Sidechain and make up gain n00b question

[bigdaveo11]

Hey guys,

I was under the impression to leave the make up gain alone when using sidechain compression (ie set it at 0). However in a recent tutorial the producer was adjusting the make up gain. If someone could shed some light on this basic question that would be great!

Thank you!

[skimpi]

If it sounds good do it, sometimes I like to move the gain up as I want the sidechain to pump at a particular rate, but then its not loud enough, so I increase the make up gain, I find if you just move the fader up then it will make the ducked out part louder, but increasing the make-up gain will make the difference between the ducked out part and not ducked out part bigger. You can probably do that just by lowering the threshold more though instead, and then if you boost the gain, if you have a part where there is no ducking, the sound might be too overpowering. But yeah if it sounds good just do it, its not gonna make your track sound shit just cos you adjusted the make up gain.

[bigdaveo11]

makes sense now, appreciate the detailed explanation! Answered my question.