How To Sidechain In REAPER DAW 2019 - Compression and Gating 3 ways
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- On of my first videos on this channel was on how to do sidechaining. It's time for an redo!
What is sidechaining?
Sidechaining is when you have a signal's processing being triggered by another source, instead of it's own.
For example: every time the kick hits the bass gets compressed; the synth pad gate opens with every hihat hit.
In this video you'll see 3 ways to set up sidechaining (compression and gating) plus a bunch of other little tips for REAPER.
Each method will be written out in the blog post
1 - manual setup
2 - quickly by dragging onto the plugin
3 - instantly with a script
Thanks for watching!
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Thanks for the upload. I've always found side chaining very overwhelming but you made it very simple
I've been home recording music for 20 years and I'm completely new to side chaining and this video has really opened my eyes. Thank you to all the commenters too - there is some great advice in there too!
Its not so easy in Reaper its like goin down a rabbit hole, in the end I think I understand the software better. Heck I didnt pay much mind to all those bars in on the track mixer, but i do now. The concept of dynamic eqs are really only in the digital domain of software design and still gaining attention. They seem most appropriate to mastering these days
@@genuinefreewilly5706 Hey, William, gret to read that.
About Dynamic EQ, I'm learning a lot and you'll, too.
Keep searching.
So far, more and more I see that dynamic EQing and multi-band compression are much more "shaping" parts than "glueing" busses or fixing mater faders.
Because if anything is more pronounced in a certain moment and it pushes the compression down, that ban or frequency range will drop, but not only on that high note of that specific voice or instrument, so it will "eq" everything (bass, drums, guitars, keys, etc.) and wee don't want that, right...
Just want to share that and I hope it helps you a little more...
Same exact story here. And after 20 years of having the tools I am finally learning how to REALLY use them. I swear knowledge like this took a while to be this available. For years it was only if I paid a fortune to go to an engineering school, and even online only the first lesson would be free and then pay big for the whole ‘course’. . I have no more excuses!
Thanks a lot for this tutorial, at first I could not get it to work, but then I realised that you have to create the compressor BEFORE creating the send of the kick on channel 3 and 4, other intersting tip is in the "send settings" set midi channels to None when using midi tracks, thanks again!
thank you so much i was so damn confused why my bass was playing notes I did not input
The use of ReaGate was pretty cool, now I know how to add some rhythm to a synth pad without having to manually draw it out in a midi controller if I just tie it to another rhythm being used by another instrument :)
Also really good for beefing up boxy kick drums.
Set up a tone generator with a low frequency (tune frequency to key of song) and have it gated so that when your kick hits it opens up.
Adjust attack and decay of gate to liking.
I've recently implemented sidechain in my mix and the clarity is now just... there. I've always thought my mixes were decent and now it just blends so well.
The sidechain source track should be send to reacomp track in PRE FADER mode. In post fader mode every movement of the source volume fader will effect the compression theresold and mess up everything.
Good point. Many people with more complex projects may prefer a consistent sidechain duck, independent of main vox level. But it is sometimes desirable - if you don't have a complex project auxing vocals.
I do a direct aux send trigger to a second channel on on my home setup. Now I'm also using it for Zoom/Discord/Skype, initially it was just for Twitch if/when there's music or game audio I want to duck when I speak. The video was very clear, good work once again Jon.
@@ChristopherWoods I've never even considered ducking background music/sounds with voice-over. This comment literally will be changing my approach to my next UA-cam video mix. Thank you!
@@bluemacaw8374 very nice! Don't forget to link ;) The trick is finding the balance. I can't always resist the temptation to be initially too aggressive with effects like this, less is more...
I really appreciate how you take your time to explain everything and your good use of examples. thank you very much
That drum and bass ducking is just what i needed to see.
Wish would know this before! Finally, my kick and bass dance!
Excellent presentation: clear and precise although I'll definitely need to re-watch several times to embed. Thank you 👍
For anyone who isn't sure how to split send, hold down left click!
thanks
you have to drag the button that says Route now
I've have PT 8 (perpetual) in my home studio which runs an old Digi 002 audio interface on Windows 7, old midi and firewire. My portable studio runs Windows 10, has only USB ports running with Scarlett interface, so have purchased Reaper. Loving it and its full functionality! Your videos have opened creative doors, and, in addition, I'll be less reliant on 3rd party involvement for mixes. Posting this comment in appreciation!
Solid teaching. Thank you. First time I've seen the Reaper method for s/c explained where it made plain and simple sense.
