Sidechaining Gate Effect with my drums

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Post Reply
pajhonka
Posts: 106
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:19 pm
Location: Los Angeles, California

Sidechaining Gate Effect with my drums

Post by pajhonka » Thu May 14, 2009 1:16 am

Okay, I have two drum tracks...
One is a straightforward rock beat, the other is rapid-fire glitch sounds.

I want to silence the glitches when any rock drum is played, but otherwise let the glitches go nuts...filling in the space between the rock beat. I currently have a Gate on the glitch track with the sidechain "Audio from" set to my rock beat.

Using the Gate, would my Attuenation be set to -inf or 0.0db? How about the Attack/Hold/Release? When I fool with the settings now, it sounds like the glitches are only coming through when the rock drums sound (the opposite of what I want). I tried the "Flip" button, but that doesn't seem to work with my current settings. I read the manual, but it didn't explain this. Help on how to set this up would be great. Thanks.

nebulae
Posts: 15717
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:16 am
Location: New Orleans
Contact:

Re: Sidechaining Gate Effect with my drums

Post by nebulae » Thu May 14, 2009 1:25 am

Set the Threshold to the middle, say -20 and adjust to your hearing. Make sure the Flip button is lit up, so that the gate is actually CLOSING when you cross the threshold, not opening. Attach should be fast, since you want a percussive effect, so anywere from .01ms to .10ms should be fine. Hold should be slightly longer so the sound isn't choppy. Too long and the smoothness just bleeds. so somewhere around 50-100ms should be fine. Release should also be a bit longer...I'd say greater than 5ms, but again, suit to taste.

pajhonka
Posts: 106
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:19 pm
Location: Los Angeles, California

Re: Sidechaining Gate Effect with my drums

Post by pajhonka » Thu May 14, 2009 1:47 am

nebulae wrote:Set the Threshold to the middle, say -20 and adjust to your hearing. Make sure the Flip button is lit up, so that the gate is actually CLOSING when you cross the threshold, not opening. Attach should be fast, since you want a percussive effect, so anywere from .01ms to .10ms should be fine. Hold should be slightly longer so the sound isn't choppy. Too long and the smoothness just bleeds. so somewhere around 50-100ms should be fine. Release should also be a bit longer...I'd say greater than 5ms, but again, suit to taste.
That's really kind of you. Thanks a lot!

nebulae
Posts: 15717
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:16 am
Location: New Orleans
Contact:

Re: Sidechaining Gate Effect with my drums

Post by nebulae » Thu May 14, 2009 2:08 am

^ no problem, happy to help.

My wife and her family are from New Orleans, and we got married in Covington, so I'm always happy to help a fellow hedonist :)

pajhonka
Posts: 106
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:19 pm
Location: Los Angeles, California

Re: Sidechaining Gate Effect with my drums

Post by pajhonka » Thu May 14, 2009 2:16 am

nebulae wrote:^ no problem, happy to help.

My wife and her family are from New Orleans, and we got married in Covington, so I'm always happy to help a fellow hedonist :)
Hahahahhaha, I'm from Mandeville/Covington! Wow. Small world. Thanks again.

nebulae
Posts: 15717
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:16 am
Location: New Orleans
Contact:

Re: Sidechaining Gate Effect with my drums

Post by nebulae » Thu May 14, 2009 2:47 am

No probs...post your final creation so we can hear it :)

UKRuss
Posts: 5044
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:32 am

Re: Sidechaining Gate Effect with my drums

Post by UKRuss » Thu May 14, 2009 8:23 am

The other way, and you can also be more precise this way although it takes time to set up, is to draw in the volume automation on your glitch clip so it ducks in and out when you want it to, you can draw a very precise envelope to get exactly the effect you want.

Post Reply