How do YOU sidechain?

[CrusadeOfficial]

So in most of my music I use sidechaining to varying degrees to let my kick and snare be bore pronounced, I was wondering; How do the users of Newgrounds do their sidechaining?

My method:

Fl studio

1. Start new project - Default template

2. Mixer - Insert 4
Place a fruity peak controller here.

3. Send 1 - Right click the volume slider and select 'Link to controller'. Choose 'Peak ctrl (insert4) peak', use the inverted mapping formula

4. When building a pattern, use the default snare to trigger the sidechain when needed.

5. Make sure all the instruments/synths you want sidechained have their own mixer channel and are routed through send 1 for the effect to work.

Demo file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xne5g9kq98vyfz6/Sidechaining%20Dem o.flp

[midimachine]

you don't need to do any fancy routing or separate anything btw. you can have a peak controller on any channel, leave it set to mute and turn the wet/dry mix all the way down if you need the instrument to be audible

also, you can have one sound sent through multiple peak controllers, so if i want the "default snare" to sidechain the volume of one instrument and the filter cutoff of another i have them linked to two different controllers on the same channel. you can also leave the LFO off and use "peak + LFO" and have one peak controller sidechaining two different settings, but i like having multiple controllers because you can adjust the release time individually for each controller.

[CrusadeOfficial]

At 6/10/13 11:40 AM, midimachine wrote: you don't need to do any fancy routing or separate anything btw. you can have a peak controller on any channel, leave it set to mute and turn the wet/dry mix all the way down if you need the instrument to be audible

also, you can have one sound sent through multiple peak controllers, so if i want the "default snare" to sidechain the volume of one instrument and the filter cutoff of another i have them linked to two different controllers on the same channel. you can also leave the LFO off and use "peak + LFO" and have one peak controller sidechaining two different settings, but i like having multiple controllers because you can adjust the release time individually for each controller.

If you deselect "remove conflicts" you can just link everything to 'peak'

I route everything to be sidechained through send1 to get some awesome effects with dblue glitch, like this entire track pretty much: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/538674

[LichLordMusic]

I just automate the volume of the sound I want to sidechain.
Does exactly what I want it to.

[Assios]

At 6/10/13 02:08 PM, LichLordMusic wrote: I just automate the volume of the sound I want to sidechain.
Does exactly what I want it to.

Oh no.

[midimachine]

If you deselect "remove conflicts" you can just link everything to 'peak'

I route everything to be sidechained through send1 to get some awesome effects with dblue glitch

oh cool, for some reason deselecting remove conflicts just made everything not work in older versions of FL (like 4/5 lol) so maybe that's a habit i can kick now haha. i should use dblue for stuff again, too!

also more preference stuff, but for a ducking effect i usually use compressor threshold instead of channel volume; it's just a little more aggressive sounding and it frees up the volume fader for other things if i need it.

[LichLordMusic]

At 6/10/13 08:17 PM, Assios wrote:

At 6/10/13 02:08 PM, LichLordMusic wrote: I just automate the volume of the sound I want to sidechain.
Does exactly what I want it to.

Oh no.

Why, is there anything wrong with that?

[SkyeWintrest]

At 6/11/13 08:20 AM, LichLordMusic wrote:

At 6/10/13 08:17 PM, Assios wrote:

At 6/10/13 02:08 PM, LichLordMusic wrote: I just automate the volume of the sound I want to sidechain.
Does exactly what I want it to.

Oh no.

Why, is there anything wrong with that?

There isn't anything wrong with it, technically. It's just not the "pro" way to do it, as far as I know.

[Knoxius]

I haven't used sidechaining in a while, but I use the Fruity Limiter method. Never tried with peak controller; is it a better option?

[Juicebomb]

I've tried, but I can't find any way to sidechain on my Cubase 4 or my Reason 2.5. Too bad, I guess.

[Syztm]

At 6/11/13 12:22 PM, SkyeWintrest wrote:

At 6/11/13 08:20 AM, LichLordMusic wrote:

At 6/10/13 08:17 PM, Assios wrote:

At 6/10/13 02:08 PM, LichLordMusic wrote: I just automate the volume of the sound I want to sidechain.
Does exactly what I want it to.

Oh no.

Why, is there anything wrong with that?

There isn't anything wrong with it, technically. It's just not the "pro" way to do it, as far as I know.

So what? If it does the job right there's no problem in doing that at all. Hell, you can even use Gross Beat with the Sidechaining preset :P
As for my method, pretty much the same way as the OP does.

[sorohanro]

The only "pro" rule I know is that "if it sounds good then it is good". For sidechaining I use Sidekick4, thinking to upgrade to vs5 but still thinking only...

[midimachine]

At 6/11/13 01:19 PM, Juicebomb wrote: I've tried, but I can't find any way to sidechain on my Cubase 4 or my Reason 2.5. Too bad, I guess

i think you need to output the sidechaining instrument to a gate cv somewhere, been a while since i used reason though. good god those are some old programs.

