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Currently, I use Nicky Romero’s Kickstart plugin for quick sidechain shaping when I don’t want to spend the time to manually sidechain. Kickstart is also limited to 4/4 beat intervals (or 1/8, 1/2, and 1/1 beat intervals), which isn’t useful for slower, hip-hop/rnb/chill styles of music or even a fast-tempo style like drum n bass.
In this case, I use the features given in FL Studio, in which I route the synth that needs sidechaining to the mixer. From there I take a separate kick sample and place it everywhere that my main kick hits, then route the sidechaining kick to the mixer as well (I usually name this kick ‘SIDECHAIN’ for the purpose of organization). In the mixer, I place the ‘Fruity Peak Controller’ effect on the sidechain kick and turn the ‘base’ knob to about the 10 o’clock position. Next you right click on the volume knob of the synthesizer you want to sidechain and choose ‘Link to controller’. In ‘Internal Controller’ choose the ‘Peak’ option and for the mapping insert choose ‘Inverted’. What this does is controlled the volume of the synth every time the sidechain kick hits. from there, hit accept and you are done.
Note: In the Fruity Peak Controller, the ‘Base’ knob controls the overall volume of the synth. Setting it at the 10 o’clock position is the default position of the volume in the mixer (you can tweak it however you want when mixing). The ‘Volume’ knob controls how much sidechaining there is. The more volume, the bigger the sidechaining effect.
AdSense 336x280Hi! Here your are some tips that I use:
-For making tight and powerful sounds with reverb I add some reverb on a sound (for example a lead) and then I apply a hard compression with a low threshold and a minimum of 10:1 ratio with very short amount of attack and release. When you do that the reverb grows up every time the dry signal stops, making it sound so powerful. Finally you can mix the dry and wet signal for creating a softer effect.
I like to use Fabfilter Pro-C or Image-Line Limiter (wich is also a compressor)
-For making very punchy percussion sounds (for example snares or kicks) which you want them to have a lot of presence in the mix I sometimes prefer using a transient shaper (instead using a compressor) wich could create great results very fast and it also works if you want to make it less punchier for making space for another instrument.
I like to use Schaack Audio Transient Shaper 2
-If you want a clean and controlled vocal I usually automate the volume of the track manually and make it as flat as possible, and then if I consider that it also need some compression (wich could not be neccesary after automating) I apply some after automating instead of compressing without automating. This create cleaner vocals and you could automate the compressor output for making controlled dynamic changes in vocals. This could take some time but taking care of your vocals could worth it for you.
-If any compressor works for your sound (generally percussion or one-shot sounds), you could automate a sample volume to create the perfect volume shape and then export it an use it in your project.
-If you want some extra and bright punch in a percussion sound, you could add a very short white noise signal at the beginning of your sample and automate it´s volume. This could add some presence to your mix.
-When you automate instead of compressing you are keeping your audio clean. Compressors add distortion to your signal (wich of course is useful sometimes).
Why I like VolumeShaper 4?
-It could work as a transient shaper, volume automation loop and of course a free-distortion compressor along your track with custom volume shapes which you could also automate! and not with a few curves like transient shapers or compressors…
So you don´t have to export your audio samples and you could modify the preset at realtime. Working with volume automation in DAWs is not as precise as you could think, it could leave some clicks, incorrect fades, etc.
(In this situation, working with VolumeShaper like a compressor for a snare along the song, it could be interesting an output volume control, but this is nothing important as you can turn the mixer fader up)-Working with sidechain compressors is not a precise way of working, and definitively it is not very fast. With Volume Shaper you could create sidechaining effects with the best curve for you and with a very high precision in time. Why I say that? Because sidechain compressor usually left some click at the beginning of the sound before the compressor acts, making your mix muddy and hiding your important track´s transients.
But this is not all. Now it has been added multiband splitting, what could make everything I said before but now for 3 bands in the same plugin, an awesome beast for audio designing. This plugin converts your audio in plasticine, so useful!For me this is the perfect plugin for my "full of layers" percussion designs and sidechain effects.
Thank you very much for the chance!
AdSense 336x280Hello guys and Cableguys!
