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Sidechaining/ducking/EQing ponder
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| tehlord |
This may be common practise for some of you but I was pondering the mixing of some vocals the other day.
Do any of you use a ducking technique whereby you duck certain channels in a specific EQ band using a multiband compressor using for example a vocal as a trigger?
I'm thinking about using something along these lines to create some space in mixes withough necessarily having to duck or pump entire parts too much. |
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| cryophonik |
| quote: | Originally posted by tehlord
Do any of you use a ducking technique whereby you duck certain channels in a specific EQ band using a multiband compressor using for example a vocal as a trigger?
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I've experimented with similar approaches before, but I've never been happy with the results because it's too obvious and unnatural sounding to have something that is relatively inconsistent (e.g., vocals) triggering frequency changes in something that is usually more static/less variable. I find that I usually get better results by just automating the parameters. |
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| tehlord |
| quote: | Originally posted by cryophonik
I've experimented with similar approaches before, but I've never been happy with the results because it's too obvious and unnatural sounding to have something that is relatively inconsistent (e.g., vocals) triggering frequency changes in something that is usually more static/less variable. I find that I usually get better results by just automating the parameters. |
Hmmmm
I was hoping that it would be more transparent than the usual ducking technique. I suppose you'd have to keep the amount of cut fairly low for it not to sound odd.
What do you automate for similar results? At the moment I tend to use static cuts and boosts (small amount and medium/small Q) to give individual sounds a bit of room, or just a subtle all over duck. |
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| cryophonik |
You'd really have to just experiment with it (assuming that you know what effect you're after) to see. I honestly haven't spent a lot of time trying things like this because I usually get disappointed in the results right away, say screw it, and try something else.
I do recall experimenting with ducking the reverb on vocals (with a MB compressor IIRC) using the same vocal track that was feeding the reverb. I was able to get a weird pulsating reverb sound with a nice ducking effect on the transients (i.e., similar to pre-delay). That's one of those ideas that I had during a creative dry spell, then forgot about and never actually used in a track. Hmmmmm...I'll have to revisit that one. |
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| tehlord |
I'm just thinking about a pad I used for an old Oceanlab remix I did. I had to cut the mid-highs a bit to get the vocal part sitting happily over the top and just happened to open up the project the other day to remind myself how I did something. I thought it might be a better idea to make that EQ cut with a MB compressor that's triggered by the vocal so the pad wasn't EQ'd at all when no vocals were layered on top, the EQ cut took something away from the pad that I didn't really want to lose.
Correct sound choice from the start is my new method, but multiband ducking might be an additional tool to use in teh future! |
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| cryophonik |
| quote: | Originally posted by tehlord
I'm just thinking about a pad I used for an old Oceanlab remix I did. I had to cut the mid-highs a bit to get the vocal part sitting happily over the top and just happened to open up the project the other day to remind myself how I did something. I thought it might be a better idea to make that EQ cut with a MB compressor that's triggered by the vocal so the pad wasn't EQ'd at all when no vocals were layered on top, the EQ cut took something away from the pad that I didn't really want to lose.
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Yeah, that sounds similar to the approach that I was referring to in my initial reply. The problem that I had, even with long release times, is that the ducked frequencies in the pad would creep back in during the spaces between vocal phrases, which sounded really unnatural. But, this discussion did trigger a thought - what if you used the reverb on the vocal as a trigger for ducking those frequencies in the pad? That would (presumably) be smoother than just using the vocal track due to the longer reverb tails. |
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| Morvan |
| Try automating the EQ band gain to gradually introduce the cut. Definitely does a smoother job than simply sidechaining it. |
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| tehlord |
Hmmm that reverb idea might work.....
OR.....
a mega quick attack and release time so that you wouldn't even perceive a change in tonality.
I have haz to experimentz now. |
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| Ry Thomas |
| I've heard this in a Kylie Minogue track before, cant really remember which one though |
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| tehlord |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ry Thomas
I've heard this in a Kylie Minogue track before, cant really remember which one though |
Useful man, useful ;) |
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