This technique gives you the most control, but it's very painstaking. However, do this with a level control plugin (like Ableton Live’s “Utility”) rather than the channel fader, as if you want to adjust the levels in the mix later on, you're gonna have to move all the automation on your channel fader (and that’s a massive pain!). The fourth and final option is to do it manually by automating the level of your track. Set a 4/4 beat make sure that the volume is being automated rather than the panning or anything else, and then adjust the shape of the curve to your liking. Instead of a compressor you've actually just got a plug-in which is, in effect, a volume automation that is synced to the tempo of your track. Technique three is to use plugins like the Xfer LFO tool or the Nicky Romero Kickstart. The kick will reduce the gain for a much longer period of time because the kick is a much longer signal than our short rimshot.
However, kick drums are a lot longer than a very sharp tick, so the release time of the compressor is going to end up being set a lot lower (which is fine if that's what you want). Trigger it from the kick itself (rather than a sidechain tick), then the sidechain compression is going to meld together better and the shape is going to be more harmonious. Now some people prefer to this technique because they argue – quite rightly – that every kick has a different waveform, so if you
Simply route the main kick (instead of the dedicated side chain trigger) into the sidechain input of your compressor. Sidechain Technique 2: Trigger the Sidechain Compression from the Kick You can then simply copy and paste this compressor onto the other tracks you want to side chain and adjust the controls to your liking. If you want less or more sidechain effect you can either use the dry/wet knob, or the ratio knob (because you might not want it to reach complete silence every time the kick hits). Unless the gain reduction hits zero each time we're just reducing the volume of that track.
#NICKY ROMERO KICKSTART TUTORIAL FULL#
What we want is for this gain reduction to get right up to zero between every pump otherwise the bassline (or whichever track we’re side chaining) doesn't ever reach its full volume. Then we start working up that release time until we get the pump in the correct rhythm that we want for the rest of our song. The way we do that is to take the threshold right down to 0, take the attack down as fast as it will go and put the ratio right up. Now the tick from this side chain track is going to compress the bassline. Now open up a compressor on the track you want to sidechain compress (e.g the bass line), then route your sidechain trigger audio into the sidechain input on the compressor. Route the audio to “sends only” so you can't actually hear the drum playing, but the audio is still being sent through the system so we can access it through the send controls. Usually it would be a 4/4 beat but if you're doing a future bass track you'd usually program in your sidechain triggers to hit at the same time as your kicks play. Program in the pattern of the sidechain trigger that you want. I use a rimshot sound, actually, so all of the sustain and release is done with the controls of the compressor). Sidechain Technique 1: Dedicated Sidechain Trigger TrackĬreate a new MIDI channel with a sampler, and load in a drum sample (I prefer a very short, sharp tick. If you want to know how a compressor works, check this post out. NOTE: There are actually some advanced professor sidechain compression techniques to play with, too, but they’re a bit beyond the scope of this post.
Not many people know, though, but there are four different ways that you can achieve this effect (video of each at the end of this post): It can be used as an extreme creative effect, or as a subtle tool. It can help glue your kick and bass together.Ĥ. It can help your kick drum really punch through the mix.ģ. Here are some of the reasons it's such a useful technique:ġ. One of the first tracks that really brought it to the attention of a lot of producers was Eric Prydz’ “Call on Me”, with the strings being “ducked” by the kick drum, giving it a pumping feel (check it out below): Sidechain compression used to be nigh-on impossible, but with the advent of powerful plugins, pretty much EVERY compressor plugin now has this feature. It was truly one of those “Eureka!” moments (except I wasn’t sat in a bath at the time, of course.
For me, one of them was definitely getting to grips with sidechain compression. Sidechain compression is a technique that’s found its way into pretty much EVERY dance track in the world – in all genres – and for VERY good reason.įrom time to time, you learn something that helps your reach a new level of production quality.
#NICKY ROMERO KICKSTART TUTORIAL HOW TO#
Learning how to sidechain properly is a production technique that can just up the quality of all your tracks, and in this post, we walk through four techniques to achieve similar results.
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