To get some iron on the mixdown

[vvv]

I'm gonna try this eventually when I get set-up, but thought to ask right now:

What ill effects might be expected from running a two-mix, one channel at a time, through a mono pre-amp?

For example, I have a dbx166A as about the only stereo thing to put some analog on my mixes with, and I shall try that, altho' I've not heard good things.

That said, I recently acquired a nice cuppla transformer-linked pre's (Eureka and Summit). I know that using a compressor on a 2-mix on just one channel at a time will likely mess up the imaging; will that be a risk just using the pre with mebbe a little tube (on the Summit) dialed in?

Has anyone tried this?

Do I sound like a complete idjit for contemplating it?

[Galen Ulrich Elfert]

Feeding the channels one at a time through anything other than a compressor/limiter/dynamics processor should not affect the imaging.

If you're working digital, and you've got a mono compressor with a sidechain input, you can use it as a stereo compressor. Just sum the two channels to an aux bus and feed that into the sidechain while you bounce the channels one at a time through the compressor.

[vvv]

If you're working digital, and you've got a mono compressor with a sidechain input, you can use it as a stereo compressor. Just sum the two channels to an aux bus and feed that into the sidechain while you bounce the channels one at a time through the compressor.

Brilliant! I never woulda ...

And aiight, I'm gonna run some mixes thru a Summit 2BA-221, see what it do.

[jgimbel]

If you're working digital, and you've got a mono compressor with a sidechain input, you can use it as a stereo compressor. Just sum the two channels to an aux bus and feed that into the sidechain while you bounce the channels one at a time through the compressor.

Holy shit.

[JGriffin]

If you're working digital, and you've got a mono compressor with a sidechain input, you can use it as a stereo compressor. Just sum the two channels to an aux bus and feed that into the sidechain while you bounce the channels one at a time through the compressor.

Holy shit.

What he said.

[GussyLoveridge]

Galen Ulrich Elfert wrote:
If you're working digital, and you've got a mono compressor with a sidechain input, you can use it as a stereo compressor. Just sum the two channels to an aux bus and feed that into the sidechain while you bounce the channels one at a time through the compressor.


sorry - can you explain why this works, i don't understand fully?

[Scodiddly]

sorry - can you explain why this works, i don't understand fully?

Stereo compressors, as opposed to dual mono, listen to both signals and compress both signal the same if either exceeds the threshold. If you had dual mono and sent a stereo mix through, you might hear things moving from side to side because each side would only compress if its own signal exceeds the threshold.

So by summing to mono and feeding into the sidechain (what the compressor uses to decide when to compress) you get the same effect - if either left or right would exceed the threshold, it'll get compressed.

[Scodiddly]

...and yeah, it's a brilliant idea to do that.

[GussyLoveridge]

no shit. awesome.

[vvv]

I gotta think, tho', there has to be some problem with that - it's too cool.

Hmm.

Would you might get phase-cancellation such that some of the sidechain input would be different that way?

Not that it won't work, but that might be a issue?

(I have little to no experience with sidechains - are the trigger tracks already summed in those stereo compressors that have 'em?)

[Z-Plane]

I have bounced stereo files through a mono preamp many times and you should have no problem bouncing one channel at a time via your DAW. If you are concerned about the sync its easy enough to test - process one channel twice giving you two separate but identical bounces, reverse the phase on one and sum together where you should hear complete silence - anything else does indicate a sync error.

[Galen Ulrich Elfert]

I have little to no experience with sidechains - are the trigger tracks already summed in those stereo compressors that have 'em?

I believe most stereo compressors sum the control signal (the output of the detector), but I've heard of some that sum the audio signals.

I imagine there might be a difference. Since the control signal is rectified, side information would not be cancelled out when you add the two channels together. A compressor that combined the signals before the detector would only be reacting to mid information.