I use side chain compression to tame FOH instead of multi-band compression on the main mix. I will side chain the Keys and 6-string guitars from my lead vocal. I let it reduce those instruments by 3 to 6 dB when the vocals get loud. It tames the peak level in my final mix. I almost never hit my output limiter anymore. And the vocals don’t hurt during a crescendo anymore when I want them front, center and clear as with the modern praise music I mix lately.
Another use for SCC (got it right this time George!) is to greatly reduce (10 to 20 dB) the reverb and echo during loud vocal passages. If the song calls for it I can make huge tails behind the vocals without all the mud of non-side chain compression. Doesn’t sound like someone is yelling in a cavernous space anymore but there is a good memory of the phrase just sung.
One song we do needs a quarter note call-and-answer echo capturing only two words at the end of a phrase. SCC does that for me.
Yet another, When the lead guitarist is playing some counter melody against the vocals I do not have to ride the guitar fader. SCC just fills the spaces for me effortlessly.
In quiet passages I like to have more reverb than when the band is playing at full steam. Light snare drum taps with a moderate reverb during a quiet vocal passage that comes out of nowhere. SCC to the rescue.
I realize this much programming won’t work if you are a festival sound guy with no history with the band or no lengthy rehearsal time. But I have a 2 hour Wednesday night rehearsal then a complete run through before first service Sunday. The band members don’t change radically from Sunday to Sunday either.
Last week during a full-house service the lead pastor, in the middle of the second song, walked from the front row to the rear where I was located, shook my hand and said the mix simply moved him and the rest of the congregation. Worth it? I think so.
Sadly my GLD mixer cannot do any of the above. That is why I beg for side-chain compression so much. The GLD is far superior in every other metric I can imagine. I miss using my GLD.
John
