Sidechaining bass and kick...

[evan]

I don't achieve a good sounding bass when sidechaining with the kick. I wonder if someone could share with me a sidechaing set up or some tips;

* Which attack and release times do you set for the bass? Whenever I sidechain with software I find it quite difficult to find a compressor which can deal with fast attacks and basses.

* How much gain reduction do you need in the bass so the kick opens the bass line with no muddiness?.

* Any equalization advise? When sidechaining sometimes I find the whole bass line a bit muddy. I cut at 240hz-340hz and boost at 800hz but sometimes I just can't find the point at all.

[Mike Caffrey]

What do you mean by sidechaining?

I met someone recently who meant parallel compression when they said sidechaining.

[Switchcraft]

I was just working on a track with this last night. I usually sidechain the bass with a fast attack so that the kik cuts thru with a slow release so the bass eases back into the kik as it fades, not too easy tho or it can sound unatural. Cant really disscuss EQ cause I think that is all source dependent. Is it a sub bass line, is it hip hop, is it rock. Are we talking acoustic instruments or sequenced?

[kylepdownes]

i use fast attack, fast release, no more than 2 db gain reduction, sometimes
barely that.
the kick just needs to be able to poke through for a second.

[Lagerfeldt]

Autogain off

Fast attack (usually within 1 ms)

Release that fits the material (usually relatively short)

Peak detection, not RMS!

Hard knee

2-3dB of GR tops

Remember you still have to do ordinary compression of both kick and bass before doing the sidechain compression on the bass.

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

Remember you still have to do ordinary compression of both kick and bass before doing the sidechain compression on the bass.

Why?

[ziegenh5]

Don't know software compressors to use for sidechaining, but I've used a DBX 160xt for this and it was pretty cool. The SSL rocks for this but it is usually on the buss. I wonder what comps people have used successfully for this purpose. I wish I could do it with my 1176, but no sidechain. Maybe a Purple? Agree with whoever said only a couple db of compression on the bass triggered by the kick. Makes it pump real nice and allows the kick to poke through and sound huge. Also, you can have the bass thumping louder than usually because it dips out of the way when the kick hits. It all adds up to a more solid and punchy and unified low end when done properly.
Sean

[Bob Amirian]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

Autogain off

Fast attack (usually within 1 ms)

Release that fits the material (usually relatively short)

Peak detection, not RMS!

Hard knee

2-3dB of GR tops

Remember you still have to do ordinary compression of both kick and bass before doing the sidechain compression on the bass.

Yeah, WHY?

That's the beauty of Gearslutz - four years passed and we're back with this thread

[badboymusic]

Originally Posted by Bob Amirian

Yeah, WHY?

Give the man some time, he's thinking about it.

[Flying_Dutchman]

2-3 db GR, too, otherwise you´ll hear it, fast attack, release depends on bass notes played, cause you got to bring it up till next note
Try frequency ducking, not the whole range, like a multiband compressor
Lets say bassdrum is small at 300Hz, but bass guitar is strong there, why duck it down?
Find the energy fighting zone and just duck the bass guitar there imo.

[Stevedresser83]

what styles of music you guys doing this for

[DeadPoet]

I've read the 'WHY' answer a couple of days ago on GS:

- set up a nice bass drum sound
- set up a nice bass sound
- have each of them peaking at 0VU so the result is +3dB
- setup a comp on the bass with sidechain from the bass drum so that it kicks that bass down 3dB's.


The individual compression is for their individual sounds, the sidechained comp is for them to work together as one.


EQing is another (or added) way for them to help them working together.


In my book the bass drum is the attack of the bass guitar (and of lately I leave more and more space for the snare pop, as in: I don't play on the '2' and '4')



Herwig