Tutorial: Side-Chain Compression
November 6, 2007 – 10:16 am by Jonathan Grand
Heard often in radio broadcast, but also useful for music (i.e. tracking), the side chain compression technique, simple in concept but complex to implement correctly, is widely used and widely known. Video tutorial by db audioware, but you don’t have to buy their plugin - it has some good tips for generic use. Click here to check it out.
5 Responses to “Tutorial: Side-Chain Compression”
Funny way of implementing it. Why not just used the DAW bus system for sending audio around ?
Why not just “left/right” bussing the way most waves plugins work or have the plugin it self be able to receive input from a bus?
Whats the point of having two instances of the plugin ? … confused
By Bo on Nov 7, 2007
You got me confused too, but sounds like you’re talking about parallel compression…? Tutorial link coming up :)
By Jonathan Grand on Nov 7, 2007
Sorry for being confusing :)
In the video they show how to put a compressor on an audio track and using the compressor to “bus” the audio to A
Then on the other track they use a compressor to receive input from “bus” A (comes from the other compressor) and use it to trigger the compressor.
So my question is: why ?? would i want to use to compressors, when one of them is only being used to route audio to compressor 2.
In PT i would Smack :) my compressor on the track i want to duck and then bus some audio to it. One plugin, not two.
By Bo on Nov 7, 2007
Oh, you can just route audio to the compressor? It shows up in the I/Os after you activate it? Hmm :) Cool. Well that doesn’t need a tutorial. Then this is a tutorial only for the “complicated” method apparently. Maybe that’s how their plugins works…
By Jonathan Grand on Nov 7, 2007
****** Funny way of implementing it. Why not just used the DAW bus system for sending audio around? ******
There is life outside PT ;)
Many DAWs do not have native sidechain routing. Our technique works in any DAW.
****** Why not just “left/right” bussing the way most waves plugins work or have the plugin it self be able to receive input from a bus? ******
Left/right sidechain bussing is a limited approach - you can only sidechain in mono, and it’s not as flexible or fast as a proper sidechain bus.
Incidentally, with our system the “send” plugin is not actually compressing - it simply routes audio to the second plugin.
Hope that explains things :)
Dave Brown
db audioware
By Dave Brown on Feb 2, 2008