Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Plug in for parallel compression in Cubase

Kiwiburger · 5th July 2006

I would call it Ducking the bass with a kick, but as it requires a compressor with a sidechain input, it's also called sidechaining.

I think we've aleady answered your question. You can either get a VST compressor that offers some form of eternal sidechaining (like Crunchessor) or use my stereo-link trick. That allows you a wider choice of compressors - maybe you have one you like the sound of.

(I've found a lot of VST compressors talk about a side chain, but they only mean that you can eq the sidechain. They don't let you choose another audio stream to be the side chain. Can be useful, but not what you are looking for)

With my stereo-linked trick - it's useful to remember that you have practically unlimited headroom in a DAW. Let's say you have the Bass panned Left, and the Kick panned Right. You can crank the kick to be way over 0dBFS if required with no problems. That allows you to adjust the compressor threshold so it only responds to the kick, and not the bass. You aren't going to hear the kick - you are only using it as the virtual sidechain. It's the stereo-link that forces the compressor to duck the bass.

Parallel compression is a way of getting some of benefits of compression, without killing all your transients. Usually you use a really smashed setting on your compressor, and mix this in with the original track. But it can be a problem with DAWs, especially if you don't have full plugin delay compensation.

5th July 2006	#8
Kiwiburger Lives for gear Joined: Feb 2006 Posts: 4,075	I would call it Ducking the bass with a kick, but as it requires a compressor with a sidechain input, it's also called sidechaining. I think we've aleady answered your question. You can either get a VST compressor that offers some form of eternal sidechaining (like Crunchessor) or use my stereo-link trick. That allows you a wider choice of compressors - maybe you have one you like the sound of. (I've found a lot of VST compressors talk about a side chain, but they only mean that you can eq the sidechain. They don't let you choose another audio stream to be the side chain. Can be useful, but not what you are looking for) With my stereo-linked trick - it's useful to remember that you have practically unlimited headroom in a DAW. Let's say you have the Bass panned Left, and the Kick panned Right. You can crank the kick to be way over 0dBFS if required with no problems. That allows you to adjust the compressor threshold so it only responds to the kick, and not the bass. You aren't going to hear the kick - you are only using it as the virtual sidechain. It's the stereo-link that forces the compressor to duck the bass. Parallel compression is a way of getting some of benefits of compression, without killing all your transients. Usually you use a really smashed setting on your compressor, and mix this in with the original track. But it can be a problem with DAWs, especially if you don't have full plugin delay compensation.