Dynamic EQ - Multiple Band Sidechains

adam79

New member
I was debating on whether to buy the Brainworkx DynaEQ V2 or Waves F6. I ended up going with the F6 due to a light wallet.

It seems like the sidechain is where Dynamic EQs really shine.

The DynaEq is just one band, while the F6 has six bands. All the bands on the F6 have sidechain capability, but I've been struggling to come up with a situation where that's needed.

I get ducking the bass to let the kick thru, ducking the guitar (or entire mix routed to an Aux) to let the vocals breath.. but this would only take up one band.

If anyone has any examples of where a track would benefit from multiple sidechain triggers, I'd love to hear it.

I would have gone with the DynaEq V2 if I had the extra $20, and because of the small amount I was short, I guess I'm trying to justify going with the F6. I'm kicking myself for letting Waves trick me with their sales countdown clock; it probably reset 4 or 5 times already!

I demoed the F6 a while back and loved it, but only had a chance to use it as a de-esser. It also is much lighter on the CPU than the TDR Nova (I have the free version) and has zero-latency.
I still haven't demoed the DynaEQ (and I'm a bit scared to try it now that I've passed up on it), but I'm just assuming that it's better, being a Brainworx plug. And if it's light on the CPU (I haven't checked), multiple instances, due to its single band, wouldn't be a problem.

Thanks.
 
I get ducking the bass to let the kick thru, ducking the guitar (or entire mix routed to an Aux) to let the vocals breath.. but this would only take up one band.

If anyone has any examples of where a track would benefit from multiple sidechain triggers, I'd love to hear it.

Ducking the bass (for kick presence) and guitars (for vocal presence) are good examples. They're two examples, which makes it multiple use. So I guess you answered your own question? :D

Having the flexibility to use this tech is more important IMO than actually always using it. Only certain genres need / require this technique on every single track. For someone doing harder rock mostly like myself, it's rare I use/need it.

C6 also allows side-chaining, which is where/how I choose to use it. It's a multiband compressor, so effectively the same ability as an EQ only plugin. The C6 is also a great quick-n-dirty compressor for drums and vocals. It's my go-to.
 
Being relatively new to all but the most basic recording stuff, could someone please explain what "ducking the bass" and "ducking the guitar" mean?

Thanks!
 
Being relatively new to all but the most basic recording stuff, could someone please explain what "ducking the bass" and "ducking the guitar" mean?

Thanks!
Well, google will probably give you more answers, but it essentially means lowering the level of a track dynamically to allow something else to be heard.

You can do this with automation, but it's often done with a compressor that is side-chained to another track. That just means that instead of the compressor responding to the level of the track it's compressing, it's responding to the level of another track. So, e.g., I might add another compressor on a guitar track and side chain it to the vocal, then fiddle with the threshold, attack and ratios so that if the player gets too excited in a part that builds up vocally and pounds a bit too much on the guitar, that compressor will compress the guitar a little bit, i.e., ducking it, just when it's probably going to overrun the vocal, but leave it alone the rest of the time.

P.S. You don't have to use a multi-pressor for this, but you can use a frequency filter on the compressor itself if it has one, or use other techniques to only compress based on certain frequencies in another track, instead of the entire amplitude. This might need to be done if you just have a stereo mix of drums (not separate tracks for every the main parts), but only want to duck the bass against the kick drum.
 
Ducking the bass (for kick presence) and guitars (for vocal presence) are good examples. They're two examples, which makes it multiple use. So I guess you answered your own question? :D

I was asking more about using multiple sidechains in one instance of the plugin.. to take advantage of the F6's, "every band can be individually sidechained" feature. Your scenerio would need multiple F6 iinstances.

As far as ducking goes, I guess I already knew.. I even explained some examples in my original post!

Thanks.
 
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