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The ratio you use will determine how much compression is applied to your bass when your kick breaches the compressor’s threshold level.
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Use your ears to determine the release time that sounds appropriate for your mix. I like to start with a fast release time, and then increase the release time of my compressor until my kick is clear, punchy, and present. If you’re trying to prevent your bass from masking your kick, apply the compressor to your bass track. Set Up an External InputĪpply a compressor like the FabFilter Pro-C 2 to the track that you want to apply gain reduction to. If you're using Cubase, Logic Pro, or Pro Tools, you can use this guide to set up an external input once you've done this, skip ahead to Step 2. In Ableton, it’s a rather straightforward 3-step process that's quite similar to how you would apply sidechain compression using stock Ableton effects. The way you go about routing audio into the FabFilter Pro C-2's external sidechain input will vary slightly depending on the DAW you’re using. How to Set Up FabFilter's Pro-C 2 to Apply Sidechain Compression Just like a compressor being used normally, a compressor responding to an external sidechain input signal will still compress the track you applied the compressor to. To be clear, compression is not applied to the sidechain input signal.
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When a compressor has its sidechain circuit engaged, the sidechain input signal trigger’s the compressor. If you apply a compressor to your bass track and set your kick track as the compressor’s sidechain input signal, the compressor will apply gain reduction to the bass track every time the kick plays.ĭon’t overthink this concept it’s as simple as it sounds. When you engage a compressor’s sidechain circuit and select another track in your DAW as the sidechain input signal, you tell the compressor to respond to the signal level of the other track, as opposed to the signal level of the track the compressor has been applied to. For example, if you apply a compressor to a vocal track, it will attenuate the level of the vocal when it gets too loud. A compressor normally responds to the signal level of the track you’ve applied it to.
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