Anyone know how to use Side Chain Compression in DP?

curtisb · Post by **curtisb** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 7:00 pm

Say you are using the sound of the bass drum to signal the compression of the bass line. Could someone please share a way of doing this with me?
Thank you. Peace.
Curtis

jrdmcdnld · Post by **jrdmcdnld** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 7:07 pm

Use an aux send. Asign the kick drum send to bus 15 (for example). Put a compressor (that has sidechain ability) on the bass guitar channel. The comp that comes with DP works fine for this. Asign the sidechain input of the comp to bus 15, and adjust the threshold and ratio until it sounds right. You could start with a ratio of 3:1 w/ fast attack. It won't take too much gain reduction to get out of the way of the kick.

jrdmcdnld · Post by **jrdmcdnld** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 7:17 pm

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/132/4170 ... 4fcd_o.png

curtisb · Post by **curtisb** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:17 pm

I will give that a try.

curtisb · Post by **curtisb** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:27 pm

Thanks man. That works. Thanks a lot for your quick reply and help.
Peace..
Curtis

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:16 am

Are there any other compressors that can use a DP buss as a sidechain input that you know of?

Phil

jrdmcdnld · Post by **jrdmcdnld** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:11 am

You're welcome!

Metric Halo Channelstrip can do it. I'm a big fan of it, I use it all the time. I haven't actually tried the sidechain input, but it is there.

jrdmcdnld · Post by **jrdmcdnld** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:14 am

One thing I forgot to mention that you can see in my pic; that it is a good idea to set the send to pre fader. That way, you get the same amount of ducking no matter where you have the kick level.

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:56 am

Hi, Curtisb.

I am more a composer than an engineer, and since my tech chops are not particularily big, your question got me curious...
Why would you want to do that? What are you trying to accomplish?

I have Waves plugs, and the manuals talk about this sidechain/docking stuff, but I've never figured out why or how to use those functions.

I hope you don't mind telling me this. I just want to learn something.

Thank you.

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:58 pm

When one signal is applied to the detector (side chain) of a dynamic processor that is modulating a second signal, a variety of interesting outcomes can result. For example:

Kick driving side chain of compressor on Bass
Whenever the kick drum signal applied to the compressor side chain exceeds the threshold of the Bass compressor, the Bass is reduced in volume. The degree of dynamic change is controlled by the Threshold Level of the compressor, the Compression Ratio, the compressor Attack and Release rates, and the level of the Kick signal fed to the sidechain. Practical Effect: Clears the Bass out of the way of the Kick and keeps overall bottom end levels under control.

Kick driving side chain of expander/gate on Bass
Whenever the kick drum exceeds the threshold of the Bass expander/gate, the Bass is increased in volume. Practical Effect: Tightens the Kick and Bass, making misplaced Bass notes less obvious.

Hi Hat driving side chain of expander/gate on Keyboard Pad
Practical Effect: The pad pulses with the hat. The character of pulsing can be altered by changing attack and release times. You could even mute the Hi Hat direct sound, so you hear just the pulsing pad.

Obviously, many interesting and useful effects are possible. Hope this opens some paths for further exploration.

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 6:52 pm

Thanks, HCMarkus!
Ok, now I see the possibilities. I'll try those for myself just to get familiar with that, since to me, that's a new concept.

Thanks for the intro!

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:19 pm

You are very welcome FM! Have fun.

I should mention the Pattern Gate plug in in DP. It should make it easy to accomplish the pulsing pad and similar FX.

jrdmcdnld · Post by **jrdmcdnld** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:30 pm

Honest guys, I do not have too much free time....

I've made an audio sample of ducking a bass guitar during kick hits for you to listen to.

http://savefile.com/projects/808465144

In these examples (the first file has it disengaged), I used a fast attack ducking compressor on the bass w/ a release of 40ms just to get out of the way of the beginning slap of the kick drum (which is an annoying v-drum sample). You can hear a little pumping, but it tightens up the kick and bass in a good way.

Please excuse this mix as it is a crappy one.

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:54 pm

jrdmcdnld:

Wow. Thank you so much for being so generous with your time and your chops. I really appreciate it. I'll start experimenting with all that stuff.

Mil gracias!

jrdmcdnld · Post by **jrdmcdnld** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:05 pm

No problem, you're welcome!

MOTUnation.com

Anyone know how to use Side Chain Compression in DP?

Anyone know how to use Side Chain Compression in DP?

Sweet! Thank you.