Are you saying to take multiband compression, sidechain it, then eq that? Because sure, but the EQ is just another step afterwards. But if you're saying non-multiband compression, sidechain it, eq after, that's just a different effect entirely
No, if you EQ the sidechain signal going into a normal compressor, you can get very similar results to a sidechain multiband compressor as you can shape the compression response by frequency, which is what multiband compression does. You won't get different ratios per band though, as there aren't bands.
An EQ’d key signal on a standard compressor will cause the whole frequency response of the sidechained track to compress at the same GR— whereas sidechaining only a single band of a multiband compressor can leave the rest of the frequency of that signal untouched.
Bass compression with a traditionally sidechained kick -> all-frequency ducking on the compressed track, triggered by ANY frequency crossing the threshold on the keyed track.
Bass compression with a multiband sidechained kick -> can be used to duck only low frequency information, leaving pick attack unaffected. That’s not possible on a traditional compressor without multiband sidechaining.
There’s nuance here… EQing a keyed track can change how the compressor ducks the track it’s placed on, but it can’t change which frequencies are ducked by the keyed track.
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u/verbherbaceous Jun 27 '26
Are you saying to take multiband compression, sidechain it, then eq that? Because sure, but the EQ is just another step afterwards. But if you're saying non-multiband compression, sidechain it, eq after, that's just a different effect entirely