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Old 04-20-2017, 09:50 PM   #1
semikid
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Default Sidechaining (Not using Reacomp) All tracks

Say I wanted a kick to sidechain with all other tracks I have. Whats a practical way of doing this? I just put every other track into a folder and routed the kick to the parent folder track. Any others?
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Old 04-21-2017, 12:58 AM   #2
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Kicks usually smear the compressor. Try something with less low frequency content. Like a hat.

In terms of the process yeah that sounds like the easiest and most practical way to go about it.
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Old 04-21-2017, 01:09 AM   #3
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Kicks usually smear the compressor. Try something with less low frequency content. Like a hat.
This makes no sense.
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Old 04-21-2017, 05:21 AM   #4
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This makes no sense.
The length and frequency content of your trigger has a pretty dramatic effect on the outcome of your sidechain buss.

Take both a kick and a sharp hat and compare. IMHO hats make a much more controllable compressor.

It really all depends on your desired effect though.
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Old 04-21-2017, 05:30 AM   #5
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Quote:
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The length and frequency content of your trigger has a pretty dramatic effect on the outcome of your sidechain buss.
yes, that's why i posted my comment. it makes no sense to use a "substitution" that is completely opposite. i would just use side chain filters, but whatever works i guess.
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Old 04-21-2017, 06:17 AM   #6
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Its Like i said, to have more control. Its so your kicks wave form isn't determining the outcome of the compressor (unless thats what you want of course). But Then you can use the compressors attack and release controls to shape further in more detail. And Using reacomps sidechain filters does not effect the length of the wave form so much. I simply cant get i want by using the kick routed to the master as a trigger. The music im working on is sidechain heavy. Having 12db of gr is not rare in my case. If side chaining is going to be a prominent and obvious feature in my tracks, i need it to shine with perfectness
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Old 04-21-2017, 07:41 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by OPI View Post
Its Like i said, to have more control. Its so your kicks wave form isn't determining the outcome of the compressor (unless thats what you want of course). But Then you can use the compressors attack and release controls to shape further in more detail. And Using reacomps sidechain filters does not effect the length of the wave form so much. I simply cant get i want by using the kick routed to the master as a trigger. The music im working on is sidechain heavy. Having 12db of gr is not rare in my case. If side chaining is going to be a prominent and obvious feature in my tracks, i need it to shine with perfectness
But as far as I know, sidechaining with a kick drum track is used in order to tame concurrent kick and bass guitar transients, so the hi-hat track can't be a substitute for this. I don't really know about sidechaining the entire mix, though. Maybe he's looking for a different effect.
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Old 04-21-2017, 08:27 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by TLreaper View Post
But as far as I know, sidechaining with a kick drum track is used in order to tame concurrent kick and bass guitar transients, so the hi-hat track can't be a substitute for this. I don't really know about sidechaining the entire mix, though. Maybe he's looking for a different effect.
Maybe it's a specially created track for triggering the sidechain rather than the hat in the mix.
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Old 04-21-2017, 08:53 AM   #9
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A lot can be done by pre-filtering the 3/4 channel on the target track, and by using the filters, RMS, and pre-comp of ReaComp to change the kick drum response.
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Old 04-21-2017, 08:54 AM   #10
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I agree with OPI. Sidechain trigger doesn't need to be a sound that is heard or something already used in the mix.

For details see my Ghost Sidechain video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmq_qGVI4WA

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Old 04-21-2017, 08:58 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iqi616 View Post
Maybe it's a specially created track for triggering the sidechain rather than the hat in the mix.
Ding ding!Sorry if I didn't come across clear
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Old 04-21-2017, 09:00 AM   #12
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I agree with OPI. Sidechain trigger doesn't need to be a sound that is heard or something already used in the mix.

For details see my Ghost Sidechain video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmq_qGVI4WA

Haha muxh better than my explanation. Also messing with the pre setting on the compressor can help a bit. I like mine around 10..
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Old 04-23-2017, 12:30 PM   #13
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Thanks guys! <3 The ghost side chain video. I'm not hip with a lot of electronic music production. But don't they normally side chain compress the kick and snare, in say something like house music? Don't they do it for every track? Or just a few tracks in particular? Thank you for the help.
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Old 04-23-2017, 12:54 PM   #14
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Sometimes. Sometimes not.

It depends on what you like. For my drum and bass tracks I use ghost notes for the snare also because the snare was being masked from all the high frequency content in the leads and chords.

I'm my house-trained tracks I'm just usimg ghost notes for the kick. Slow tempo,and nothing to really get in the way of the snare/clap anyway.

Sometimes I'll sc almost everything because I like the effect. But often times having everything ducked at the same volume can sound very pumpy and ear fatiguing. It's most common to duck all low frequency content.. low chords, bass,low leads etc.

If you want a fairly transparent sc effect, you can set your precomp to about 8-10, short release.. maybe 15- 20, and an attack of 0-.4. Lower attack values can cause audible clicks so be careful.
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Old 04-23-2017, 01:05 PM   #15
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Quote:
If you want a fairly transparent sc effect,.
...try volume automations--you can set any time duration for attack,sustain and releases-any shape as well.
Either automate the automations,or much more precise by hand/pencil.
Gains can be controlled better also,some plugs don't give full range for 24bit db's.
Some plugs are working with about 96db,clip/item volumes can be more,or less.
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Old 04-23-2017, 02:27 PM   #16
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i don't know if there's a Reaper plug-in that does this already, but i hacked together a "ghost kick" generator JSFX. it's pretty simple and not yet "perfected", but it works.
it's basically a saw half-wave LFO. it has a linear (adjustable) decay and can sync to the project tempo. the only problem is that it does lose sync when you change the sliders, but restarting the transport puts it back in sync. (i'll figure it out and fix it eventually). there's also a manual mode for setting the BPM.
anyway, i attached the JSFX file here if anyone wants to give it a try.

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Last edited by bezusheist; 07-02-2017 at 06:04 AM.
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Old 04-23-2017, 04:16 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bezusheist View Post
i don't know if there's a Reaper plug-in that does this already, but i hacked together a "ghost kick" generator JSFX. it's pretty simple and not yet "perfected", but it works.
it's basically a saw half-wave LFO. it has a linear (adjustable) decay and can sync to the project tempo. the only problem is that it does lose sync when you change the sliders, but restarting the transport puts it back in sync. (i'll figure it out and fix it eventually). there's also a manual mode for setting the BPM.
anyway, i attached the JSFX file here if anyone wants to give it a try.

Nice! Does the manual mode fix the drifting bpm?

Although this is simple enough to do on your own without so much effort.

Saw wave, immediate attack, super short decay, no release, disable master parent send. Now just drag the I/o from the saw wave to a track with reacomp (auxiliary l+r chosen in detector input). Now just Drag whatever tracks you want sc'd into > the reacomp track. Make some midi notes and Bam!

Nice thing is you can save this as a template. Only have to set it up once and works Everytime.
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Old 04-23-2017, 05:02 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OPI View Post
Nice! Does the manual mode fix the drifting bpm?
no, i haven't figured it out yet. but re-starting the transport fixes it whether its manual or auto (sync).
what's convenient about this is that you can put it on the same track as the audio and compressor, without the need for an extra track/send.
here's another tool that may be useful to some, it's a simple envelope follower with adjustable peak hold and decay time. this could be good for fine tuning the envelope for the side chain. it also has an optional LPF to "smooth" out the attack a little bit.

edit: also added an "envelope generator" / side chain trigger with adjustable/different envelope (LFO) shapes for pumping/ducking/etc. (just don't let PETA find out you are pumping ducks...)
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