Glue Compressor Issue

[Awakener]

I am using the Maschine plugin in Ableton and have added the Glue Compressor on the Master.

Now when I lower the treshold on the compressor everything is nice and smooth. But the problem arise that when the break in the song begins (where no kick is) everything on that group is going to be louder until the kicks come in again.

Is there anything that I can do that the drum tracks stays at the same volume output when the kick is not there in the song?

[mauronedj]

I think you must know really well compression to do a really squashy bus compression!
How many DB does the glue attenuate?
Try to set the threshold a bit lower and to use the sidechain EQ for the glue to cut out the most of the kick!

If you don't know what I've told you you must study a bit more

[Ryder17]

Too much compression!

Take it off, mix it so it sounds good without any effects on the master......Then add compression if needed...sparingly!

[Awakener]

The strange thing is that when I set the treshold to 0.00DB then the compressor is already triggered when the tracks is played. When I lower the volume of the kick it works but then the volume of the kick is too low. The kick is set to -12dB like al my other tracks and there I haven't any issues. Maybe I should use another kick

[2pauluzz2]

I think this is not a "strange thing" but normal compressor behavior. Changing the kickdrum would be defeating the purpose in my opinion -- a different kickdrum will likely give you comparable results as this issue comes from the very nature of compression, rather than from the kickdrum.

My advise would be to:
- Read up on what compression actually does. Tarekith from this forum has very helpful articles about that with examples using Ableton screenshots. Google his site.
- Take the compressor off the master. The only purpose for compression on the master bus - when you are not an experienced mastering engineer who's job it is to deliver a final product that's ready to be sold - would be adding a limiter for a live set, to prevent peaks to overload the system. The compressor might sound cool now, but it masks flaws in your mix. You would be better off making the mix sound the way you want (so all your sounds before they are 'summed' together in the master). A master engineer would ask you to remove any compression plugins from the master buss anyways.

[sowhoso]

Take it off, mix it so it sounds good without any effects on the master......Then add compression if needed...sparingly!

if you do that any compression will completely change the sound

[pepezabala]

why not separate the compressed channels from the kick? then the kick won't alterate your sound when it comes on or off.

[Ryder17]

Take it off, mix it so it sounds good without any effects on the master......Then add compression if needed...sparingly!

if you do that any compression will completely change the sound

Yes.....If you are not happy with the sound, generally you ought to change it.

You can't just fix stuff by throwing loads of plugins at it, especially compression. A track should sound good when mixed without master bus effects first and foremost, then start adding a little compression etc where needed and only if it enhances the track.
If the kick is causing so much compression to be applied to the point where everything jumps in volume when it's not there, then there is clearly too much going on.

[fishmonkey]

A track should sound good when mixed without master bus effects first and foremost, then start adding a little compression etc where needed and only if it enhances the track.

that's not necessarily true. many people mix with a compressor over the master bus. whichever way you do it, you need to understand mixing, and how compressors work first, which is really the issue here.

[jestermgee]

Sidechain as mentioned earlier could be a solution.

If you are happy with the compressed sound when the drums are driving the compressor and don't want to go and mix all the levels lower to avoid the compressor at its current setting then you could use sidechain.

To do that you could duplicate the drum track itself but set the duplicate to not send audio to the master. Have this duplicate track running for the whole track and set this "silent" track as the sidechain driver. That would then drive the compressor in the same way as the drum track (because it is the drum track) but would allow you to maintain the compression even when the drums drop out.

Keep in mind though that if you have a heavy compression and a short release and your drums drop out you may hear that sidechain pulsing effect which may or may not sound good for you.

The other option would be volume automation.

You could automate a utility or something on the master channel to bring the volume down at the same rate the compressor releases when the drums drop out to balance the transition but that would be a tricky thing to make completely transparent and then you have to increase the volume again when the drums kick back in but its an option.

Or..... There are loads of things to do so keep plugging away until you nail it.

[102455]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned multi band compression yet.

[chrk]

Anyone ever thought of plain and simple automation? - either the compressor threshold or the output level.

Who says that somthing like that needs to sit in the chain like a brick?

[Samuel L. Jizzle]

Not a bizzle but fizzle. Compizzle the shizzle out of that bizzle, mizzle fizzle!

[jestermgee]

Anyone ever thought of plain and simple automation? - either the compressor threshold or the output level.

Yep... Me... Which is why I suggested it as an option.

[chrk]

Yep... Me... Which is why I suggested it as an option.

Ooops. Must have skipped your post