Sidechain Compression Alternative - Phase Inversion on a Gated Group
Colin OOOD
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Posted : Jun 10, 2012 22:06:12
Someone on FB asked me if I could find one of my old tutorials on here; I couldn't find it so I rewrote it. Hopefully it might help someone here too
This note is a description of an alternative method of getting the 'sidechain pump' sound that is lower in CPU usage and cleaner-sounding than using most sidechained compressors. With this method it is also possible to get many sounds doing the same pumping action at once, to different degrees, without using any extra plugins. I'll be using Cubase terminology to describe it in the context of getting a pad pumping with the kick (and I'll be assuming you're fairly proficient with Cubase), but the technique translates to any DAW system and to any situation where this kind of gain control is needed. The only plugin you'll need is a gate that can be triggered either by a MIDI note or a sidechain input.
Ok so first some background. What happens when you flip the phase of a sound and mix it with the original un-inverted version? Total cancellation occurs and the result is silence. Taking this one step further, what happens when you flip the phase of a sound, reduce it's level by 6dB and then mix it with the original sound? Partial cancellation occurs, and the result is a quieter version of the original.
We can use this concept to achieve a sidechain compression-type sound as follows: first, create a new stereo group track and label it 'Pump Group'. Place your chosen gate plugin in the first insert slot on the Pump Group. Next, according to which kind of gate you've chosen, either:
a) set up an aux send from the kick's audio channel to the gate's sidechain input, with the send level at 0dB, OR
b) make a MIDI track that shadows the kick pattern and route its output to the MIDI gate's input.
Either way, the result you're aiming for is to trigger the Pump Group gate with the kick pattern. Set the gate's attack, release and hold (if available) to as short as they will go. We'll tweak these later.
Next, flip the phase on the group - in Cubase you can use the phase button at the top of the channel strip, and do something similar in Logic, but in Ableton the simplest way is with a Utility plugin. This will invert the signal coming out of the group.
Now we're ready to start pumping. Set up a loop of kick and pad, but before you press play, open up the editor window for the pad's audio channel and set up a post-fader aux send routed the Pump Group. In Cubase you can choose the destination for an aux send in the list box above its send level fader. Set the send level to 0dB. Now press play. If I've managed to explain this clearly enough, what you should hear is the pad disappearing each time the kick sounds.
Why is this happening? Well, going back to the theory I gave earlier, the gated pad is being inverted (phase button on the group), and because it's being sent the same level as the pad's actual output (pad's send level is 0dB) the gated signal is totally cancelling out the ungated pad output each time the gate is triggered. Try setting the pad's send to the Pump Group to -6dB, and you'll hear the pad come back a little when the kick plays; this is because the gate is now outputting the pad at half its original level, so the cancellation is no longer complete. Capice? Good. Now make sure the pad's send level is back at 0dB, and let's tweak the gate.
The gate's time-constants are responsible for shaping the pump effect, and you can set them up in the same way as you would if you were using a compressor. You generally want the attack to be very short so the kick ducks the pad immediately. The longer the release, the longer the pump effect will take to return the pad to its normal level so raise it slowly until you get a pump that fits with the bass.
And that's it! You can send any number of channels to the Pump Group and they will all duck with the kick according to how much of each one is being sent. I find send levels between 0dB and -6dB give the best range for more subtle sidechaining.
A few words of warning: the pumping effect can be destroyed if you're not careful. You'll lose the effect if you send more than 0dB to the Pump Group, or if you add effects or inserts to the Pump Group after the gate (as the gated sound will no longer just be an inverted version of the source), or if you use signal routing that means that the output of the sidechained channels get processed differently to the Pump Group. For this reason, if you're using this technique to sidechain a bass sound, and you subsequently want to process the kick and bass together (ie. a compressor) you should use a separate Pump Group for the bass, and either route both this and the bass channel through another group (I call this one Bass Sum) before grouping Bass Sum and Kick together for compression, or route all three channels/groups directly to the kick/bass subgroup. It sounds complicated but you'll get what I mean when you try it.
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Posted : Jun 10, 2012 23:17
Nice! Thanks Colin, I've been interested in alternatives to sidechaining for a bit now but haven't gotten around to fully investing my time exploring options. I like the sound of this one.
makus
Overdream
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Posted : Jun 11, 2012 00:02
sajid155
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Posted : Jun 11, 2012 14:37
For ambient/chill i like to use deep subby basses, a bit of attack in amp envelope, some delay, maybe just a little bit reverb, portamento (why not?) for dub/chill....
But depends of the track...For example now i work in a downtempo ambient/trance track and so i wanted a bass like kbbb, saw wave with low filter cutoff and a good eq.
Unfortunatly i'm afraid you cant find any tutorial about and the reason is that there isnt a specific formula for this genre, ok you can find some like how can you make drones, pads, atmospheres etc but the main idea is completly free...you have all the freedom to make anything you want (That's my opinion).
Upavas
Upavas
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Posted : Jun 12, 2012 00:46
Quote:
On 2012-06-11 14:37, sajid155 wrote:
F
Unfortunatly i'm afraid you cant find any tutorial about and the reason is that there isnt a specific formula for this genre, ok you can find some like how can you make drones, pads, atmospheres etc but the main idea is completly free...you have all the freedom to make anything you want (That's my opinion).
Sidechaining has helped me a lot with my ambient tracks, check out this one, I have a very bassy drone and a bass line that hits right in it. Would not have been posible without sidechaining...
at 3:09 the bass riff sets in and the bassy drone comes in around 4:44, with the bass riff and the kick continuing...
Kewl method Colin, albeit in my example I did use regular sidechaining... I will give yours a shot! Thank you.
klippel
Stereofeld
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Posted : Jun 12, 2012 12:03
it is due to the "logging into the forum while being in a thread and get redirected to the last thread i have visited" bug that hits me all the time and is fuckin annoying. if you do not watch what happens after logging in that can happen easily!
anyway: cheers for sharing colin, enlightening and sophisticated technique!http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/stereofeld-frequenzwechsel "I've always been a believer in musical repetition to draw in the listener and make the music hypnotic. Another thing I believe in is repetition." Alan Parsons
Sunrise Travellers
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Posted : Jun 12, 2012 17:33
Thank you so much Colin to share with us your knowledge! really great!
@Upavas
Great track man! yeah i feel the trick with sidechaining!
Offtopic Now about the spammer just ignore him, he is one more spammer here (i can say that i see many these days in our forum) that trying to find the meaning of life with annoying stuff.
...into the wild....
Alien Bug
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Posted : Jun 12, 2012 17:47
klippel
Stereofeld
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Posted : Jun 12, 2012 21:45
lol, i thought the dude was jost logging in and being redirected to another thread that happens to me often. but now i get that he really copy pasted a post to make his spam less obvious.. they do improve their techniques the spambots.. http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/stereofeld-frequenzwechsel "I've always been a believer in musical repetition to draw in the listener and make the music hypnotic. Another thing I believe in is repetition." Alan Parsons
specymen
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Posted : Jun 13, 2012 00:40
