Tweak the attack and release times to taste, depending on the specific effect you want to achieve.Adjust the threshold and ratio controls so that the bass is compressed by the desired amount whenever the kick drum hits.Some DAWs automatically allow any audio track to be “picked up” by the compressor’s sidechain input.Depending on your DAW, you may need to create an aux send that routes the kick signal to the bass compressor’s sidechain.This signal will control when the compressor engages. Select the kick drum audio as the sidechain input.Insert a compressor onto the bass track (select a compressor with a sidechain or key input).

In this example, we’ll sidechain the bass guitar compressor from the kick drum, but the same setup can be used for any tracks: Here’s how to set up sidechain compression.

A sidechain is often referred to as a key. The kick drum signal is sent (bussed) to the sidechain input of the bass compressor where the sidechain (“brain”) of the compressor analyzes the kick signal and tells the compressor to turn the bass down when the kick drum plays. Here we see a bass track routed through a compressor. The kick drum signal will trigger the compressor on the bass track so the bass dips in level each time the kick hits. In this case, we may want the bass sound to dip in level each time the kick plays so that we hear the attack of the kick clearly. For instance, two or more instruments often compete for attention in the same frequency range, like a kick drum and sub-bass. The concept of sidechaining can seem complicated at first, but once you master it, sidechain compression will help you achieve better separation and clarity in your mixes. Unlike traditional compression, which applies gain reduction based on the level of the signal you’re compressing, sidechain compression allows you to trigger gain reduction based on the level of a different source. Sidechain compression is a mixing technique that allows a compressor on one track to be controlled by another source in the mix. In this blog, you’ll learn how to set up sidechain compression on any track or bus, and I’ll share some of my favorite tips to help you dial in punchy, detailed, modern mixes.

As track counts continue to grow and mixes become more complex, producers are looking for ways to carve out space and enhance the impact of each track. Sidechain compression has been around for decades, but it’s become an increasingly popular technique in the last few years.

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