Hey i was doing a bit of mastering and i noticed something a bit weird and was hoping mabey someone here could help me sort it. Basicly when everything in the mix is playing it sounds great and pumping but as soon as the kick say drops away its like a huge boost in the volume and then its ducked back down again as the kick starts. Its really annoying and ive managed to sorta put a plaster on it with some volume automation but i really wana sort this, any ideas?
Limiter.
If there are peaks like that though, there has to be something happening at that moment in time that is making that happen. I would look through and triple check everything.
Yer its weird in just the mixdown version it sounds fine its just like little snare rolls and stuff that go through the roof as soon as the kick is gone. Its like something is triggering the limiter hard but tbh ive managed to controle it and the result isnt unpleasent its like a nice big climax and then bang everything kicks back in and ive atleast managed to sort it so that its not unbearable.
basically your compressor on the master is squashing the sound and staying squashed because the way that compressors react to sub frequenices with in the kick drum sometimes causeing the compressor to compres for longer periods than its set to, once the kick is removed the rest of the track is let to breath and take up the headroom that the compressor now has.
sort of extreme gain pumping, sometimes used to great effect. Listen to some of Alex calvers Glitch label techno tracks top hear this in full effect and done well.
easiest way to stop it, turn down the threshold on the compressor until theres not much between the kick in and kick out 
Compressor in series is the also one of the most efficient technique…put a compressor after your sidechain compressor and adjust the threshold…you can also play with attack or release depending on what u r looking…& also it is better to use two compressor instead of pushing hard a single compressor…
Meant to reply to this earlier. I really hate that sound when the kick comes out. Always think its very poor when I hear it on other tracks. 100% Jon - its when the low stuff is removed.
My 3 solutions when it happens to me: All involving automation.
1. Automate the Volume of the whole break section down.
2. Automate the Threshold.
3. Automate a filter after your mastering stuff, taking the bottom end out of track. Handy on little breaks at end of bars etc…
Depends on whats right.
How about triggering the compressor from a silent kick track so it wont be affected whether or not the audible kick is playing?
It really is annoying tho cos your so set on pushing limiters and compressors that you forget about triggering 14 different thresholds. Volume automation has been my best solution as well as just pulling down the thrsholds.
Put another 4/4 kick on a separate track. Turn off it output. Use that as the sidechain. This will also help with sidechaining in breakdowns and for builds.
Also sounds like your kick might be too loud… What Jon said - it’s smashing your limiter or compressor and eating up all your headroom.
what jon sloan said. You need to keep sidechaining that kick even when the kick is not present. just make a track with some kicks during the times that the main kick is absent and deactivate it. sidechain (insert a sidechain compressor before or after the other one) whatever elements you have sidechained to the other one.
Easiest way to fix your problem.
@xenomachino, …it can be done but it will leave you with the pumping sound in the breaks… & sometimes it is not desirable… it is better to use compressors in series… i have tried it & it showed some good results…
Lol to all the people telling me to run a sidechain trigger throughout the track im not an idiot and a trigger is running throughout the track. I think it is the sub frequencies triggering the compressor but really my best solution has been volume automation.