I still have trouble with it, but the drag and drop is very helpful…
I've been curious about learning sidechain compression in Reaper for a while, but all of the other ideas that you explore in this get me thinking about creative things that I can do with routed compression and gating to experiment and generate new rhythms. Thank you for this powerful tutorial!
4:40 is stuff I adore Reaper for
This is a fantastic video. I was just thinking about this in my head. Thanks
Dude you have saved my skin on a project i have due today! TY
What skin? I've been scrolling the comments trying to figure out what theme this is. Love it.
Really useful - easily the best video I've found on this topic. The IO pins in Reaper were black magic to me - no longer!
Thank you for what you do! Your channel is so helpful. Switched to reaper gradually since last year and it helped a ton
thank you so much, you the biggest blessing to many reaper users. you le a God!!!
For me, this has been the most helpful tutorial on this subject - thank you!
Thank you very much! I'm starting to study music production using Reaper and you made it very very easy to understand!
I just revisited this video - excellent tutorial! I love that script too! Thanks again, Jon!
Useful video. I learned some new things here, and since I'm new to Reaper, I'm looking for similar videos.
Thanks man, refreshed my memory on how to use the side chain input!
Side Chain gating is how you get that nine inch nails sounding snare drum or a synthwave snare... you give it huge reverb and then you side chain gate it so it cuts it to a quick snare sound but sounds big. I just learned how to do this, The reason you side chain gate is to not destroy the reverb as much, so i was told by this synthwave producer anyway... and I did not know you can just drag sends into a plugin. Reaper is really good.
For the highest rated video for Sidechaining in Reaper, you sure do gloss over a lot of vital steps like how to access the Control window for the input device.
Wow, learned a lot in less than 15 minutes. Thanks!
Holy hell that was easy to understand. Thanks for the tutorial!
Спасибо за видео! Ясно и понятно!
Thanks for putting all the work into making these videos, it's a really valuable resource.
Thank you, very clear and accessible!
What is the theme you're using? It has some features i desperately want (like the wet dry contrl on the tracks in mixer view
Thank you so much for all those videos! :-)
Hi, great video! When i'm splitting the signal from my kick to the bass it won't pick it up at all? not visible on the Mixer either. Would you know why that is? cheers!
big thanks for this video
This was super helpful, thank you.
ok I did what you did step by step and right off bat I have both tracks playing the kick drum, and when I try to mute the kick drum, there is no longer any signal coming through the synth track
You're my hero!!!!
Hi Jon!
Semi-non-related question:
Your tracks: how to get the meters to change in color from green, to yellow to red? I found where to do it, but it only changed the way the meter look when bouncing. Not when mixing and tracking.
Cheers!
Love the script shortcut - any reason for the script to suddenly stop working? Maybe the new version 6? It worked fine when I first started using it
thank you so much!
Great explanation. Thanks...
Thank you!
This is all great as long as you use the Cockos (ReaComp) compressor because it has that selection for the side chain routing. But when you want to use another plugin, this is a nightmare to set up. I wish you would do a video on how to set up another plugin that is not Cockos for sidechaining. That would really be instructive then. It seems Reaper, as loved as it is, does not make sidechaining easy.
How to Sidechain with 3rd party FX in REAPER - Fabfilter Stillwell iZotope
ua-cam.com/video/DjiZvwRrsvE/v-deo.html
Thanks man.
Thank you bud
Great stuff again. Thanks Jon.
idk what has changed in reaper, but for some stupid reason, when i try to route the sidechaining audio from 1/2 to 3/4, i can still hear it. this tutorial says it doesnt, but i asked someone else whos an avid user of reaper and they say its supposed to happen that way.
And what if we have a MIDI-track and want to send a specific note from it to the sidechain? Like bass-drum, hihats etc.
Nice tips! Am I the only one who keeps hearing a Snapchat notification in the beat? 😂
You're the best
Hello Jon！
Thank you so much for sharing another great action!
I found it in Reapak and gave it a go, but I get an error message as follows.
"mpl_Create ReaComp sidechain routing.lua:5: unexpected symbol near '
Thanks a lot
Great song too, Jon!
Keep going brother 👍👍👍💯💯💯💯
Thanks!
On the Pro-C2 you have to have MIDI disabled at the bottom of the plugin or the compressor will receive MIDI signals if you are sidechaining, let's say, a vocal to a VST instrument. With MIDI on, sidechaining doesn't work correctly.
thank u so much
What theme/layout is this? I like it
Looking for this as well.
hEY jON,, CAN YOU DO A VIDEO ON THE TRACKSPACER BY waves AND DEMONSTRATE THE SIDECHAINING WITH THAT PLUGIN? iT LOOKS VERY USEFUL BUT A BIT CONFUSING
Thank you very much
Thanks !! Very usefull !!!
