![]() This can be a great way to get the kick to punch through a bit more, especially if your kick and bass share the same frequency range. As a result, the kick will be more audible than the bass during those hits. Bass drowning out the kick: Using the configuration detailed in the previous section, the bass will be compressed each time the kick hits.Now, let’s cover the external sidechain input. Many digital compressors have internal sidechain filters, ranging from simple high-pass filters (removing extraneous low end, like kick drums), to emphasis filters (adding in tons of overbearing signal to force the compressor into action-like de-essers). It can help the compressor ignore the kick drum’s dominating low frequencies, filtering them out of the compressor’s detector circuit using an EQ.Ī detector circuit, by the way, is just what it sounds like: it’s the signal path the compressor takes its orders from. Perhaps it has so much energy that it triggers the compressor when you don’t want it to.Īn internal sidechain filter might come in handy here. Well, that kick drum has a lot of energy. Say you were compressing an entire drum set. You don’t need an external signal to boss it around. What does this mean? Within the compressor itself, you can tell the device or plug-in to ignore certain frequencies. These days it’s not uncommon for a compressor to have an internal sidechain filter. We’ve got the metaphor down- the sidechain has the ability to boss the compressor around-and we can move on to our next bit of business: internal sidechain filters versus external sidechain inputs. In the case of a de-esser, the rules are frequency-based: the boss is saying “only compress whenever you detect this super harsh frequency range,” and the compressor is saying, “aye aye, captain!” The sidechain bosses the compressor around in very specific ways-with very specific rules-and the compressor applies these rules to the main audio path. The result? The compressor only reduced the signal level when it detected harsh sibilant sounds. The compressor “listened” to only the harshest sibilant sounds, and then “processed” the main dialogue signal. This signal was then routed into the compressor’s detector. With this equalizer, Shearer filtered the signal path until only its spikiest, most annoying ess sounds were prevalent. One path went through the compressor, the other to an equalizer. He wanted, basically, to de-ess the signal-only de-essers didn’t exist yet. Our goal is to introduce the concept of the sidechain, and build towards helping you understand sidechain compression in a holistic way.Ī cinema sound designer named Douglas Shearer wanted to make some spoken dialogue quieter whenever the actor said a sibilant word. So, compressors have been used, throughout the years, to alter music in colorful, impactful ways. This is one use for a compressor.Ĭompressors are audio tools, and audio engineers are naturally curious people who love to experiment. If the difference is too much, you can use a compressor to restrain the loudest bits, so that their amplitude doesn’t rise as high as it would un-compressed. The phrase ‘Dynamic range’ actually indicates the difference in dB between the noise of an audio system and the level at which it distorts. Now, what is dynamic range? Most people use the term dynamic range to refer to the difference between quiet and loud sections in audio and musical programs. A compressor is used to reduce a sound’s dynamic range-that is, to make the louder and quieter parts of the performance closer to each other in level, be it an instrument, a loop, or even a whole mix.
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