Tutorial for starters ableton live sidechain compression. Sidechain compression in ableton live is easy, so well try that first. Rather, it started with a film audio engineer named douglas shearer, who needed a way to tame the sibilance the hard s sounds of dialogue recordings. To hear an example of heavy sidechain compression, listen to one more time by daft punk. It may shock you to learn that the initial applications for sidechain compression in the 1930s were not directed at making french filter house. Using sidechain compression on bass sidechain compression is an important production technique used in many genres to add space in a mix, create dynamic changes or extreme pulsing effects. If you enjoyed this tutorial you might find our book the secrets of dance music production a helpful resource for similar tutorials. How to get that perfect to kick to sit with your perfect bass.
How to use sidechain compression in ableton live 8. The following guide uses fabfilters promb multiband compressor inserted on a sub bass track. A kick drum can be used to reduce the volume of a bass instrument right as the kick hits. Again, aim for subtle compression with db of gain reduction, and a fast attack and release. Lastly, a sidechain audio track to route the kick signal to promb. The compressor inserts in a mixed drum track, while a send from a separate snare track triggers the compressor.
Auto pan does a great job adding stereo width and movement to your sounds, but it can also be used to create gate style stutter effects or duck the volume to clear frequencies, so your kick drum strikes. How to use sidechain compression in ableton live mmmmaven. My experience is only from ableton live, but i assume it is very similar if not the same for the other major daws. A compressor set up for a track to duck a 909 kick drum in live 10.
Watch a tutorial on sidechain compression in ableton live 10. Sidechaining means modulation of the destination track with a source track e. A common example would be making the compression level on a bass controlled by the output volume of the kick drum. I know in daws, midi ghost notes can be used to trigger the sidechain compression.
My sidechain compression preset conists of ff1 mode, an instant attack and a release time of an eigthnote. Sidechain compression sidechain compression has become something of a dirty word in recent years, but it doesnt necessarily have to imply heavilypumped french house or inyourface edm. The most classic example is the use of a kick drum to duck other sounds like a pad or a bassline. Were ducking the bass or the pad whenever were playing a kick sample. You can hear the effect of the sidechain compression in isolation by soloing the bass track remember this wont work if the kick track hasnt been put into solo safe mode, as the sidechain signal itself will be muted. In dance music, it is often used with the bassline and kick drum. Sidechain compression is a cornerstone technique for producers in a wide range of genres, particularly dance. When i cut the kick, i lose the pumping the sidechain creates. I used ableton for this example, but the principles are the same in any daw. In this video, we learn how to use sidechain compression in ableton live 8. Make sure the sidechain toggle arrow is open, turn on the sidechain switch on, and set the audio from input to your kick drum track see image.
The human ear is better at discerning higher frequencies than lower frequencies, so it makes sense that. Activate the external sidechain button on the compressor. Sidechain compression is used to rhythmically change the volume of audio channels to provide space and definition. The deesser preset in live 10s compressor notice the eq portion of the sidechain section. So when the kick drum sounds, the bass gets more compressed so it can keep cutting through the mix. But live includes sidechain sections in other devices, too namely gate, multiband dynamics, and auto filter. Agree with whoever said only a couple db of compression on the bass triggered by the kick. The ultimate guide to sidechain compression in ableton. Sidechain compression in logic pro x recording connection. Its most often employed on basslines, automatically ducking the volume of the bass to let the kick drum through without muddying up the low end. The sense of separation between kick and bass can often be further improved by rigging a ducker on the bass channel that is, a compressor whose side. Traditionally, sidechaining is using the signal from one source as the input for an effect on another. In order to make your kick cut through your mix you need to use compression in a specific way. From here, change the filter type and anything else you need to change.
Sidechain compression of reverb or delay return busses is a great way to avoid this, particularly with lead synths or vocals. How to sidechain bass with kick in ableton live youtube. This will now route the kick drum track through the sidechain input of the compressor, letting the kick dictate the compression. Learn the difference between a regular compressor and a sidechain compressor, and how to use sidechain compression in ableton live. Select your trigger in audio from, and select pre fx or post fx in the box underneath. External sidechain sources pumpingducking in this lesson rob shows you how to implement one of the best creative compression techniques. Drums by far the most common use of sidechain compression, sidechaining is often used to make drums, the kick in particular, shine especially when coupled with heavy synths, bass, and subbass. The ultimate guide to sidechain compression in ableton live 9. For example, if youre trying to make room for your kick, apply the glue compressor to your bass. How to use sidechain compression in ableton black ghost audio.
