Side chain compression in a project with many tracks?

Hi,

 

I've got a series of old projects that have loads of tracks and I'm trying to figure out the best way of sidechaining the kick and snare so that they cut through the mix more.

 

From what I understand, I need to apply a compressor to all the tracks and select my kick and snare in the sidechain dropdown so that the kick and snare are more prominent than the rest of the elements in the mix (obviously, I'll need to mess with the compressor settings for best results).

 

Is that the right way to do it? And if so, do the kick and snare have to be audio tracks to sidechain them or can they be an AU instrument (like Ultrabeat)?

 

Thanks,

 

C

Hi,

 

I've got a series of old projects that have loads of tracks and I'm trying to figure out the best way of sidechaining the kick and snare so that they cut through the mix more.

 

From what I understand, I need to apply a compressor to all the tracks and select my kick and snare in the sidechain dropdown so that the kick and snare are more prominent than the rest of the elements in the mix (obviously, I'll need to mess with the compressor settings for best results).

 

Is that the right way to do it? And if so, do the kick and snare have to be audio tracks to sidechain them or can they be an AU instrument (like Ultrabeat)?

 

Thanks,

 

C

 

Use you kick as side chain key on a compressor. Make sure the kick is an audio track other wise you will get a delay and it wont work right.

Thanks for getting back to me - so, can I apply a compressor to Output 1 and 2 and then sidechain using that? I'm assuming not as that would affect everything including the kick... my hunch is I have to apply a bus to all my tracks other than the kick and snare then?

Thanks for getting back to me - so, can I apply a compressor to Output 1 and 2 and then sidechain using that? I'm assuming not as that would affect everything including the kick... my hunch is I have to apply a bus to all my tracks other than the kick and snare then?

 

I always use buses before sending to a prefinal bus. That way I can add filters to everything or partials.

Going along with that question, I'm just learning this stuff - I have Reverb assigned to Bus 1 (Stereo output). Bus 2 (No Output) is a Sidechain Compressor for my Bass to duck the Kick. I wanted to see what compressing the Reverb would sound like so would I put a send on Bus 1 to Bus 2? Would the output change?

Use you kick as side chain key on a compressor. Make sure the kick is an audio track other wise you will get a delay and it wont work right.

It works just fine if the kick comes from a software instrument:

 

Make sure the software instrument's output is routed to a bus. Key to the bus.

 

Make sure full PDC is enabled in the preferences.

 

Is that the right way to do it?

If you want everything in the mix to be ducked by the kick and snare, here's how to do it:

 

Change the output of the kick and snare drum to a bus (let's call this Bus 1).

 

Change the output of all other tracks in the mix, including effect busses, to another bus (let's call this Bus 2).

 

Insert a compressor on Bus 2. Set the appropriate settings for the ducking* and select Bus 1 as the key input for the external sidechain.

 

*Fastest or very fast attack, medium release, high ratio, hard knee, no makeup gain. Set the threshold so the transient of the kick and snare activates the ducking, but make sure you don't go too deep. Adjust the ratio if you're getting too little or too much compression. Adjust the release time in order to time the breathing of the pumping, usually in time with the tempo.