Using fabfilter mb as ducker
This way whenever the kick hits, the compressor kicks in and lowers the volume of the bass. We can put a compressor on the bass, and feed the kick into the sidechain. Let’s say we want our kick to stand out a little better, but we don’t want to EQ out any of the body. We can dynamically reduce the level of competing signals by setting a compressor on the competing signals that is triggered by the signal we want to stand out. Traditionally we would EQ competing sounds to get out of the way. Let’s say we want a certain sound to stand out very clearly. With an external sidechain input, we can change the whole game up and set up a system of … DuckingĪ compressor, in simplest terms, turns a signal down when it detects signal amplitude. Or if the compression action was correct but it felt too squeezed and changing the ratio reshaped the action too much, a broad dip in the midrange of the sidechain signal could alleviate that without requiring the gain to be restructured or the compressor to be over-adjusted.Īll that said, the source sound does not need to be the same thing feeding the detector. If the mix was, say, something that was very percussion-driven, not only would we maybe want to filter out some kick, but also filter out a specific area of midrange that targets the percussion, so the compressor leaves those alone. Many mastering engineers have had their favorite compressor custom modified to allow an external source to hit the detector. This design was originally created in order to create a tone curve that would cause the compressor to act very specifically. This means that a completely separate signal can be plugged into the sidechain.
#Using fabfilter mb as ducker software#
Some compressors, and in particular modern software compressors, have external sidechain capability. This is common in compressors designed for buss processing so that the kick drum can be diminished in the detector allowing for a more even compression action. Many compressors allow us to effect the sidechain signal with a built-in filter. Now, in a typical configuration, the input signal splits into the attenuation circuit and the sidechain. Another name for the detector circuit is the “sidechain” because it’s a chain of components that happens on the side of the primary signal chain. The other is the detector circuit which is controlling the attenuator. One is the signal path itself - that is the signal from input to attenuation to output. In order to understand sidechaining, we need to understand the basic architecture of a compressor.Ī compressor has two circuits that work in conjunction. A common example would be the compressor on a bass reacting to the kick drum. In short, sidechaining is when a signal processor is controlled by a signal that’s different than the one it’s effecting. And while it’s certainly not, it is a really cool concept that allows for some great stuff to occur.
Based on internet goings-ons you’d think it was the ultimate solution to audio engineering.