I am both a dj and a producer. Currently i am an owner of a music production studio and electronic music school. My favourite daw’s is a Logic & Cubase. Some of my students prefer to use the simplest tools they can, some prefer best ones. I think volume shaper 4 have reached that point, where both of this directions are connected in one simple and very powerful plugin.
So lets talk about sidechaning.
Sidechaning is a technique to work with a compressor. To go further we need to understand what a compressor is and how it works.
Compressor is a volume shaping tool that reacts to sound envelope. What is a sound envelope? We take every single phase of a sound and reverse them all to positive polarity. Now we connect all the peaks. This is sound envelope.
Normally compressor measures input volume and if it reaches threshold value the compressor reduce volume. Amount of volume reduced called gain reduction (gr). Attack is how quick compressor reacts to volume change. Release is how fast compressor stops to reduce volume after threshold is no longer reached. Ratio is how much compressor reduces volume after threshold is crossed.
So what is sidechain? Some compressors are allowing you to reduce volume of one . That thing first appeared on hardware compressors and second input was called "side chain". In other words it lets you control a volume of one sound with another sound. Speaking more professional language you shape the envelope of one sound by envelope of another.
Sidechaining isn’t just about separating kick and bass. Is it also an effect, which can create living groove. Adjusting sidechain settings make possible for the whole track to sound different.
Here is some tips for sidechaining with compressors:
1) You always need to set attack to minimum and switch compressor to 100% peak mode. If you keep your attack high or RMS mode on you will not get fast change of volume and you may end with kick fighting bass.
2) Release time matter, but threshold matters even more. If you need less gain reduction (GR) you can increase threshold and release, but of you need more separation of kick and bass, you may try to set release at minimum and lower threshold. Key point here is to keep the same groove.
3) Ratio matters as well. Try low ratio (about 1,6…2:1) with deep threshold and high ratio (10…30:1) with low threshold. You may get same type of groove with different amount of separation.
4) Use side chain trigger instead of kick. If you need, for example, pads that still keep that pumping effect while there is no kick, you need to create a copy of your kick on a different track and keep it playing while main kick is muted. You also need to disconnect that channel from master. You can’t simply mute or move fader down because it will set output volume to silence. This thing is different in various daws. In logic, for example, you need to set your channel strip output to "no output" instead of «master».
5) Keeping your sidechain signal on different track is a good idea also because you can vary it. Try to make your sidechain kick shorter than your main one. You may want to turn on a daw feature called "snap to zero crossings" to avoid clicks in the end of your sample.
6) If you hear clicks on the beat you may want to increase attack value to few milliseconds.
7) Another trick with different sidechain track is to move your control signal (a kick?) to a few milliseconds (ms) left. Your compressor will react before the kick comes in, resulting in an absolutely transparent volume change! Try to increase attack time to the same amount of ms that you move your signal. Your sidechain will start directly on the beat.
8] If your compressor lets you change its circuit type you may also try to do it. In Logic compressor you have 6 circuit types and at least 3 of them sound very different. Compare platinum VCA and Opto. These 3 are my favorite ones.
9) Some plugins allow you to do a multiband sidechaning. This can be useful on very fat bass sounds. Waves C6 allow you to do that. You have to switch sc mode to Wide (otherwise you will loose punch and timing), switch every band you want to use to external mode, and route your side chain signal signal into the plugin. You may want to achieve different gain reduction curves on subs and tops or leave tops untouched. This works very well for all kind of bass music.
10) Timing is VERY important! Use your ears! Do not just listen to is, feel it instead!Lets proceed to VolumeShaper!
New generation of sidechain plugins appeared about 5 years ago. They are actually not compressors any more. It is a LFO controlling of a volume. LFO (low frequency oscillator) normally is a synth part, a very low wave which controls some parameter. You may sync this wave with your daw and create unique rhythmic effect. For example dubstep bass is usually created by lfo controlling filter.
