Holy crap!!!!! side chain compression

R

rockironwebb

senior newbie caveman
I am a caveman and seem to have major breakthroughs while using ableton a couple times a week. Today's new tool that I had briefly read about but never used, sticking a compressor on a return track to beef up levels without peaking. Before I was constantly battling a compressor on individual tracks trying to get some umph!!! without clipping. I am treating this new software music like an instrument, practice, practice, practice. Just like when I was learning to play the drums, there are bad days, good days, and great days.
Anyone have any other tricks that may blow my small caveman mind?
 
rockironwebb said:
Before I was constantly battling a compressor on individual tracks trying to get some umph!!! without clipping.
Click to expand...

Parallel compression is cool, but if you're using it to avoid clipping you have gain structure issues. It sounds like you're starting your mix with too little headroom. There's no reason you need to be anywhere near clipping anything just to get "umph!!!" You can get a beefy sound and still have 6-12dB of headroom above your peaks.
 
What Boulder said...But beyond that, what does volume have to do with "Umph!"? They have nothing to do with each other. Making things louder doesn't change the sound, other than making something...louder....It's an illusion. if you took 2 identical mixes (or tracks, etc...) and played one louder than the other, it's natural to think the louder one sounds better, but it doesn't.

You shouldn't be going anywhere remotely near clipping when you mix, and using a compressor simply for volume on individual tracks is completely not necessary. Keep your mixes peaking WAY below clipping (without using compressors on individual tracks). Turn them down a good 10db if you're clipping now. If you want volume on the final product, mixing isn't the stage you should be doing that at.
 
Thanx for the intel,

Like I said I am a caveman. I have much to learn. This is why I tried the side chain compression. I was playing around in ableton and had put together a couple of synth sounds that I liked, just loaded them and did not adjust any volume, the synths were peaking at about half of whatever the unaltered track meter was at. Ok, now I wanted to add a beat, I usually add just a basic kick/snare beat while I am am experimenting, I add the kick and snare, stock from the ableton library, and along with the synth stuff, snare/kick very soft and without much attack and peaking at %80 of the meter (sorry I did not look at the meter since my last post to see what db or what ever it represents.) So what do I do? turn the synths down to near nothing? I have delt with this many times. If I then want to add reverb to the snare, it disappears.
When I read about the sidechain compression and tried it, I felt and heard the change in clarity in my bass/snare tracks, it was clear, like I wanted, and I felt like I had some control.
Please advise.
 
Yes, If you add track after track and find you're creeping up to maxing the master, then just go back and turn everything down.


Taking what you said about reverb making the snare disappear, there's a lot you can do to change the sound of a reverb.
The type, plate, room, hall. Play with them to hear the difference.


Try playing with the panning of the verb too. Wider = less focussed. Mono = much more focussed.

You can adjust the frequencies that a reverb affects. Depending on your snare sound, maybe you want to focus on the higher frequency snap?
Verbing the low end can really make something get lost in a mix.

Reverberation lengths play a big part too. 4 seconds of verb after a snare can sure make it get lost, but a short, tight room sound can give balls to a snare.

Knocking off the early reflections can leave the original sound clean and clear, and if you have a tailored high end verb to follow, this can make a snare more prominent, if anything.

Anyways, some stuff to think about. :)
 
rockironwebb said:
So what do I do? turn the synths down to near nothing? I have delt with this many times. If I then want to add reverb to the snare, it disappears.
Click to expand...

That's the problem using subjective terms ("near nothing") to describe things that have precise objective meanings. What is to you "near nothing" may actually be correct. If we had numbers (-xxdBFS) to go by we could pin the problem down and move on to solving it. In the meantime I will take a guess that "near nothing" is probably just right and you jut need to turn up your monitors.
 
I am a caveman, I am very glad that I started this thread. Sorry for the vague terminology when describing my issues. I believe the meters are representing db values in ableton, the issue I had was if I have just a kick sound from live's library, it sounds nice and clear and has punch, out of several favorites that I have, they, without tweaking anything, range from -2 to -9 on the meter. When I get to blending instruments and having multiple sounds, the kick gets buried. being a caveman I start fucking with all of the dials and knobs not really being too clear on what I am technically doing. Lesson learned. I just opened up the project that I used the side chain compression on, turned off all extras and effects, and turned everything down, turned my monitors up, and started bringing levels up attempting to have everything jive together, and still have headroom, worked pretty well. Being a caveman, I am quite stubborn. I do love making music. I get excited when I am doing this, and being a newb, I tend to try and force things to happen, then figure out the proper way later. I absolutely hate feeling like I am on a creative roll and then get bogged down by the technical shit. I appreciate any help. I am learning everyday.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top