Side chain

[FreeToMIX]

can some one fully explain a side chain for me i have a 737 and their is a button and i don't know how to use it or what its foe i just know i pressed it and the vocals sounded shitty but I'm sure thats not what it does so plz someone shed some light. im new to good gear i had fl and rsn like 2 weeks ago and now i have a motif and an avalon crazy how it works out like that

PS
mic is a neuman u87a

[Empire Prod]

The side chain input is an insert into the detection part of the compression circuit. You can feed whatever signal you wish into that input and the compressor will react to that S/C input audio rather than the audio it is actually compressing. It's great for HP compression or Ducking etc.

[FreeToMIX]

quite a concept but i cant think of why it would be need and i dont know what hp or ducking is and compress is making something loud quite or quiet loud really confusing when u hear people talk about it

[Empire Prod]

Originally Posted by FreeToMIX

quite a concept but i cant think of why it would be need and i dont know what hp or ducking is and compress is making something loud quite or quiet loud really confusing when u hear people talk about it

Lets say you want to compress something but you don't want to lose all the bottom end for instance, you could cut the lows on the signal that go's into the side chain input and then the compressor wouldn't compress the hell out of the lows.

[RawDepth]

Ducking is when you want one sound (recorded track) to trigger the compressor that is on another track. Her is an example...

Let’s say you are mixing audio for a football game on TV. In your mixer, you may have the audio from the crowd cheering. On another track, the announcer’s voice. The producer tells you he wants the cheering to always be loud because it helps to excite the Television audience. But when the announcer talks, you can hardly hear him. You don't want to sit there and turn the “crowd” track up and down all day so, enter the ducking technique. You want the compressor to turn down the crowd track when the announcer talks, and then back up when not talking. So the compressor must be "triggered" by the announcer track.

You run the crowd track through the compressor as normal so it can get compressed (turned down) when needed. You run the signal from the announcer’s voice into the sidechain input. You then set the sensitivity so that when the announcer is not talking, the compressor will do nothing. When the announcer is talking, the compressor will be triggered and turn down the crowd noise. If you set the attack and release times short enough, then not many people will even notice that it is occurring.

In studios we use this trick with kick drum and bass. Or perhaps with vocals and a loud instrument.

[badfenderaxe]

I just had an opportunity to use my sidechain on my Tube Tech. There was a song where the vocals and guitars were competing. I sent the vocal track to the sidechain and let it trigger the compression for the guitar tracks. The guitars then sound like crap if you listen to them alone but with the vocals it sounds great!

Brad

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by FreeToMIX

quite a concept but i cant think of why it would be need and i dont know what hp or ducking is and compress is making something loud quite or quiet loud really confusing when u hear people talk about it

maybe doing a search on "side chain" or "side chaining" will help to enlighten you....

HP stands for "high pass".

Sounds like you could do with a trip to the local bookstore or library for a general introduction to recording-type book, which will explain all of these sort of terms, and hopefully help to ease some of the confusion :)

[FreeToMIX]

omg you guys are like seriously briliant i love this site i will be a pro in few yrs time. thank you lots

[RawDepth]

Originally Posted by FreeToMIX

omg you guys are like seriously briliant i love this site i will be a pro in few yrs time. thank you lots

Not so fast there, Grasshopper. You still have a long way to go before you can call yourself "Pro".

[FreeToMIX]

well enough to make my budies envy me and when i say pro i mean for what im working with ill be pro on my equipment

motif es8 avalon 737 neumann u87a tascam122l and Q-base st 4 /murury plug ins. all except api and ssl soon to be had though im workin over time 4 someone who just turned 20

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by FreeToMIX

well enough to make my budies envy me and when i say pro i mean for what im working with ill be pro on my equipment

motif es8 avalon 737 neumann u87a tascam122l and Q-base st 4 /murury plug ins. all except api and ssl soon to be had though im workin over time 4 someone who just turned 20

Sounds like you've got enough to be getting on with...here's a hint, learn how to properly use all you've got BEFORE buying more gear.

If you don't know what high pass filtering and side chaining is, why are you thinking of buying the API and SSL bundles?!

If you just want to make your mates envy you, I'd chuck the audio gear and buy a fast car...plus there's very few girls who get excited over the Waves SSL bundle ;)

The gear doesn't make the pro btw.

[FreeToMIX]

lol id sell my car for more gear ive already got bad bitches lol

im going all the way or i would have stayed home. ill open my own studio in a few years. im a song writer of beats (producer if your one of those miss using the term) and i like them to sound right so people will keep buying and see my improvements.

[Faderjockey]

I have a tough time following your post.....

[FreeToMIX]

sorry i am a scatter brain when it comes to thinking i shuld have used quotes

[pootkao]

The internet has caused an entire generation to be completely unable to spell properly or express themselves in any sort of cohesive manner.

Wow.

[Stitch333]

Originally Posted by pootkao

The internet has caused an entire generation to be completely unable to spell properly or express themselves in any sort of cohesive manner.

Or the motivation to go intern at a real studio to learn this shit for oneself.