You may use that thing to create artificial sidechain effect. You no longer need a controlling signal any more. If you sync your LFO with your beat (1\4 in house music) you can control volume of the bass and keep it pulsating with beat.Here is some tricks for using Volumeshaper:
1) Remember a trick when we triggered side chain before the beat? You may draw the line which goes down not on the beginning of the waveform, but in the end. This is probably the best way to remove clicking sound. The lower and deeper your bass, the more you need. If your bass contains a lot of middle frequencies you will probably need just a bit to remove clicking.
2) If your bass contains two layers try to separate sub bass with 100% volume amplitude and mid bass with about 50-90% amplitude. Sub sounds really good when separated from kick. What if your bass is a single sound without layers? Here is where volumeshaper is getting handy. Adjust two bands as i mentioned above and then adjust crossover point so you don’t really hear subs disappear.
3) How to achieve perfect kick and bass separation? Solo your kick, put volumeshaper on it and and draw an waveform so your kick almost disappear except little sub thing in the end. Then disable it (we need kick to kick, right?) and copy its settings to bass volumeshaper. Your bass and kick will never sound both at the same time, so no eq needed. You may want to add a little of dry signal if you need to hear bass on the beat.
4) Most of times you want bass to appear on the second 1\8 of beat. Try to move that point little closer to kick for more agressive groove and away from kick for more relaxed groove.
5) Sometimes you have a kick with very strong punch and only few cycles need to be separated from the bass. If your kick have decayed tail and it is much quieter then a punch you may try to draw a waveform, where bass is completely muted on the first 16-th of the beat, second 16-th goes up for about 30-60% of volume and then goes up to normal volume.
6) Sometimes you may try sync your lfo with 1/2 and draw two slightly different curves for two beats. This may lead you to interesting groove.
7) When using loops you may need to get rid of clap or snare. If you lasy enough to cut it you may also use VolumeShaper. Sync your LFO with 1/2 and draw a dip to remove clap.
8] When you make a new kick from scratch you may need to shape its tail. You will need to draw directly opposite waveform for bass. You can control volume and timing of kick tail very easly with this tool. Well, you may shape almost every sound the way you want. This is how my current kick channel strip looks like.
9) With Volumeshaper you may clean up dirty kick sounds by creating fast decay on high band. You will hear only, for example, first 50 ms of kick high frequencies.
10) Do you remember gated trance pads from 90-s? You may recreate that effect with volumeshaper! Set lfo cycle to 1 bar or 1\2 and start playing with it adding short peaks and dips. Try presets from rhythm folder. Try different shapes for low, mid and high band.
11) you may add some movement to your groove by filtering loops and adjusting filter curve to feel in groove. This trick is very often used in techno music and sounds really awesome.
12) Do you make any broken beats music? 1\4 sync does no good for you? No problem, you may trigger VolumeShaper by midi. Just copy your kick pattern to new midi track and route it to VolumeShaper. It will draw side chain curve every time note is triggered. You also may create unique sound effect using this feature.
Here is some more general tips for aligning kick and bass:
1) Usually side chain curve for bass will be opposite to kick envelope. If your kick is very short or very long you will need to adjust default presets.
2) Watch out phase issues! Your kick & bass may be in perfect shape, but in wrong phase alignment. Check that by swapping phase by 180 degrees of your kick or bass. It may change and get better simply by this.
3) Try to align phase of your bass and kick sounds. It will sound much better if wave is smooth and constant.
Here is a smooth kick & sub bass soloed:
And here is not so smooth kick & sub bass soloed. This will not sound good on big systems.
Here is some more creative ideas about sidechaning and volumeshaping that fits this topic:
1) Try to side chain mid and side parts of your sound separately. Sometimes sidechaning of your side channel may add very nice dynamics without listener hearing it
2) If your bass and kick both has very snappy and edgy attack and sometimes they sound same time you may try to add an artificial sidechain. Change velocity of your bass notes to 127 and set velocity to 0 for notes, that sound with kick. Now go inside your synth modulation matrix and connect velocity to volume attack knob. The less velocity- the more attack time the less kick interference
3) How to achieve a perfect groove? Make a few copies of your sidechain plugin with different settings, crank up the volume and jump. Right one is when you jump more and not getting tired. You may alto try to shake a big book in your hand.