Sound design instructor chris carter teaches us how to set up sidechain compression in ableton live 10, and demonstrates some of the things. From the audio from dropdown box, select drumsour drums channel and from the dropdown box underneath, select drum rack kick pre fx. Part 11 of 31 struggling to get your kick drum and bass guitar to both be heard in the mix. In fact, the process has been around for many years, though it was more often referred to as ducking, where the level of one audio source is used to duck. First, find a track that you think could use some sidechain compression. Daft punk and their peers such as motorbass and cassius. This is also a good way to get that bawoom bawoom like in goa trance by pumping the bass synths from the kick. How to mix bass and kick with multiband sidechain compression.
When this happens, the basslines volume is lowered. Load a compressor to your track, click the sidechain toggle. If i select this pad as the sidechain source, all the drums will compress the bass. Basslines sidechained to the kick drum are a ubiquitous sound in contemporary dance music. Also, you can have the bass thumping louder than usually because it dips out of the way when the kick hits.
Dont see how i can feed my kick into the bass compression as they are on seperate tracks with seperate audio outrputs. Sidechain compression in ableton live is neat enough just on its own, but we can get really inventive by combining what weve already done with effects placed before a compressor in an audio chain. Six sidechain compression alternative plugins dubspot. How do i sidechain my kick in ableton to activate the compression on my bass for example. Ableton live is a music production and performance software program whos strength is in both midi based projects and live performance based projects. Learn the history and uses of sidechain compression in part 1 of abletons. Insert a send in the kick drum track and assign it to the gates sidechain input. How i finally learned to mix kick and bass landr blog. Whenever the kick hits, the bass dips in level to make more space for it. However, you can use sidechain compression along with eq to improve the balance between the kick and bass. Ill be using ableton live 10 to show you how to set everything up, but the same principles translate to your software of choice, as every daw has a compressor thats capable of sidechaining. How to use sidechain compression in ableton black ghost.
Ill set up a kick, kick and snare and 4x4 sidechain triggers where ill put breaks, rides, percs nearly all my drum stuff through these, it creats the best pumping bouncy drums. In this piece, david abravanel provides some examples of sidechaining applications in live 10 from recreating classic pumping house chords to headspinning experimental trigger networks. Nicky romero kickstart instant sidechain compression. How to sidechain with 3rd party plugins in ableton live. The bass line and kick drum are both low frequency sounds. Also, i was able to beef up the bass a bit by having it sidechained by the kick, to avoid the two lowend parts fighting for space. Click this button to display the sidechain circuitry options. Now that weve learned about sidechain compression and its origins in part 1 of this series, its time to get our hands dirty. As i tend to write most of my tunes in 128 bpm, this gives me a value of 234 ms e. Sidechain compression is particularly popular in dance pop because it allows instruments to cut through a mix at all times. Drag and drop ableton s glue compressor, found under the audio effects tab, onto the track you want to apply compression too. The same thing can apply when compressing the master mix.
In maschine, only pads with samples can trigger the compression. Makes it pump real nice and allows the kick to poke through and sound huge. By strategically using a key input and sidechain you can have your kick drum triggering a compressor on the bass guitar, turning it down just a hair every time the kick drum hits. During a few sections of my track, i cut the kick, but the bass is still playing. Unfold the sidechain section with a triangle icon upperleft corner, activate sidechain button and select your kick track from the audio from drop down menu with your kick playing simple 4 x 4 pattern. Thank you for reading and i hope this was helped you understand what a side chain compressor is and how to use side chain compression in your mixes. Ableton lives auto pan device can easily be set up to simulate sidechain compression and add that pumping effect youre looking for. When they are playing at the same time, they can interfere with each other creating an unclear sound. Ableton lives auto filter effect provides classic analog filter emulation.
