Ableton Forum

Hi
I am familiar that the EQ function on a sidechain compressor in Abelton isolates frequencies or frequency ranges that trigger or do not trigger the main compressor. I understand the HPF and LPF section and the EQ boost that can be used for Deesser purposes. But some have said that this approach not only serves to balance the frequency range being compressed but also each eq function affects the compressor beyond this such as:

https://www.musicradar.com/how-to/10-wa ... -sidechain

This website says that the HPF eq on a sidechain can result in a clickier, snappy compression. This seems like a weird observation because i just thought the sidechain eq function just helps balance the signal being compressed more so.

I hope im not misunderstanding something but I dont think it works that way. No matter how your eq settings on the compressor are set it still lowers the volume of the whole frequency spectrum on the track that compressor is on, the eq part is just telling the compressor to only listen for those frequencies and only compress when it hears them. What the article sounds like to me is explaining what a dynamic eq does. The compressor by itself cant be told to do this. Although you can achieve this with multiband processing and only putting your compressor on the band you want to alter.

If you mean the point "2." of that article, I think it refers to sidechaining the pre-FX audio of the same track into the Compressor, then low-passing the pre-FX audio so it doesn't compress with hi-frequency sounds like "clicks" and "snap". It is "clickier or snappier" because normally those get compressed.