4) When mastering a house track and having trouble with kick and bass balance you may try to draw a curve to enhance element you need. To much kick? Load a sidechain preset and balance with dry-wet knob. To much bass? Load kick shaping preset and do the same. With new multiband on VolumeShaper4 feature it is now much easier to correct subs.
5) You need a lot of sidechainig on all your sounds? Try to shape every one of them with its unique curve. Remember to keep them in groove!I find Cableguys has mastered a killer side chain plugin. With ease of previous versions and with killer multiband feature it will be must have plugin #1 for every dance music producer. This plugin is the best native alternative to Vengeance Multiband Sidechain with no iloc required. With lots of built-in presets and great interface this plugin is about to set the new standard in EDM. How much will i use it? Probably in 100% of my future tracks next year. Thank you Cableguys for such a wonderful plugin and for opportunity to win a copy!
Happy sidechaing and have a nice bass!
AdSense 336x280[size size=85:1majc9gj]Posted on behalf of [/size:1majc9gj]
Hey there everyone!
The previous posts before me touched on some great aspects of side chaining so I will not touch upon those ones BUT instead offer some more interesting way side chaining can be used.
So to start off First I will list some interesting side chaining techniques that I use AND then I will talk about some of my favourite plugins I like to use now!
OK TIP 1: HOW TO DEAL WITH ABLETON LATENCY ISSUES & The effect it can have on your Groove!
This is the single most important tip I can give anyone who uses ableton. AND it’s something that really annoys me because it’s just simply unacceptable. Right in ableton’s manual it states:
[b:1majc9gj]Live manual the following (regarding Automatic Delay Compensation):
Note: there are a few situations in which Live cannot compensate for plug-in delay:~Automation is not delay compensated. As a result, when using automation on tracks that contain devices that cause delays, the automation may sound early.
AND they go on to say some 3rd party plugins will not be delayed compensated either.[/b:1majc9gj]
So why is this a problem?
As soon as you use any plugins that cause a delay ableton does not compensate any automations you have done……meaning say if you use volume automation to create your own manual side chain effect…the more plugins you use that create delay the further and further your automation will become out of time. Whats happening is a plugin like Ozone 5 can create some plugin latency which will delay whatever tracks its on’s, audio by that amount of time so to compensate for this ableton will delay the rest of the tracks by that same amount of time so that all tracks playback in time with each other. BUT the automation is not delayed with the rest of the tracks, it stays on the same place in your timeline. So what you essentially have is the automation triggering earlier and earlier as your plugin latency increases before the actual audio is heard. So things such as manual sidechaining or
Rhythmic Gating are effected by this greatly because they are heavily dependent on timing and groove. This in my opinion is a big problem and Ableton’s biggest dirty little secret that they don’t want you to know.This video explains what I’m talking about very well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tstw68U-24w
Now I know what your thinking, why not just use a plugin that does the sidechianing like volume shaper and sync it to the host (ableton)? Thats what I thought but when I did this again the timing was of the sidechaining was off! So after endless searching for the reason why this occurs I found this
posted by cable guys themselves.Q: FilterShaper, VolumeShaper, PanCake or MidiShaper work fine in Ableton Live when being the only plugin on a track. But they can show noticeable latency in other cases — this can (but does not have to) happen when there are several plugins on the track, or when used on a group or on an audio track with other tracks routed to it.
A: This is a PDC (Plugin Delay Compensation) issue with Ableton Live. Our plugins are synced to the timing information that is provided by the host. Sadly, Live does not take PDC into account here and thus the timing information provided by Live can be wrong. We’ve already talked about this with Ableton in 2011 and are glad about anyone who bugs them about this issue.
THEREFORE this proves that ableton does NOT delay compensate its automation AND does not when being the only plugin on a track. But they can show noticeable latency in other cases — this can (but does not have to) happen when there are several plugins on the track, or when used on a group or on an audio track with other tracks routed to it.
A: This is a PDC (Plugin Delay Compensation) issue with Ableton Live. Our plugins are synced to the timing information that is provided by the host. Sadly, Live does not take PDC into account here and thus the timing information provided by Live can be wrong. We’ve already talked about this with Ableton in 2011 and are glad about anyone who bugs them about this issue.
