Ableton live features an external sidechain source chooser for several of its native devices. Sidechain compression will save your bass beat production. This is common in compressors designed for buss processing so that the kick drum can be diminished in the detector allowing for a more even compression action. Is there a way to do reverse sidechain compression. Many music producers like using lfo tool, volumeshaper, or chain shaper to apply rhythmic pumping effects to their music. Theoretically you could use ableton s side chain compressor like a desser using this trick. This technique is commonly used for sounds that are similar in frequency, such as the bass line and. A common example would be making the compression level on a bass controlled by the output volume of the kick drum. 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. Side chain compression in ableton live 8 part 2 up to ableton live version 6, the software didnt include a compressor device with side chain input. 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 non sidechain compressor on the bass. How to use sidechain compression in ableton black ghost audio. A quick look at how to use sidechain compression technique to make your bass pump with the kick in ableton.
Its a type of compression that temporarily reduces the volume of one signal to let another one through. Im going to show you how i did that in just a second. Often, producers will put sidechain compression on the bass of an edm track and have it triggered by the kick. Another common sidechaining is used is in electronic dance music edm where theres heavy kick and bass. Sound design instructor chris carter gives a tutorial in sidechain compression. A sidechain compression is basically a compression using an external signal instead of the original signal. The human ear is better at discerning higher frequencies than lower frequencies, so it makes sense that. Sidechaining can be a great way to claw back space in the mix.
Watch a tutorial on sidechain compression in ableton live 10. The amount of compression is determined by the amount of energy in the sidechain, so in a bass heavy mix, the amount of compression is going to be heavily influenced mainly by the bass. So lets hear what these sound like togetherand also with the side chain compression added. 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. Many compressors allow us to effect the sidechain signal with a builtin filter. Ableton lives auto filter effect provides classic analog filter emulation. If this technique is implemented correctly and perfectly, it allows your drums especially kick and snares to cut through the mix.
The filter frequency can also be modulated by an envelope follower andor an lfo to create moving filter effects. In this piece, david abravanel provides some examples of sidechaining applications in live 10 from recreating classic pumping house chords to head. What we want to achieve here is some sidechain compression on the fx return, so that the reverb only flowers between the notes. Abletons sidechain compression pane is hidden behind a sidechain. Part 1 concepts and history from pop to hiphop to sound design to heavy techno, sidechaining is an essential tool for modern production. Part 3 in this tutorial we continue with part 3 of our series of production tips for deep house and techno production. This guide looks at two methods used to setup sidechaining with thirdparty plugins in ableton live. Sidechain compression is most often triggered by the kick, as we can hear very clearly in make you feel. A compressor set up for a track to duck a 909 kick drum in live 10. A classic example would be to put your bass parts on one bus and everything else on another. This reduces any muddiness that might happen from having too much low frequency sound when the kick and bass play simultaneously. If the kick part is getting buried, try adding a compressor to the bass part and sidechain it to the kick.
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. Daft punk and their peers such as motorbass and cassius. Create one track for your kick drum and one for the bass. Try adding an instance of bf76 to the kick channel, and with the bass channel in solo, listen to how the bf76 on the kick changes the sound of the bass. Learn how to create that pumping bass sound using sidechain with a kick drum. Open up the compressor and select the sidechain so you can decide how the impulse will sound on the different tracks. How to sidechain to kick in ableton with compression. However, theres more to sidechaining than this, as these eight creative tips should prove to you. How to use sidechain compression in ableton live mmmmaven. Max graham studio quick tip 006 sidechaining bass in ableton.
As i tend to write most of my tunes in 128 bpm, this gives me a value of 234 ms e. Using this sophisticated technique you got an option keep the overall volume balance untouched while solving the lowend kickbass conflict where only low frequencies of the bass will get influenced by incoming kick triggers. To have a better understanding of side chaining,id like to focus a little bit on compression. It is a type of compression where the effect level on one instrument is controlled by the volume level of another instrument. Activate the external sidechain button on the compressor. Now lets turn on sidechaining for the chords, lead, and bass. The ultimate guide to sidechain compression in ableton. How i finally learned to mix kick and bass landr blog. How to sidechain with 3rd party plugins in ableton live. Sidechain compression is an important topic to cover before we go any further. 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. For instance, you can create a pumping effect on a pad by inserting a compressor to the pad track and triggering it with a bass drum from another track. Youd insert a compressor on your everything else bus and side chain it from your bass bus with both buses routed to master.
I find that to be a good starting point to get a nice groove between bassline and kick. For example, loading a compressor on the bass track and choosing the. Thats the easiest way to see the sidechaining in action. In this video, we learn how to use sidechain compression in ableton live 8. This allows us to add effects that would usually completely wash out our sound at high levels, without actually washing out the sound. We can alter the response of the sidechain compression by changing the dynamic shape of the sidechain signal itself.