At 6/11/13 12:56 PM, Knoxius wrote: : I haven't used sidechaining in a while, but I use the Fruity Limiter method. Never tried with peak controller; is it a better option?

peak controller lets you sidechain anything. filter, EQ, pitch, whatever you like. dunno if it's necessarily better or worse for straight up ducking though

[jarrydn]

At 6/11/13 12:22 PM, SkyeWintrest wrote: There isn't anything wrong with it, technically. It's just not the "pro" way to do it, as far as I know.

more pro than using a peak controller or limiter IMHO, as you have total control over the timing and envelope.

[midimachine]

At 6/12/13 12:27 AM, jarrydn wrote:

At 6/11/13 12:22 PM, SkyeWintrest wrote: There isn't anything wrong with it, technically. It's just not the "pro" way to do it, as far as I know.

more pro than using a peak controller or limiter IMHO, as you have total control over the timing and envelope.

i think both methods can have a lot of control, you just need to know what you're doing and not have a "set and forget" attitude with the peak controller.

that said, automation is definitely better for sick wobs n shit

[DJDela]

I hate to ask this, but when using peak controller, there is always that clicky noise when the sidechaining hits.
Any way to deal with it?

[wandschrank]

Ableton:

Glue Compressor and 2 clicks :D

http://img.youtube.com/vi/IL1IVcBibXI/0.jpg

<3

[CrusadeOfficial]

At 6/12/13 03:37 AM, DJDela wrote: I hate to ask this, but when using peak controller, there is always that clicky noise when the sidechaining hits.
Any way to deal with it?

What sort of clicky noise?
Elaborate?

[midimachine]

At 6/12/13 03:37 AM, DJDela wrote: I hate to ask this, but when using peak controller, there is always that clicky noise when the sidechaining hits.
Any way to deal with it?

the initial click can come from numerous sources.

start with the ADSR of the instrument that you're ducking, maybe increase the attack time just a fraction. could also try changing where the ducking occurs in the signal chain (channel volume vs. track volume vs. compressor threshold vs. makeup gain etc.)

[DJDela]

At 6/12/13 11:42 AM, midimachine wrote:

At 6/12/13 03:37 AM, DJDela wrote: I hate to ask this, but when using peak controller, there is always that clicky noise when the sidechaining hits.
Any way to deal with it?

the initial click can come from numerous sources.

start with the ADSR of the instrument that you're ducking, maybe increase the attack time just a fraction. could also try changing where the ducking occurs in the signal chain (channel volume vs. track volume vs. compressor threshold vs. makeup gain etc.)

I THINK it occurs because the sidechain effect is late a fraction of a second, I was just wondering if anyone else had this issue.

[alternativesolution]

At 6/10/13 10:48 AM, CrusadeOfficial wrote: 4. When building a pattern, use the default snare to trigger the sidechain when needed.

What does this part mean exactly? To "trigger the sidechain"... I have zero knowledge on sidechaining, so I read your method and took a look at the demo file (ty for that btw) , and tried recreating something similarly simple in a new file. I think I missed a step... or something...

Now the snare is silent, but the synth I'm trying to sidechain isn't..sidechaining. Think anyone could tell me what I missed, or give a couple extra details at this step?

[midimachine]

At 6/12/13 08:02 PM, alternativesolution wrote:

At 6/10/13 10:48 AM, CrusadeOfficial wrote: 4. When building a pattern, use the default snare to trigger the sidechain when needed.

What does this part mean exactly? To "trigger the sidechain"...

basically it just means making the peak controller do stuff. if the peak controller has no input to trigger it then it doesn't do anything.

Now the snare is silent, but the synth I'm trying to sidechain isn't..sidechaining. Think anyone could tell me what I missed, or give a couple extra details at this step?

right click the control that you're sidechaining (e.g. synth channel or mixer track volume), select "Link to controller", select your peak controller from the middle drop down box (it'll say something like "Send 1 - Peak Controller (Peak)"), select "Inverted" from the mapping formula dialog (or replace "Input" with "1-Input")

if it's sidechaining but not making a big difference you can open the peak controller itself and mess with the volume, tension and decay settings until you get a more pronounced effect. if you need an even more pronounced effect you need to mess with the mapping formula (e.g. use something like "1-(1.2*Input)")

right

[CrusadeOfficial]

/snip

right

That's exactly right!
On a sidenote, I use sidechaining all though this track

[The-iMortal]

At 6/12/13 04:18 AM, wandschrank wrote: Ableton:

Glue Compressor and 2 clicks :D

Hmmm... I always just used the standard Live compressor for sidechaining. I'll see how the Glue sounds for sidechaining in my next project!

[SuperBastard]

Like this.