THEREFORE this proves that ableton does NOT delay compensate its automation AND does not do delay compensation properly for 3rd party plugins. Too me this is crazy, I don’t no how ableton finds this acceptable.
BUT don’t worry I have a solution!!!
Here is the BEST Solution To This Problem:
A reliable workaround is to set up a MIDI track which plays a note at the beginning of a bar, route this track to whatever side chain plugin your using (your side chain plugin will have to have the ability to be midi triggered. Then inside that side chain plugin you will want to select
the setting that will retrigger your volume envelope every time a midi note is received. For Example in Volume shaper 3 I would set it to "Retriggered" mode. This resulted in correct timing in every test I’ve done and cable guys have confirmed this to.So the other advantage of triggering your sidechain envelope with midi is if your drum pattern is something other than a standard rhythmic pattern because by triggering with midi your just copying your kick pattern midi to your midi sidechain trigger and viola you sidechain is being
triggered every time a kick happens!So you can also take this same concept apply it to a pad with volume shaper being triggered by midi to create a rhythmic gatting effect. You get the point.
Here is an example of the routing:
OVERALL my conclusion here is if your going to use ANY plugins in ableton that are having an important rhythmic role…..DO NOT SYNC it to the host and call it a day because your audio will not be in time. Whenever using any plugin for rhythmic/groove purpose ALWAYS trigger it with midi because midi in ableton is delay compensated for!
Woooooh that was a lot to cover…hopefully you guys followed!
TIP #2: BIG LEAD SYNTH THAT YOU WANT TO BE RIGHT IN YOUR FACE PRESENT BUT ALSO HAS A HUGE REVERB ON IT.
– So a lot of big EDM artist use this tip.
-What your going to do is set up one midi track and on return track.
– on the midi track load up your favourite lead synth preset.
-on the return track set up a huge large hall reverb 100% wet. On this same track your going to want to put a compressor set to side chain mode. Then set the input signal for the side chain to your lead synth. Then pull the threshold right down to the bottom. Set your attack to 0 and release to 50ms.
– then send your lead synth to your reverb bus in my case it is send A. (I’m sending the full amount just for exaggeration purposes so you can hear it.)
– now what you have is your lead synth being sent out to the master and also to a reverb return. And what you should be hearing if done correctly is every time your synth plays a note the big reverb is ducked down and when it stops playing the reverb comes back into the stereo field.
-So now you will want to decided how much your reverb is being side chained by your lead synth. How you do this is by adjusting your threshold amount and ratio amount. For this kind of effect, more subtle is that way to go….you just want enough so that every time the lead synth comes in the volume of the reverb is coming down just a bit to make room for it. You can also decrease the actual send amount as well to make it more subtle. Now lastly we will want to tweak the attack and release values until we get a good groove. When I’m doing this I like to think of the reverb as the counter groove to the main synth lead.
– This technique done correctly allows you to get a massive sounding lead synth but still with clarity in the mix.
– NOW once you’ve done all this you could choose to get more creative with it. Instead of using a compressor as the side chain, try using a volume shaper (like volume shaper 3 from cable guys) And trigger it with midi like we talked with before. BUT to make it even more interesting make a complex volume curve so makes your reverb become part of the rhythm of your track!
TIP # 3: How To inject more groove into static percussion.
– so I’m sure at some point you’ve said to yourself…"ahhhhh my stuff doesn’t groove enough!" well I have one tip that has really helped my productions.
– as most of you might no…. to create a groove in your percussion you have to shuffle/swing the beat a little. BUT what many people forget to do is groove also comes in volume automation.
-Now editing the volume of each midi note can be time consuming and I don’t no about you but I’m all about speed and efficiency. Whatveer can get me to the same result but faster is what I’ll go with.
– SO here’s my technique for quick interesting groovy percussion.
– So get your paint tool out and set your grid to 1/16th notes and then fill in a 1 or 2 bars of your midi note editor on whatever key you have your hi hat set to.
– then apply a groove to that pattern…I use logic 60 swing.
