side chain compression

jedeye · Post by **jedeye** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:24 pm

I'm using this on kick track which is routed to the side chain compresser on the synth track which in turn gives the 'ducking effect'. all cool but. i want to add effects to the synth track, but when i do it affects the routed 'kick track' aswell, cant get my head around how i might do this

Khazul · Post by **Khazul** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:28 pm

Search for this - myself and others have recently posted quite abit about side chaining kicks...

Someone posted a load of really useful resources in one of those threads too.

Funkstar De Luxe · Post by **Funkstar De Luxe** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:34 pm

I don't know how you have it set up, but regardless you can;
Put the FX before the compressor
or Only put the FX on the synth track

rarr · Post by **rarr** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:01 pm

hey jedeye

hope this helps

what i do is have 2 kicks, one going to the master, one going to the synth track with the side chain compressor on it. with the sidechaining vst i have i can set the kick to be silent but still have the effect on it

So to sum up

3 tracks

Track 1 - Synth with Sidechaining - "key volume" 0. so the kick makes no noise but still pumps through the synth

Track 2 - Kick routed to track 1

Track 3 - the same Kick as track 2 but sent to the master channel

leisuremuffin · Post by **leisuremuffin** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:34 pm

EXTERNAL KEY INPUT

sorry, i just go crazy on this. everybody says sidechain when they mean to say external key input.

.lm.

jedeye · Post by **jedeye** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:52 pm

rarr wrote:hey jedeye

hope this helps

what i do is have 2 kicks, one going to the master, one going to the synth track with the side chain compressor on it. with the sidechaining vst i have i can set the kick to be silent but still have the effect on it

So to sum up

3 tracks

Track 1 - Synth with Sidechaining - "key volume" 0. so the kick makes no noise but still pumps through the synth

Track 2 - Kick routed to track 1

Track 3 - the same Kick as track 2 but sent to the master channel

]

yeah tried that but it doesn't really have the same effect.

i have it set up like this:

TRACK 1 - 'kick loop' routed to sidechain compresser which is on my TRACK 2 'synth' loop

any effect i put on TRACK 2 effects TRACK 1, which is what i dont want. i want the effect to apply only to the synth.

djamp42 · Post by **djamp42** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:08 pm

leisuremuffin wrote:EXTERNAL KEY INPUT

sorry, i just go crazy on this. everybody says sidechain when they mean to say external key input.

.lm.

Then what is sidechaining?

rarr · Post by **rarr** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:20 pm

jedeye wrote:
rarr wrote:hey jedeye

hope this helps

what i do is have 2 kicks, one going to the master, one going to the synth track with the side chain compressor on it. with the sidechaining vst i have i can set the kick to be silent but still have the effect on it

So to sum up

3 tracks

Track 1 - Synth with Sidechaining - "key volume" 0. so the kick makes no noise but still pumps through the synth

Track 2 - Kick routed to track 1

Track 3 - the same Kick as track 2 but sent to the master channel
]

yeah tried that but it doesn't really have the same effect.

i have it set up like this:

TRACK 1 - 'kick loop' routed to sidechain compresser which is on my TRACK 2 'synth' loop

any effect i put on TRACK 2 effects TRACK 1, which is what i dont want. i want the effect to apply only to the synth.

hmmm i suppose you could always take a long road and export the synth with fx out of live, then reimport it with the effect already on it, then add the compression??

leisuremuffin · Post by **leisuremuffin** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:23 pm

sidechaining is when something (a filter for instance, as it is on lives built in comp 2) is used to change the key signal without changing the character of the signal going thru the compressor.

.lm.

jedeye · Post by **jedeye** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:30 pm

Funkstar De Luxe wrote:I don't know how you have it set up, but regardless you can;
Put the FX before the compressor
or Only put the FX on the synth track

how?, i have written above how i have it set up, thanks

john gordon · Post by **john gordon** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:40 pm

just get logic and you will have it.no more worries.ableton will never give it to us.ever!!!!

laird · Post by **laird** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:46 pm

jedeye wrote: any effect i put on TRACK 2 effects TRACK 1, which is what i dont want. i want the effect to apply only to the synth.

then you have something set up weirdly.

If Track1's audio output is being sent to SSScompressor you should not hear the kick drum at all. Is this true?

Follow this guide: http://sonictransfer.com/side-chain-com ... rial.shtml

I suspect you have either 1. turned on the key listen on the compressor, like rarr suggested (this was my first guess, too).
2. You are sending the audio from track 1 to track 2, but you did not select "3/4 SSS compressor" below where you selected "Audio Track 2"

Nokatus · Post by **Nokatus** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:34 pm

Doing sidechain compression the hard way in Live. That has kind of slowly built up to be a pet peeve of mine, but what the hell

Even the tutorials on the subject often make it to be more complicated than it is. All the while the actual routing scheme allows for very flexible use of any compressor with an external key input, like the SSS compressor mentioned here.

There is no need to duplicate the kick track (or any track you'd like to use as the key signal). Similarly, there is no need to use the alternative solution where the kick is passed through the compressor into the same channel with the ducking material (in this thread's case, the synth part), making further adjustments potentially messy as you now have fused the kick and the synth into one stereo pair in the mix.

Instead, just use a return channel for routing the key signal into the compressor. Place the compressor where you want it to be. Then set a return channel to have that compressor's key input as its destination.

Now you can send anything into that key input at any given time without hassle. Want the synth to be ducked by the kick? Just turn up the appropriate send control on the kick channel. You're not messing the mix or any further routing, and you can instantly send multiple signals into the key input at varying amounts if you wish. Everything just stays nice and simple.

As the basic routing really is that easy, it becomes trivial to make use of it to build more complex things if you really want to go bananas with this type of dynamic adjustments...

That is, varying compression parameters for different ducking elements, and other such stuff, which would soon be a nightmare if done by cloning tracks for key inputs.

rarr · Post by **rarr** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:48 pm

wow, you learn something new everyday! thanks, i just tried what you said, thats alot easier than duplicating tracks! woooo

myxomat0515 · Post by **myxomat0515** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 2:37 am

Good call Nokatus. Thanks for the tip, and also for making me feel retarded.