But more importantly, sidechain compression can be a vital mixing tool for stopping low-frequency tracks from interfering with each other in the mix and producing bass mud in the music.Ī lot of DAW programs these days include stock plug-in effects that include sidechain functionality built in. With the right ratio set on the compressor, this can produce a subtle-to-extreme pumping sound to the music. Most commonly, you feed a quarter-note kick drum track into the sidechain of a compressor that attenuates the volume of a synth pad, bass or whole group of tracks when the kick drum sounds. You can think of it like the kick drum scooping out the frequencies from the compressed tracks.
The technique uses the audio signal of one track to trigger a compressor or sometimes a gate placed on a second track so that the second track is silenced or quieted when the first track exceeds a certain dB threshold. Ride the waves of their results after the jump. Three affordable short-cut plug-ins to sidechain compression make the process easy. Since the technique is so ubiquitous, what is the best plug-in for the job? If you produce electronic music inchances are you will need to apply sidechain compression to some of your instrument tracks.
