Need help figuring out routing for specific effect

[Rydizzle]

I have been to reproduce an effect that I hear in my head. At one point in my song there is a snare fill that happens and I want the rest of my tracks to mute or cut out on each snare hit. Almost like the opposite of a noise gate that would cut when it receives a signal as opposed to not getting enough of a signal. I can't figure out how to route the rest of my tracks to cut without cutting the snare itself. Any ideas? Thanks

[triplets]

Mute automation?

[Eriksimon]

The mix without the snare should be routed to one Aux, let's say Aux 1 via Bus 1.

The snare should be ouput to a second Aux, let's say Aux 2 via Bus 2.

Now insert either a compressor on Aux 1 (the mix without the snare),

on that compressor choose Bus 2 (the snare) as the Sidechain input.

 

 

Depending on your settings your mix will now be "ducked" every time the snare hits.

[Eric Cardenas]

You may like the solution on this thread:

 

Noise gate but on higher level?

[Rydizzle]

Thanks for the input guys! I am still however struggling to get the effect. Eric simon you suggested changing the output of the snare and the rest of the mix to separate buses so I could sidechain the mix independently with the snare. However using a sidechained compressor on the mix doesn't mute the sound completely or fast enough for what I want. I am also confused how I would route the entire mix which includes my bus reverbs and stems to a new independent bus.

 

Eric Cardenas I read the thread and understand the concept but cannot figure out how to implement it in my current situation. I'm starting to think that I should just manually cut out the silence of the snare hits from the rest of my regions when the snare hits. That would require me to commit my midi regions to audio as well to make the edits I think? That way I won't have to reprogram anything. Then I could automate my buses to mute in those spots as well. Does that sound plausible? Anyone have a more elegant solution? I thought this would be so easy lol.

[lagerfeldt]

You have to use the noise gate as suggested by Eric, not the compressor. Even with the most extreme settings the compressor won't do what you're looking for. Read the thread Eric suggested and you should find your answer.

 

Perhaps you're confused because you're not familiar with how a noise gate with external sidechain input works. Outputting the rest of the song to a separate aux and doing mute automation/volume automation is definitely a possibility as well. You probably need to experiment with the timing.

 

But for more advanced, envelope dependent volume changes you'll need to use a gate.

[Rydizzle]

Lagerfeldt I understand external sidechaining with the noisegate but still cannot figure how to use it to achieve the effect. In my mock up project screenshot I have routed all of my tracks including stem buses and reverb buses to bus 3 and my snare is outputting through bus 4. If this looks right where would I insert the noisegate and phase reversed gain plugin? Sorry for my confusion I appreciate all of your help.

[Eric Cardenas]

I made this small mockup for you:

 

Ducking.zip

 

I used one file that I duplicated. You can do this with two aux tracks instead, one containing the Noise gate and the other one a polarity reverse.

Feel free to ask if something isn't clear.

 

Another great option is to use a Noise generator that you duck with a compressor keyed by the snare.

Then you can use a noise gate keyed by the Signal (Noise) generator.