Thanks, man!
this is excellent!
Can you do a midi to midi side chain video?
Is there a way to do side chaining with midi events? Right now whenever i send my kick track to my bass track for example, it just mixes up the midi inputs and my bass then plays every note from my kick track.
turn off MIDi in the send.
@@TheREAPERBlog ahhh thanks. Works now ^^
My question is what would be the most efficient way to setup a 4 track template for rock please
I create the send and set it to 3/4 like you did, but no matter what I do ReaComp will not follow the kick when I set it to Aux L+R, it just mutes the whole track. Does anyone know why?
Thanks
I put a kick drum in ReasamplOmatic5000 after that when i side chain the bass line i hear a bass with my kick drum.when i render a kick to audio file every thing fine!!could u plz show us how is it possible with kick in the sampler.tnx
this is probably strange, but I do not have a script for sidechain in Riper.
Thanks for the super helpful vid! Im having the following problem though; first I used the bassline to compress when the kick and snare hits. That worked! But when I try using it on a second instrument (lets say synths with hihat), the notes of the hi hat keep getting played over the synth. It's really weird and I can't quite explain it properly. Any help?
you have MIDI on the send.
@@TheREAPERBlog When I disable midi on the send the reacomp effects on my bass stop and everything is red lining
Nevermind, I just had the 808 turned to max on the mixer LMFAO, thanks for the vid
Hey is anyone aware of what theme is being used in the video. It looks very similar to the default Nitpick 5, but with higher definition. I really could use it for my eyes sake.
Looking for an answer here as well.
pretty sure it is nitpicky 5
So I'm trying to expand my side chain game. I'm curious... How would you use an EQ to trigger a compressor. Like on a Master use and EQ w/ a HP to trigger the compressor so that the low end isn't a factor in the compression or just use multiband?
Do the same thing on this video, but use fab filter proq 3 and engage the dynamic eq on side chain mode for the frequency area you'd like to be ducked.
@@sesughakpera I don't own fab filter. I'm trying to see if re eq can be used in relatively the same way or is only a plugin like fab filter able to do that
@@christopherheadcase6886 for now that's the only one I know that can do that. all the best
I just tried it with perfection as I saw in the video but the kick is getting signal from the bess....Plz help me how to prevent it
Just had the same issue and only discovered it comparing my screen to his. Beside the area where you change the channels from 1/2 to 3/4 you'll see, "MIDI: All" to the right of it. Click that and change it to none
@@ciararooney6824 thank you so much I had that problem too
@@Ignore14 no problem, glad it helped :)
I love it!
what if I have a lot of sends?? What do I do?
Please make daw like Fruity Loops easy to use. Don't make same like Ableton please sir 🙏
hi, what about drumcomputer plugins and if i want only the kick on pad 1 send to sidechain?
What is the best way to take an audio signal, feed it to reverb, and sidechain compress the reverb with the original audio dry signal. How can this be done in one FX chain?
Ok got it: input > Channel Router > 1/2 and 3/4 > 1/2 > Reverb > 3/4 sidechain of downstream compressor which works on the Reverb output.
I think that will work, but often I just use a second send from the same source on another channel. Check my gated reverb or ducking reverb video
@@TheREAPERBlog Some reverbs have compressors built in, it's nice to have it all in on FX chain. But yeah, separate send is easier to mix.
Hope it is better in 2023 with 6.78 . On timestamp 2:25 send to virtual ch 3/4 and then using Reacomp etc... . ☹
The shortcut is drag and drop from sending track onto the plugin.
I want to do the following: make a sidechain with a Delay with a voice but it dos not work. Y put the voice in charge of the sidechain to make room for the Delay to play when the voice is not sounding. I put the sends on the voice to the Delay. It is going to have 4 channels. The Voice is going to be in chanels 3 and 4, The Desice input is Aux 1_2. The comp treshold is at-30. The ratio is at 10:1. . It is time to go for the Delay, I use a generic one. I press play and it plays the voice but with no effects. I put a copy of the voice on to the Delay track. It works fine, but it is veri tiny. It dos not do what I expected,I watched a couple of videos and it dos just wath I said. It does not work. Help?
Set it up same as this. ua-cam.com/video/XKwqNDfxgm8/v-deo.html
How could I live without knowing how to sidechain!
Cubase Elements does not allow routing and sidechain.
