Frequency-dependent sidechain compression?

VST, AU, AAX, CLAP, etc. Plugin Virtual Effects Discussion
Post Reply New Topic
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

How do you use a sidechain compressor to duck only the frequencies occupied by the sidechain signal? Or is that how standard sidechaining works? My understanding of external sc compression is that the signal being compressed is attenuated across its entire spectrum (single band compression). For example, let's say you have a synth pad playing some chord progression that you want to duck when, say, a vocal part comes in. But instead of compressing the entire frequency range by the same amount, you want to apply compression based on the frequencies of the vocal part at any given time. If someone is singing middle C you would want to compress mostly at that frequency (~261 Hz) and its harmonics. How is this achieved?

Thanks!

edit: maybe this question is better suited for the "Production Techniques" forum... :dog: :oops:

Post

Well you could use SpaceBoy.. It's not compression but will duck the way you are trying to..
Image

Post

There's a free one called IQ4 that might do the trick...

http://www.platinumears.com/

Post

Nice link! Cool tanks!

Post

TWO great suggestions, thank you! These are exactly what I had in mind. I guess a better way to describe this would be dynamic eq rather than compression.

Post

You might want to look at Bluecat Audio's freqanalyst pro also. Pretty awesome, though not free. Cheers

Post

Another way of doing it is combining the FreqAnalyst Pro plugin as suggested by frog_jr and what is explained in this side chain dynamic eq tutorial.

If what you need is frequency based ducking (and not exactly compression with all the associated options), you can replace the Blue Cat's Dynamics compressor by the Digital Peak Meter Pro plugin for the amplitude detection part.

Note that from what I understood, it seems you are just looking for a reverted vocoder!

Post

...Focusrite will add this to LM in 2.0, as far as I understand...

Post

Interesting! Anyone know of any similar tools for us mac guys?

Post

BTW that platnum ears IQ4 did not have a download link on the page.. I found it HERE..

L
Image

Post

Lagrange wrote:BTW that platnum ears IQ4 did not have a download link on the page.. I found it HERE..

L
thanks i was searching like a mad on the page :lol: :wink:
Image
Organising a protest march this Friday Schlesische Strasse 28 ,10997 Berlin, Germany

Post

ok, I've been playing around with some of the suggestions above but I still don't understand how to get the desired effect. Can someone please explain how to set up a simple sidechain between two signals? Is it different depending on the host being used?
Last edited by floydianite on Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

Post

Well a good place to establish how to setup the sidechain is to know your Host handles effects etc..

L
Image

Post

Lagrange wrote:Well a good place to establish how to setup the sidechain is to know your Host handles effects etc..
Right now, I'm mainly using Audition 2 which I'm not even sure allows for sidechaining between two tracks like Cubase does. But I'm really just looking for a general explanation of how sc'ing is done regardless of the host, assuming it supports it.

After reading this thread, it seems like there's two different ways of doing this. You can use two instances of a plugin, one being the sc or you somehow insert both tracks into a bus..?? But it all depends on the plugin being used? It seems like it should be so simple but I'm really confused on this! :cry:

Btw, I'm not necesarily talking about frequency-dependent sc'ing anymore. I see now there are special plugins for that like the IQ4, space boy, etc. This is really just a question about sidechaining in general. For example, sc compressing with the sv-315 (i'm using the demo now)

Thanks

Post

There are indeed many ways to perform side chain control. Note that "side chaining" is a very general term which usually means using an audio signal to control/modify another one.

The most common methods are the following:
- use a multiple I/O plugin with both signals as input. You usually need to create an auxiliary bus in your host in order to send both signals to the plugin.
- use a plugin which operates with its own internal channel, with a source and a destination instance.
- use MIDI CC or automation (that's what we propose with most of our plugins, as shown in these tutorials for various hosts). It's the most flexible method for custom side chain effects.

The method you will choose depends on your host (can't remember if audition allows multiple channels busses), the plugin and the type of effect you want to achieve.

As far as compression is concerned, maybe you will find an answer in the (long) all about compressors thread.

Post Reply

Return to “Effects”