Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
By dtaa pla muk Tue May 06, 2008 12:44 am
ah yes.
think of it this way, the drums are "ducking" everything else (not always everything but sometimes some things)

it's called sidechaining, or parallel compression, etc
it's best done outside of the mpc in a DAW software or any other means you have to do the damn thing. it's a mixing effect, not a compositional effect.

it's a cool sound, i like it too. you wouldn't want it all the all the time. but it's real heavy in some situations, creates a "shrinking" environment.
By MPC 4 ME Tue May 06, 2008 12:46 pm
In my humble opinion, I believe parallel compression refers to another technique. I believe parallel compression is a wet signal (compressed) combined with a dry signal (no compression).
Sidechaining and ducking also isnt exactly the same thing, if I'm correctly.. You "duck" using the sidechain technique but sidechaining is also possible with other effects (reverb, etc) which won't duck the affected sound because ducking will occur due to a compressor


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By 7 1 4 Beats Tue May 06, 2008 4:47 pm
Dilla did everything in Pro Tools the guy was a genius when it came to Pro Tools. He had every plug in possible and he knew exactly what to use on what it was ridiculous.
By NAJROCK Wed May 07, 2008 12:08 am
it is not possible to utilize sidechain compression in the mpc. you HAVE to use a daw or capable outboard compressor... i think the rnc has a sidechain option...


it doesnt create so much of a "shrinking" effect as it does a breathing feeling with the bass...


almost all electro house dudes use sidechain techniques... it is the staple of the genre... listen to daft punk... justice, miami horror ect. and you will see glaring examples of what it sounds like...


with hiphop... sidechaining really doesnt do as much... dilla tuned and eq'ed his drums so that they hit in thier own frequency ranges...

this technique will make it sound better than sidechaining or ducking cuase the bass stabs that your using are normally falling at the same places as the kicks... so lowering the bass signal then is going to take away from your track as the bass hits are never going to have a chance to be played at thier proper volume... because most hiphop basslines are "comped" and staccato notes... rather than long chord based basslines of electro or other genres where sdechaining is used all the time...
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By Ras Desta Wed May 07, 2008 2:40 am
BigJohnStud9 wrote:you also hear the samething madlib did in raid. it sounds like he faded it out as soon as it hit. im new at making beats so sorrry

I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about. If you mean the tail of the drums faded when they hit, then there's a chance that there was a short release on the compressor. This can give a short, but punchy effect on the drums

If you're referring the "ducking" sound of the entire song when the drums hit, then it could be a variety of things. Yes it is a compression technique, but it could either be from sidechaining certain elements of the song (e.g. the main sample) to compress when the drum(s) hit, or setting the master compressor to trigger within a limited frequency range (like between 30 and 70hz assuming there's no bass/sub bass)

Pulling off these compression tricks can be tricky if you dont use proper technique, and if you don't use proper compressors/ compressor plugs. I personally havent come across any good sidechaining compressor plugins, but I happen to like the sidechain feature on my 02r mixer. Don't be hard on yourself if you can't get down this compression technique down as good as the pros. Keep in mind that Jay Dee had good engineers, and that his cds have been properly mastered as well. Todays' mastering engineers are notorious for squashing the hell out songs to maximize loudness, and then using dynamic effects (such as sidechaining and ducking effects) to make the listener feel like there are more dynamics in the song than are actually present. But that's another story...

And for those of you saying sidechaining isnt appropriate for hip-hop... that's total B.S. You can do whatever the hell you want. Create something new for a change. Just dont overdo the compression thing, though. If you've ever had to sit though a song by Flying Lotus then you'll understand why
By NAJROCK Wed May 07, 2008 3:21 am
not that its not appropriate... i do it from time to time... it just never seems to work out as nice as some simple eq. music is yours to make... do what you want...

i was offering an opinion
By Ldizzy Sun May 18, 2008 6:49 am
7 1 4 Beats wrote:Dilla did everything in Pro Tools the guy was a genius when it came to Pro Tools. He had every plug in possible and he knew exactly what to use on what it was ridiculous.


this plus the 3k..
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By Jacpot Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:03 am
Nym wrote:ah yes.
think of it this way, the drums are "ducking" everything else (not always everything but sometimes some things)

it's called sidechaining, or parallel compression, etc
it's best done outside of the mpc in a DAW software or any other means you have to do the damn thing. it's a mixing effect, not a compositional effect.

it's a cool sound, i like it too. you wouldn't want it all the all the time. but it's real heavy in some situations, creates a "shrinking" environment.

Yo Nym I called your celly last month to ask you how to do this in Reaper but ya punk ass neva hit me back
By dtaa pla muk Fri Jun 06, 2008 6:44 pm
O SHIT that was you!?
i couldn't hear the name, try again sometime.
actually, i can just send you a link to a good tutorial...
but believe it when i say i am no pro at this, in all but 1 instance of doing this i ended up taking it out because i'm not good at it yet

http://www.cockos.com/forum/showthread. ... +sidechain

post 4, justin gives a text demo

but there's also this video:

http://www.reaper.fm/~pipeline/REAPERVi ... update.wmv