's the only effect that I have no idea what it does

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Deessers are high frequency dynamic processers. The are used mainly to correct high frequency peak problems in a vocal. Certain sounds we make with our voice such as the 'Ess' and 'Shh' sounds create high peaks when recording. This is because we make these noises with the tip of our tongue and teeth, which are closer to the microphone.

Like Thy said (I dont know why i even post, I should just leave it to him) DeEssing is a form of compression. A DeEsser applys compression to the high end of the signal, using a sidechain filter it smooths out the peaks in the high end when the signal exceeds the threshold.

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Yup, basically if you would EQ out the S sounds the normal way (with an equalizer) you permanently affect the sound (it'll sound muffled).

With a deesser, if it's set up correctly, it won't change anything to the sound, until a sybilant sound comes up.

Nowadays, you can find "premade" de-essers, but originally, it's nothing but a compressor with an EQ'ed sidechain.

Example : vocal goes into compressor, but is also splitted to the sidechain (the controlling circuit of the compressor). The splitted version is EQ as to remove low frequencies, and boost the sybilant frequencies (that's your job, you'll try to focus the boost at the place where it's most annoying, and that depends on the voice, and also if it's a male or female, in general between 7 and 9 kHz). In practice that will result in the compressor only reacting to the annoying S sounds.

Of course, when miking vocals, it's always prefered to solve the sybilance problems at the source, by positioning the mic differently (or sometimes using the pencil trick works also).

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Thy Another great use is when you want to put lots of reverb on a vocal for instance. You risk swamping the mix while the vocal is singing. So you can add a lot of reverb, but put a compressor on the effect. While the vocal is singing, the reverb is ducked down. As soon as the vocal stops, the reverb gets back up again. The human ear is easily fooled, and when done right, it creates the effect that there's always a lot of reverb going on... Sidechaining doesn't always need to be extreme (and besides, the pumping à la Daft Punk/Eric Prydz can be created without sidechaining too)...

Could somebody tell me how to do this, with the compressor on the reverb pls.

Thx.

PC

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Compressor on the reverb, vocal into the sidechain. Adjust attack and release as to avoid pump effect (in other words, fairly fast times).