– Then I toss on Volume shaper 3 and just click and bunch of times trying to make a weird but cool rhythmic pattern….what helps while your doing this is to have your full drum beat playing and then keep tweaking the curve… adding peaks there…dips here…gradual increase here until you get a really cool grooving hi hat patten…Then go back to the pattern and try mutting some midi notes or double the note to 1/32 in some spots. Basically keep tweaking until you get something you like…. AND Viola you have an interesting percussion pattern that grooves and fits with your beat….alll made from a simple static 1/16th note pattern to begin with!
– then apply a groove to that pattern…I use logic 60 swing.
– Then I toss on Volume shaper 3 and just click and bunch of times trying to make a weird but cool rhythmic pattern….what helps while your doing this is to have your full drum beat playing and then keep tweaking the curve… adding peaks there…dips here…gradual increase here until you get a really cool grooving hi hat patten…Then go back to the pattern and try mutting some midi notes or double the note to 1/32 in some spots. Basically keep tweaking until you get something you like…. AND Viola you have an interesting percussion pattern that grooves and fits with your beat….alll made from a simple static 1/16th note pattern to begin with!
Too keep things short and not make this post a novel (lol) which its turning out to be…..I will be explaining things relatively quick in this section and I recommend if you want to try these techniques, go and download the demo and see if its something that helps you before you go and spend your
money on something you might not need!So to start off my favourite side chaining tools are Xfer LFO Tool (whenever you need a simple cyclical pattern), Nicky Romero Sidechain Kick is also great for very simple uses of sidechaining like ducking the bass every time the kick comes in. For Multiband Sidechaining I like to use Vengeance
Multiband Sidechaining Tool Or Fab Filter MB. (But now that volume shaper 4 can do 3 bands of side chaining and the vengeance one can only do 2 bands I will definitely be making the switch very soon.)There are many compressors out there that can get the job done as well BUT I’m not going to talk about the obvious ways a compressor can be used for side chaining because I believe the other people before me did a great job of that. I’m going to share with you 2 compressor/expander, m/s maximizers that I use all the time to add a cool sucking/pulling technique similar to side chaining but not actual side chaining.
The first plugin is xfer OTT. (http://xferrecords.com/freeware/) If you have a lead sound with a tiny reverb on it…put Xfer OTT after it and adjust the depth to taste and you’ll get that awesome sucking up reverb after the lead stops playing effect. For me sometimes getting bogged down with all the technicalities can inhibit your creativity. Thats why I use this pluging….it gets me the effect I’m looking for in under 20seconds without having
to understand multi band compressing/expansion to a tea.The second plugin I use is Twisted Tools MSMAX (http://twistedtools.com/shop/reaktor/msmax/) This is a Maximizer effect and Mid/Side Utility Built
for Native instruments Reaktor. Basically this tool can be used for anything from subtle to extreme loudness maximization and with the Mid/Side signal processing you can use it to create width and stereo imaging effects that sound unbelievable. The real power of this tool is when you abuse it, turn
around the knobs until you get some really interesting mega compression effects…This tool usually sounds best used on a sound that already has some space or delay or you can use it as a stereo buss effect. The reason being is it can help bring up that low level space and atmosphere in your
sounds that really add interesting depth to your track and interesting pumping effects. This done right and mixed with the mid/side capabilities you can inject some real subtitles to a mix that won’t always be apparent to the listener but without it it would seem like something is missing. Also as a side note there is also a side chaining tool built into this devices as well!ANYWAYS I hope that all helps somebody out there! And bootom line when it some to sidechaining there are so so so many techniques and way of doing things. The only limit is the limit of your imagination. Try out new things…who cares if it’s not necessarily the "right" way….it just might be the
game changer you were looking for.Thanks!
Marcus
ps. I really really really would love volume shaper 4! I’ll make it do things it was never made to do!
Muahhhahahah
AdSense 336x280Thank you very much Acapellas4u and PluginBoutique! This is awesome! Thank you very much to both for the chance, your generosity and of course the plugin!
Have a great day (as me right now) and I wish you all a merry christmas and a happy new year!AdSense 336x280I have alredy got it! I will make it work so hard!
Thank you very much again!
Regards!AdSense 336x280
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