Sidechain compression... what is this??

L

LazerPhEa

New member
Hello,
I got the C1 Waves compression Bundle, but I can't understand how to use the "sidechain option"...the manual isn't really clear about it.
I understood tha it is used with 2 audio tracks, and one of these "drives" the compression amount of the other...is this right?
Nevertheless I don't know how to use it... help! :D
 
Let's say you want the kick drum to trigger the compressor on the bass guitar.

Put a compressor on an insert of the bass guitar track. Send the kick drum on a bus - let's say "bus 1". Set up "bus 1" as the input for the side chain of the compressor. There's probably some button to press on the compressor that turns the side chain feature on. Except for tweaking, that's all there is to it.

You won't hear the kick drum on bus 1, it will just trigger the compressor that's on the bass part. Make sure that bus 1 isn't feeding any other tracks like an aux with reverb.
 
Ehm...I think I'm doing something wrong: I use Sonar, not Cubase, and I can't find all the stuff about buses. In the mixer I can see only 2 Aux channels (however there's a feature to add more of them). :(
So how can I make things work? :?
 
Sorry, I don't know Sonar - but this is what you gotta do. For this purpose anyway, I think you can think of "aux channel" as a "bus".

Let's say you're putting compressor on bass and using kick drum as a trigger.

There should be a "send" or "aux send" on the kick track. If they're numbered, choose "bus 1" or "aux 1" as your aux send.

Put the compressor on an insert on your bass track.

For the sidechain input on the compressor, select "aux 1" or "bus 1", or whatever it was that you selected as your aux send from the kick track.

It's like running a cable from the aux out of your kick track into the sidechain input of your compressor.
 
One of the most effective ways I've used a compressor side chain is to turn a compressor into a de-esser. Insert the compressor across the vocal channel. Take a pre insert vocal split and eq it to emphasise the 'esses' (4k is a good starting point). Then feed this eq'd split into the side chain. Tweak the eq and compressor settings until the compresser kicks in on the 'esses'. This can take a bit of setting up but it works well and is quite often more effective than some of the cheaper de-essers on the market.
 
Spitting Llama said:
One of the most effective ways I've used a compressor side chain is to turn a compressor into a de-esser. Insert the compressor across the vocal channel. Take a pre insert vocal split and eq it to emphasise the 'esses' (4k is a good starting point). Then feed this eq'd split into the side chain. Tweak the eq and compressor settings until the compresser kicks in on the 'esses'. This can take a bit of setting up but it works well and is quite often more effective than some of the cheaper de-essers on the market.
Click to expand...
Which plugin do you use for sidechain compression?
 
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