side chaining

[anx]

can someone explain to me what this does? i am aware (sort of) how to do it, as i have searched some old posts...but im still unclear what it does.

cheers

[MARK ANXIOUS]

Side Chaining is hard.. but think of it like this......

Imagine a bloke on radio with his finger on the vol control...... He needs to make sure when he speaks, he needs to turn the music down.. And then quickly turn it back up when he's finished... So he would normally do that via the vol control with his hand....

But there's an easier way...

If you set a side chain to turn that music down via a compressor, then wow. You basically feed your voice into the side chain input and then your voice kicks the comp into action, turning the music down when you speak.... (And you obviously need to put the right values in to make sure the comp works right - but let's keep those setting for another tutorial).

But think about this... think about it not as a radio vocal scenario, but as a kick trying to keep the rest of the track down... or a kick keeping the bass-line down... or whatever you fancy....

This is sidechaining and it's a great thing to do. If you think of the radio scenario, it becomes very easy imho..... Just apply it to anything you want to do in sound.. Good luck!!!!

[stjohn]

basically... when you put a normal compressor on a track (say a bassline) ... the bassline itself triggers off the level of desired compression, on the insert.

with sidechaining, the bassline is still getting compressed, only you allow the compressor to accept an alternative input from another track (say a kick drum).

the result is that, your bassline will duck every time the kick sounds

[vadarfone]

check out my mspaint skills!

hopefully this explains it a bit..

sidechaining is most obviously heard in the kick and bass pulse.

UNST .o000 UNST .o000 UNST .o000 UNST .o000

[judas_beast]

check out my mspaint skills!

hopefully this explains it a bit..

sidechaining is most obviously heard in the kick and bass pulse.

UNST .o000 UNST .o000 UNST .o000 UNST .o000

:)

[stjohn]

deadly... wormjar

[TechMouse]

Chek the GFX madskillz, w00t!

[tonyc2002]

sidechaining can be used with gates as well altho admittedly this is more common when recording/mixing a band to stop over spill...just thought ide chuck it in anyway :cheese:

[vadarfone]

haha, cheers for the art reviews. I have more like this explaing all manner of things on pretty much every subject on earth. haha. I have approached the tate Modern and jonny ball, but i have yet to hear back...

Yeah sidechaining a gate is also a good use.

I think the most common way to hear it in techno (and all bass heavy dance music) is in the kick/sub area, althought using it on vocals chained to the kick and you get instant cheesy daft punk esque pop-dance.

[robin m]

check out my mspaint skills!

Brilliant. And useful! Ever thought of writing a book?

[vadarfone]

Haha.

Maybe one day.

But I have learnt so much in the public domain, i feel it is my turn to give back.

HACK THE PLANET!!!

This is my idea of a perfect kick drum.

I will stop doing them when you stop laughing!!

:)

Maybe I should make a book...

Production Karma And Other Madness with Mr W.Jar

[stjohn]