Iiiiiii Vunder........

sei046

Would anyone be interested in doing a little writing for the forum?

We have a few beginners guides but I would like a stickie which had a very comprehensive run down of specific things.

What I mean is someone could take...lets say compressors.
They would fully explain ratio, attack, decay, threshold, makeup gain etc. and maybe not just in...makes it louder.... terms but with a little bit of technicalities?

I personally would love a little thread where people who know aboutg the stuff had written a FAQ/Technique/Explanation of things like Comps, Limiters, ADA, Different types of EQ In quite a lot of detail.

Would there be any volunteers? Like i said it would be great if the "tutorials?" were quite detailed whilst also offering a few "For this application try this" type comments

brow_601

i wrote a guide in college recently on condenser microphones if thats any use

sei046

I like it. Posht Her up!

frobisher

There's a place for that:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055035319

sei046

Yup sorry fro I probably should have pointed out WHERE to post the stuff. Its a great thread and just needs a bit of new stuff in there

jtsuited

frobisher wrote: »

There's a place for that:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055035319

well no that's more of a 'getting started'. many topics such as 'type of knee you should be using on bus compression' would surely not fall into that category.

sei046

But it does have some nice in depth stuff on modulation etc. And thats kind of what im talking about. I want the realy technical description of equipment or techniques, not introductions to

jtsuited

I'll do a sidechaining for dummies thing if you want.
I know it's been done a few times elsewhere but i could give it a go.
If you want threads like this, maybe mods could make this a thread of it's own or whatever.

Sidechain Compression for Dance/Electronic Music

If you've heard any dance music for the past three years you will have hear a fairly dramatic use of sidechain compression. Yes it's just a trend, but one probably caused by software compressors finally having the resources to do so.

If you're still not sure what Sidechain compression sounds like, just think of that Eric Prydz 'Call on Me' track from a few years ago (not the best track but good for iliustrative purposes).
It's simply using an external sound source to 'duck' the compressor .Every time a signal at a certain level enters the sidechain, the compressor applies gain reduction to the track that it is on according to the parameters set in the conventional place on the compressor (attack, release, knee, threshold, etc.)

The first popular software compressor used for sidechaining was oddly enough Logic's Compressor. Given that Logic was and still is the most popular DAW amongst techno/house/electronic producers, it became a very popular sound indeed.

It's very common to use it on pads, drums, fx etc. using the kick track as the sidechain input. I'll go through your basic use of sidechaining now, and explain the cool stuff later.

Setting up a sidechain in Logic (works almost the same in other DAW's)- using the kick as sidechain input and pad as the track being effected.

1. Set up a compressor on the Pad track.
2. Set the sidechain input of the compressor to be the track the kick is on.
2a. some DAW's will only allow you choose bus inputs as sidechain inputs. if this is the case, set up a send on the kick track going to bus x and turn the send level pretty much all the way up. We won't be hearing this bus so make sure to turn it down if the DAW has set up a fader for it.
Then choose Bus x as your sidechain input.

3. Attack time
Usually you want this as close to 0 as possible to stop and nasty transients coming through and then completely being sucked out.

4. Knee
This one is sort of tricky. I find that you start to get a little bit of odd clicking if you have any knee applied. And anyway, the subtlety of a knee is not really what we're going for with heavy use of sidechaining.

5. Release
This is the one that 99% of new producers get wrong. The release time is what is gonna determine the speed of the sucking effect. Therefore make sure it is in time as sidechaining is very much a rhytmic effect.
i find on a track of 128 bpm anywhere between 45ms and 90ms is good. It is also dependent on the swing of the track. Use your ears, play around and you'll hear when it's in time.

4. Threshold and ratio
These are the paramaters that are gonna determine how dramatic the effect is. I tend to go for a moderate ratio 3-4.5:1 and a threshold of anywhere between -20 and -30 db. It's really up to taste though.
NB. Be very careful if you set the threshold quite low as when the kick pulls out your sidechained sound is gonna increase in amplitude dramatically. Often I end up having to split the track into two - One sidechained, one not- just to stop a break in the kick track causing clipping on the sidechained track.

Oh and make sure you're auto gain is off (I learnt that one the hard way!)

The More Fun Stuff
Stick a big reverb on a bass sound as an insert. Put a sidechained (with the kick) compressor on AFTER the reverb and listen to the huge sound you've created

And for sweeps atmospheres and effects do the same thing. It's being done to death in pretty much all dance genres at the moment. If you try it you'll recognise the sound immediately.

For the Non-Electronic/Dance guys
While sidechaining is very popular in dance music (at the moment at least), it can be used in rock music (particular anything funk or disco related) to great effect. After all this is where the whole ducking thing came from.

Use it to tame a bass track everytime your kick hits and it gives a nice bit of pump, and gives you a good bit more headroom while keeping the kick nice and focused.
It's particularly useful on running 16th note basslines.

Psychocoustics/Acoustics of Sidechaining
This really hasn't been discussed anywhere but i think it is relevant. If you go to a big dance event you'll often hear a huge bottom end AND the kick will be punching through perfectly. This is why sidechaining is so important now, as to get a huge bottom end and retain punch it is sort of essential to sidechain the bass track(s).

Also Sidechaining replicates an important function of our ear to adjust it's sensitivity to high SPL's.
You may know that at some firing range just before a shot is fired a loud signal is played. This is to get the ear to adjust (turn down it's sensitivity) before the mega-loud shot is fired. This is to protect the cochlea and tympanum from overly loud sounds (ie the gunshot).
The loud sound played before the shot is loud enough to make the ear adjust but not so loud as to cause any damage. This means when the shot is sounded the ear is protected (to some extent).
So when we hear a sidechained track it increases the perceived level dramatically as it makes it sound as if there is this sort of adjustment going on, when there really isn't.

Those of you who have experienced high volume levels may have noticed this phenomena before.

Anywho, I hope this helps some people or was at least an interesting read.
I implore the rock/pop guys to try it out just to realise how much more punch you can get ducking instruments using the kick drum as the sidechain input.

sei046

Thats brilliant Jt. Very very useful. I dont use enough Side chaining.