I use Reaper like 5 years now and that is sooooooo ridiculous that every time I need to use sidechain I have to watch that video 3-5 times because I can't understand and remember what I need to do to make that stupid sidechain works.
Man, that is the most f***ked up thing in that DAW.
Why Reaper developer could not do normal sidechain like is other DAW's - sidechain ----> channel---> tadam works well ?
Why need to send somewhere where is no visible signal, then do left hand by right ear with legs wide split and eyes on south !!!
That is a nightmare !
When you will change that, that will be THE MOST INNOVATION on your DAW, because that thing is crazy and makes nervous every engineer I speak with.
I wish you could have done this without the stuff at the bottom of the screen and instead did it with the track displays on the side of the screen
- channel 3/4 using reacomp,
- using reagate
..what was the third way?
Manual, dragging the button, or using the script
Huge thank you for the script highlighting, Jon!
Any thoughts about why script doesnt work in Reaper of same version as yours?
"mpl_various_functions.lua missing" - the message I see after trying to use the action. I googled the error, but there is nothing usefull (or maybe Im missing something because of my bad english).
If you know the answer, and its not too complicated, I'll be very thankfull for your help. Otherwise pls dont waste your time ^^
Sorry for the stupid question. "various_functions" is just another script that I need to instal in order to make all the "mpl_" scripts work.
Hello Do you do online sessions as work for hire?
Occasionally if the project is a good fit. Send me an email and I will consider
I wonder why they don't make it even more accessible, on the UI side. SC instead of CH3+4 e. g.
Is there a manual way to tell a plugin to listen to channels 3/4 in Reaper? Basically at 3:05, where you told the Detector Input to listen to auxiliary channels - I'm using a different compressor (The Red EQ from Focusrite) - how would I accomplish this?
if the plugin has external sidechain you can choose which channels in the plugin routing window.
@@TheREAPERBlog I figured as much but I guess my question is how do you know how can you confirm the "if" part in the "if the plugin supports sidechaining"?
if you add the plugin and it says 4in/2out at the top.
@@TheREAPERBlog That answers it, thank you to so much, man!
Hello, does anybody knows how to set sidechain in reaper but live/on-line? For example if I want to use microphone from the "real: bass drum to duck keys while playing both instruments live?
same as shown, the tracks need to be record and monitor enabled.
Don't suppose anyone is around to help me out? When I side chain my kick drum to Bass I'm just hearing the notes from my bass line on my kick drum. Like I'm hearing the notes I hit when I recorded my kick drum but they're playing as my bass vst. So it's just giving me a very deep/rhythmic extra bass line. I do have the 3/4 set up exactly as he said and I've tried multiple other channels with the same effect. I'm fresh out of the gate with reaper so I feel like there's something simple I'm missing. Anyone?
turn off the midi in the send
@@TheREAPERBlog Much appreciated!
So everytime i do this with my drums and any serum when i play only the drum sounds there is also the notes as a serum? Can anyone help?
turn off the MIDI part of the send
@@TheREAPERBlog thanks alot m8! Thanks to u i can sidechain now. Big shoutout
@@TheREAPERBlog Thanks i had the same problem.
that's a neat little 'click & drag' shortcut...a little more complicated than just right clicking on a 1 or 2 second wav file of a sound effect ...but i get the idea.
I don't know what you're saying here. right-click and then what?
@@TheREAPERBlog well, i guess there's no way for me to explain it...i'm a beginner and i'm not familiar with the technical words for stuff...but i did manage to accomplish what i was trying to do because of the way you explained it in your video..so thank you for that. ...i clicked the green FX button on the track that had a 2 second wav clip on it and click/drag ReaPitch to it and it worked, as opposed to just using a keyboard shortcut. I used to know what the keyboard shortcut was for what i was trying to do, but i forgot it. lol! So instead of adding ReaPitch to the entire track i just added ReaPitch to a small 2 second piece of wav file on that track.
@@ThomasFarrow ah so it has nothing to do with sidechaining. It's good you got it solved
5:02, 5:38 reagate
Why does Reaper have to be like rocket science
I luv u
If you would be using a 3rd party compressor, you would use th epin connector for side chaining.....which you didn t show
instead I made a dedicated video on sidechain with 3rd party fx. pin connector not needed.
@@TheREAPERBlog Ok...thanks. when pin connector is used, you other method is not needed also. LoL. I ll search it then, since you aint provioded it also...lmao...Nice host you are.PRO!
ua-cam.com/video/DjiZvwRrsvE/v-deo.html