Side chain compression in Pro tools
Posted on | November 25, 2008 | 5 Comments
I met a professional mixer on gearslutz once on a live chat some time ago and asked him if he worked with stems (merged tracks e.g all drums in on sep stereo track) in a final mix, he said he didn’t like working with them because of the extensive side chaining work he does with all his tracks.
I was a bit unsure of what he meant but in the simplest terms he went on to explain how you could send a level from a track via a buss to the compressor of another track that you wanted ducked.
Man! Like a light bulb! I knew how to do it theoretically but never saw or importantly heard this effect in a real world application.
Listen to the snippet below and listen to the effect of the vocals “pushing” down the volume of the keyboard sound it is set against.
Sacrifice.mp3
It makes more sense now to employ this method instead of trying to eq or volume ride everything into or out of existence.
Great stuff!
The Pro tools Side Chain Method
In this example a send is created within the vox channel and routed via bus 8 to the input of the compressor on the track below it.
The bussed output on the vox channel is set to 0db and the pre fade “P” button is clicked on to maximize it’s level.
The input of the compressor’s key (top-left) is now set to receive from bus 8 and importantly the highlighted blue key on the compressor should be activated. (top-right). The compressor is now listening to the external source.
Initially by tweaking the threshold settings within the compressor you should now be able to hear the side chain effect.
Voila!
The above graphic should be self explanatory, if you get stuck just flick me a mail and I’ll elaborate a little.
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5 Responses to “Side chain compression in Pro tools”
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Voted Best Blues Artist of 2011 by Global Thunda Network, Mike De Velta's intoxicating compositions and performances are constantly on the move. A rich showcase of modern delta, slide and piedmont blues expressed with a hint of the Eastern through the shimmering and delightful tones of lap slide, resonator and acoustic guitars.
November 26th, 2008 @ 7:51 am
It’s a great technique, I’m looking forward to you popping round and showing me personally how to do it.
December 4th, 2008 @ 5:47 pm
Thank you very much for your help…
February 26th, 2009 @ 12:31 am
[...] Side chain compression in Pro tools : Mike de Velta, Recording Artist (tags: protools sidechaining ducking compression tips) [...]
April 15th, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
great piece… thanks a lot… i’ll incorporate a reference to it into my blog & do a link to your website in the blogroll
December 1st, 2010 @ 4:30 pm
how to sidechain in protools
http://www.goldmyr.com/1/1/Video/1/sidechain.php
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LviBAYi5EkU