KVR Audio

present · Post by **present** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 10:16 pm

Trying to do the trick of ducking mid-range frequencies in a guitar track when a vocal kicks in - Tried ducking it with a SINGLE-CHANNEL side-chain compressor but just sounded rough cos it cuts the WHOLE signal, what I need really is for it to duck JUST a particular frequency range, say around 3-5khz, but I can't find anything that'll do it, does anyone know of one?

Tried Kjaerhus Golden Channel GAC plug but the side-chain wouldn't work in Logic 5.5 - which is unfortunately where this mix started!

Cheers!

Juanjo · Post by **Juanjo** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 10:23 pm

Not a MB SC comp by any means but for the particular problem you describe, Elevayta Space Boy might do the trick...

uvacom · Post by **uvacom** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 10:40 pm

It would be possible to do this by splitting your guitar track into two sub-tracks, one EQ'd for mid-only, and the other EQ'd for high/low only (probably want to use some linear phase EQ for this), and then sidechain compress the mid-only track. You might still run into phase issues, though.

Debutante · Post by **Debutante** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 11:09 pm

Might THIS be of some help?

http://www.platinumears.com/

If so you can still download it here

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... ht=iq4+gui

beej · Post by **beej** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 11:18 pm

The Waves C1-sc plugin can do this - put it in split mode, pick your centre frequency, and when it exceeds you threshold that frequency will be compressed by your ratio setting.

If you don't have anything that can do frequency band compression, such as the C1 or most multiband comps, you could always automate an eq band - just go through the song, put the EQ gain on a fader and pull it down when the vocal comes in, and back up when it stops. Low tech, but it may do the job for you...

Barbarossa · Post by **Barbarossa** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:02 pm

For frequency selective sidechaining, you need a multiband-tool, i.e. Waves Lin-MB, that can split the frequency bands. Preferrably a linear phase filter, so that no phase errors occur.
This tool is only used to split the signal into the different bands (in our case: 1 LinMB instance with a soloed band from 200-2000Hz for the voice-range, while the other bands are muted, and a second instance of LinMB in another bus, that has the other bands soloed, so that the sum of both buses gives the original signal) and set it up that way, that the compressor of LinMB doesn't affect the signal.

After the LinMB with the appropriate frequency band you want to duck, you put a sidechain-compressor. In Logic5 you can use Logic's internal.

Oh, and don't forget to set the source track to no-output. This track is heard through the two send busses only.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:06 pm

ORION can do it without any outside assistance, thank-you very much. All you need to do is place 3 compressors into a BandFX container, or in your case one into the centre slot, and Bob's yer uncle. Seriously, I don't know how you guys ever get anything done in those sad excuses for hosts you keep using.

Notron User · Post by **Notron User** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:15 pm

Can the sidechaining work in logic by sending the vocal channel to a bus and then using the bus to sidechain into the GAC-1?

present · Post by **present** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:14 pm

Hey, thanks so much for your ideas everyone, I've been on this all day, I hate this shitty old Logic (been with SX since Apple did their thing), only using it cos project started in Logic in a Mac studio.

OKAY, anyhow, it seems from my research that most VST's (including Waves) that do side-chaining use a work around that ultimately means you can only do it in MONO... More info HERE:
http://community.sonikmatter.com/forums ... ntry195275

SO... I think uvacom/Barbarossa's suggestion (that I tried once with limited success) will probably be the best solution... Reckon LinMB must be the way to go, I was using Q2 and it sounded like a load of crap!!

GOD I HATE Logic 5.5!!... Been having VST's dissapear on me all day..

Phew!! (sorry, in a rush, gotta go flyering for my gig Saturday

Lagrange · Post by **Lagrange** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:02 pm

I really depends on the HOST you are using.. If you are using something like Audiomulch (modular host) there are some free/$ sc mb compressors that allow you to route the sidechain audio into a separate input..

http://www.kvraudio.com/news/4000.html
http://www.redshiftmedia.com/vsts/

The only other standard way of doing this is if your HOST has pre-fader effects and the ablity to bus the audio (ie. cubase).. There are tricks for HOSTS that dont have pre-fader fx (ie FLstudio) but you really have to dig for this!

present · Post by **present** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:52 pm

Logic has all that but like I said it only works in mono... thanks for tip, will have to check out modular hosts at some point.

Multi-band Side-Chain Compressor