A sidechain configuration can be used to trigger an effect that is inserted on one channel with an audio signal from another channel. Ten tips for better basslines page 4 of 10 attack magazine. The ultimate guide to sidechain compression in ableton live 9. Sound design instructor chris carter teaches us how to set up sidechain compression in ableton live 10, and demonstrates some of the things. My experience is only from ableton live, but i assume it is very similar if not the same for the other major daws. Sound design instructor chris carter teaches us how to set up sidechain compression in ableton live 10, and demonstrates some of the things you can then do with it. This max for live device, made specifically for ableton live, is already being used by many producers like kill the noise, mat zo, wuki, willy joy, 12th planet, and dillon francis. Another good compression tip is to use sidechain compression on certain tracks. When its done right, it can add punch to your low end and sound very musical. You have the bass laid out and have a kick sample serving as.
Proper handling of this technique is one of the things that separate the men from the boys sorry gals, just a fixed phrase so please read on if you like the backstory. Ableton live 7 onwards introduced the new side chain enabled native compressor. First, find a track that you think could use some sidechain compression. Learn the history and uses of sidechain compression in part 1 of abletons guide. For fl studio, fruity limiter does the trick, by turning down the gain knob and turning the compression knob left so that it starts expanding instead of compressing. Some compressors, and in particular modern software compressors, have external sidechain capability. If youre looking for this vintage flavor in your compression, live 10 features the. This week we look at sidechain compression and creating a great sounding synth. Sidechaining is a way to duck down the volume of an audio track during the initial transient hit of the kick so that the kick sounds more impactful and your lets say you have a kick on track 1 in ableton live, and you have a bass instrument on track 2.
You can route audio from lives compressor, glue compressor. So now that you know what the shortcut is, you probably wanna know how to do it. For ableton live using gate with sidechain function seems to work. Even if you dont think you know it, youve heard it. For a banging kick drum i will put a side chain compressor on the bass set to ff1 with a. How to use sidechain compression in ableton live youtube.
Using chain shaper, you can avoid many of the clicking artifacts that come along. Learn the difference between a regular compressor and a sidechain compressor, and how to use sidechain compression in ableton live. Probably the compressor with expanding would also work. 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. In addition, the envelope follower feature can track either the filtered input signal or an external sidechain source. My sidechain compression preset conists of ff1 mode, an instant attack and a release time of an eigthnote. In this workshop, were going to look at how to use sidechain compression in your mixes, and discuss alternative ways to use it, just in case youre keen to create something other than the popular basspumping sound outlined below. But the technique isnt particularly well understood in the larger audio world. What is side chain compression and how to use a side chain compressor in productions to create a pump or duck effect or as a tool to make space in a mix. We have our drum track here, we also have this lynda padin the session, this is the custom instrument wecreated earlier in the course. Side chaining is basically using another signal to engage a compressor to. Ill be showing you how to sidechain your kick to your bass using abletons glue compressor.
Head over to the audio effects and drop an instance of the compressor into your bass track. Use software for sidechain compression effects currently, but would like some hardware that does this well. How to sidechain bass with kick in ableton live youtube. Ive heard that daft punk have used the lowly alesis 3630, but was wondering what else would work well. Here are few examples of sidechain compression in action. 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. However, you can use sidechain compression along with eq to improve the balance between the kick and bass. From here, change the filter type and anything else you need to change. In this example, start by placing plenty of reverb and delay found on bus 1 and 2 over the moog synth lead. In electronic music circles, sidechain compression is a key aspect of sound design. When the side chain input is inserted the audio on the side chain is used to set the parameters to process the main audio input.
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. 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. 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. However, ableton s glue compressor can perform a similar type of processing when placed into sidechain mode. Part 2 common and uncommon uses now that weve learned about sidechain compression and its origins in part 1 of this series, its time to get our hands dirty. In this example the bass is being set aside for a second to let the kick through. Applying aggressive sidechain compression and pumping effects. The drums will fill out the bass frequencies thats missing from the original bass, and if the bassline has a good midrange, it will sound like the bassline is being played without sidechaining.
Sidechain compression is a cornerstone technique for producers in a wide range of genres, particularly dance. Abletons glue compressor using natural sidechain compression settings. Again, aim for subtle compression with db of gain reduction, and a fast attack and release. After this, go and mute your kick drum from the track so you can better hear with the. Sidechain compression is a widelyknown technique in production that allows for one track to become quieter while another track is playing. Which hardware compressors have external sidechaining and are good to abuse for pumping effects. How to use track stacks and sidechain compression in logic. Usually something sustaining like a synth pad or string line or maybe a heavy bass. Heres how to use sidechain compression in ableton live. External sidechain sources pumpingducking in this lesson rob shows you how to implement one of the best creative compression techniques. How to use sidechain compression in ableton live 8. Now that weve learned about sidechain compression and its origins in part 1 of this series. Chain shaper by tech noir is an audio triggered, multiband sidechain utility that is designed for extreme accuracy. 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.