so i put the reacomp on bass track....to sidechain it with kick

drag the routing from the kick to the reacomp of the bass track , choose auxiliary input, then i see the Kick signal in REACOMP and i set the threshold...


but what exactly happens to the bassline? since i'm not setting a threshold on the bassline but on the kick signal..

is the whole signal of the bassline getting compressed? why no threshold is needed for bass track?

thanks

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 7, 2021

The whole point of the sidechain is that your bass will be compressed according to the kick's level instead of its own level. So naturally on sidechaining, the threshold will have to be set for the kick signal. The kick signal is the one that crosses the threshold and triggers the compression, but the compression itself will take place on the bass signal.
There's no point of having the threshold for the bass because sidechaining means you want the threshold and compression to be dependent on the sidechain signal i.e. the kick.

 

This is not meant as scolding, just information. You should take the time over a few days to read through the Reaper user guide without stopping to try what you are reading.

Here is another good resource for Reaper knowledge. This link refers to Side-Chaining.

For video reference, see The Reaper Blog or, Reaper Mania on youtube.

 

Is the whole signal of the bass being compressed? is it like as if the threshold of the bass is at 0?

this is basically what i'm trying to understand

i did watch various videos

 

the kick hit is what triggers the compressor not the bass level ,the threshold is for the kick whenever the kick exceeds a certain threshold it triggers compression to the bass

 

To further elaborate on what others have said, the purpose of sidechaining the bass compressor with the kick signal is so that the bass "ducks" when the kick hits. The level of signal that triggers it to duck is set by the threshold value. The amount it will duck is set by the ratio.

Just a note too, be careful about your routing in Reaper, as depending on if you're working with all audio or MIDI (VSTis, for example) you might accidentally end up routing MIDI from your kick along to the bass too, which will cause some unexpected weirdness (I always turn the MIDI routing off).

If you want to compress your bass just for the sake of compressing it (i.e. not just for the reason of ducking it when kick hits), which kinda sounds like what you're trying to wrap your head around, just apply another compressor on the bass, but without a sidechain. i.e., one to apply the overall amount of compression you want to make your bass sound right, and then one more side chained to the kick to make it duck out when the kick hits.

Reading into things a bit more, I think that's what your having troubles figuring out, based on what you wrote.

 

At 0db, there should be no compression, lowering the Threshold to meet the input peak or below will determine how much side-chain will occur.
T
he entire signal is being compressed unless, the compressor plugin has a HP & LP filter section which allows you to set the frequency range for compression.