Multiband Compression Adds High Pitched Ring to Kick Drum

M

murfin

New member
I'm mastering a song that opens with just drums using Cubase 5. For all other songs on the album, I've used a multiband compressor with the same settings for each song with great results. When I add it to this song, it makes a high pitched ring (roughly 831hz) in the kick drum. I tried pulling out that frequency and there was no effect. Strangely, manipulating 42hz changes the ring, but only when the multiband compressor is on. Boosting it makes it ring like crazy. Reducing 42hz reduces the ring slightly, but also takes out a lot of umph from the kick. Attached are samples of the kick, with no multiband compression, with and without 42hz boosted and the kick, with multiband compression, with and without 42hz boosted. There is also a screen shot of my compressor setting. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Murf

multiband settings.jpgView attachment Fat Box - Kick w Multi Comp 42hz boost - Output - Stereo Out.mp3View attachment Fat Box - Kick w Multi Comp - Output - Stereo Out.mp3View attachment Fat Box - Kick no Multi Comp 42hz boost - Output - Stereo Out.mp3View attachment Fat Box - Kick no Multi Comp - Output - Stereo Out.mp3
 
They don't call it maul-the-band compression for nothing...

I can only suggest what I typically do ---- If a mix is screwed up enough to need multi-band compression to fix it, see if you can contact the mix engineer to fix the problem. If that's not possible, I'd think that the nasty artifacts and side-effects of MBC are the price paid.

That said -- if it's only nasty during that part, why not just bypass it for that part?
 
I see that your threshold is set much lower for Frequency Band 1 (-34.5dB) compared to Band 2 (-16.8dB). This will indeed carve away low peaks (< 100 Hz) on the kick drum and perhaps some of the lower-mid, leaving only that ugly mid-range overtone to cut through, whatever happens to ring longer than the release time.

I am not sure I understand your logic on these compression settings, but if it makes your final mix sound better, then knock yourself out.

Did you come up with all of these settings yourself or is this a pre-set of some sort?
 
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Delete the multiband from the insert. Add it to a different insert and see if it happens again. I don't think it has anything to do with the song or the audio, I think it's a glitch.

Is there any way to bypass or solo the individual bands? If so, solo each one individually to see which band (or combination) is making the noise. If you only hear it on the low band, something is wrong with the MBC.
 
Massive Master said:
They don't call it maul-the-band compression for nothing...

I can only suggest what I typically do ---- If a mix is screwed up enough to need multi-band compression to fix it, see if you can contact the mix engineer to fix the problem. If that's not possible, I'd think that the nasty artifacts and side-effects of MBC are the price paid.

That said -- if it's only nasty during that part, why not just bypass it for that part?
Click to expand...

I am glad to hear you say that, because multi-band compression almost never works for me. lol
 
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Good info Massive Master, I've always avoided MBC because it just sounded like crap to me. Good to know my instincts were correct.
 
Any compressor can cause ringing if you overuse it. Apparently MBC offers more opportunities for things to go awry. Couldn't you accomplish about the same goal with a side chain EQ in a regular compressor?
 
He is using less than 2 to 1 compression. He really isn't compressing that much. Certainly not enough to whistle.
 
The high second band threshold combined with too low a threshold on the rest of the bands is my guess as to the main source of the problem. Even at a ratio of 1.3, I am getting over 6dB of gain reduction in the lowest band using a threshold of -34. I would start at a threshold of whatever gives you a couple dB of gain reduction on the lowest band, and use that setting across all of the bands using the same ratio, attack and release times. If you are doing this in the mix, you can set the ratios a bit higher than 1.3, but do it across all of the bands and then lower the ratio until the gain reduction is acceptable. You could also just use a single band compressor with a side chain EQ as someone else suggested since it will basically do what I'm suggesting here (try ReaComp - it has a build in HPLP filter). MBC, as you now know, has the potential to completely mash up the sound of a track.

The only thing I use MBC for is to double as a flexible single band compressor (by flexible, I mean making 1/4dB volume adjustments to a band while compressing it by a dB or less), and to tame sharp elements poking out of a mix. I find MBC can really help the bottom end in ways I don't fully understand. I fiddling with the attack and release times until I hear the kick's attack poking through and then I stop. It seems to give the kick more punch while making the bass more sustained.
 
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