A common scenario involves compressing a bass track sidechained to the drums. The filter frequency can also be modulated by an envelope follower andor an lfo to create moving filter effects. On the compressors sidechain input, select kick audio 3 from the dropdown menu. Sidechain compression is a must know when it comes to electronic music. This allows us to add effects that would usually completely wash out our sound at high levels, without actually washing out the sound. Heres how to use sidechain compression in ableton live. How to sidechain bass with kick in ableton live distortion. What sidechain compression does, is every time the kick drum hits, the bass sound will become quieter.
However, theres more to sidechaining than this, as these eight creative tips should prove to you. From there, you have to make sure the threshold is set low enough for the kick to trigger it, adjust the severity of the compression with the ratio control, dial. Bass channel kick channel classics with modulation happening only when there is a signal present in the source track with gain compensation as the only exception. Id like to add that if your having problems sitting the kick and bass then the sounds being used are not right to begin with, you shouldnt need to do anything to make em. If the kick part is getting buried, try adding a compressor to the bass part and sidechain it to the kick. That can mean bass guitar, kick drum, or bass synthesizer. When i bypass it i feel like everything is just a mess. I find that to be a good starting point to get a nice groove between bassline and kick. After this, go and mute your kick drum from the track so you can better hear with the. Sidechaining in ableton live sidechain compression is a very common tool in radio programs or radio advertisement when the presenter talks over a song, it gets automatically lowered so theres no need to manually fade down the volume.
We explore some sidechaining techniques using live 8s compressor. Sound design instructor chris carter gives a tutorial in sidechain compression. This is the track that youll be ducking out of the way for another element in your mix. How to use sidechain compression in ableton live youtube. Once the kick drum hit is over, the bass sound will become louder again until the. Which is the best vst plugin for side chain process. The first two parameters to investigate are threshold and release. The kick is doing its thing and theres just no real like connection between the kick and the bass. Because were bussing the kick to a drum track, however, we wont be able to.
Open up the compressor and select the sidechain so you can decide how the impulse will sound on the different tracks. How to use track stacks and sidechain compression in logic. With multiple uses, you will be taught how to create pumping basslines, using the compressor to create synergy between the drums and bass, as well as how to use ducking in podcasts and. Learn the history and uses of sidechain compression in part 1 of ableton s guide to this important but often misunderstood production technique cookie banner by clicking accept, you consent to the use of cookies and other technologies to process your personal information in order to personalize and enhance your user experience, and get. Inserting the compressor insert a compressor device on the bass track. This way we command the compressor to activate itself only when the kick drum is heard before any effects are. Sidechain compression will save your bass beat production. In addition, the envelope follower feature can track either the filtered input signal or an external sidechain source. Create one track for your kick drum and one for the bass. When this happens, the basslines volume is lowered temporarily.
In ableton live sidechain compression is very easy. And only then, your kick drum and bass will stand out. Heres a little compression trick you can use to free up a bit of space for both to live peacefully. One reason for doing it is because the kick thats going to sound good in your track, might not be quite right for controlling a sidechain. A common use is to sidechain bass, pads or samples to the kick for a pumping effect. Learn the best way to set up this essential effect in ableton live. Now lets turn on sidechaining for the chords, lead, and bass. A sidechain compressor will only effect the sound being sidechained when the source audio plays in this example, whenever the kick hits, so if you want to apply regular compression to the bass as well, you will need to put another nonsidechain compressor on the bass.
In order to make your kick cut through your mix you need to use compression in a specific way put your kick and bass into separate tracks. Setup for conventional compressionbased pumping in ableton live. Abletons sidechain compression pane is hidden behind a sidechain toggle button. Otherwise i can filter out the lows of the drum stem in ableton and compress with. My name is jimmy allison and i am an ableton live certified trainer. Sidechain compression its also an interesting feature used in. Thats the easiest way to see the sidechaining in action. Tags ableton ableton 9 ableton live ableton live software ableton live 9 ableton live 9 tutorial ableton live tutorial bass bass effects bass effects pedal bass pedals beat maker compression compressor edm electronic how to how to sidechain how to sidechain in ableton howto kick live musician sidechain sidechain compression sidechaining sound. Ten tips for better basslines page 4 of 10 attack magazine. Learn how to create that pumping bass sound using sidechain with a kick drum. The fact is that any instrument and any frequency can be boosted by sidechain compression, but the effect has become almost synonymous with bass frequencies in club music.
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