Ableton Forum

Hey i've been looking at sidechaining techniques, I use maschine and drop audio from it into ableton, I don't route midi, because i like to resample. But ppl talk about sidechaining with dummy clips in ableton instead of the audio. Is this a better idea, i can see this working well for high duckin dance music but what about other types of drum patterns, breaks? In what situations should I use a gate, filter or compressor to sidechain?

I almost always side chain from a dummy kick as this gives me the option of sidechaining even when the kick isn't playing. Also, if your kick is dynamic, a dummy kick will give you uniform ducking.

The most common use of sidechain compression is ducking other elements to let the kick through. Try slight amounts on the master and play with attack and release to create groove.
Side chain with a filter when you don't want to duck the entire frequency range of a sound. This can be usefull if you have two bassy elements that only overlap periodically.
Side chain gating is the opposite of side chain compression. Try a long pad sound and sidechain gate it to something with short rhythmic stabs for that Mylo sound or use it on a heavily verbed snare chained to itself for that 80's dshhh dshhh sound. Using this method you can add space only when space is needed hence freeing up room for other elements.

Thank you very helpful. I've never routed sidechain to the master either, great tip.. Thank you for a speedy reply also.

So I should isolate every element when mixing too, to get precise side chaining? (ie. snare to a pad, kick to the master)

I personally think sidechaining to the master bus is a terrible idea. If you want to sidechain compress several tracks at the same time, route them all to an audio bus and then do it there. Maybe you can do it and maybe it will give you the effect you're looking for, but it's just bad practice to put anything on your master bus that isn't for mastering. Otherwise these may answer some questions for you:

Sidechain Compression Using Ableton’s Compressor
Sidechain Compression Methods Using Operator and Auto Pan
Gate Basics, Sidechaining and How to Use on Synths

Vios wrote:I personally think sidechaining to the master bus is a terrible idea. If you want to sidechain compress several tracks at the same time, route them all to an audio bus and then do it there. Maybe you can do it and maybe it will give you the effect you're looking for, but it's just bad practice to put anything on your master bus that isn't for mastering. Otherwise these may answer some questions for you:

Sidechain Compression Using Ableton’s Compressor
Sidechain Compression Methods Using Operator and Auto Pan
Gate Basics, Sidechaining and How to Use on Synths

You're right. Sorry. I meant mix buss. Derp.

Hello guys.

I worrying about sidechain buss. why do we need that? I know we do a alot compression on our sounds and it is neceassary. But how can I prepare to my sounds (synths, keys, drums, vocals) for sidechain buss ( low ratio comp, middle comp, high comp..) and how to do that...

I'm waiting for your answers guys. thankksss

U.G.U.R wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 21, 2019 9:57 am

Hello guys.

I worrying about sidechain buss. why do we need that? I know we do a alot compression on our sounds and it is neceassary. But how can I prepare to my sounds (synths, keys, drums, vocals) for sidechain buss ( low ratio comp, middle comp, high comp..) and how to do that...

I'm waiting for your answers guys. thankksss

Hi, you dont "NEED" it but it is a very useful tool.

So a common example of its use is to duck the bass when the kick plays, this helps prevent clashing frequencies and keeps the kick more present than the kick.

It can also be used in weird and wonderful ways.

For example, try adding the side chain to a pad. The pad will play long notes and the side chain dummy clip can be something like a percussion or top loop. This will create a cool rhythm on your pad.

Also, don't forget you can kind of sidechain using M4L Envelope Follower, too; just map it to the target channel gain, for example.

Fanu wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 29, 2019 4:30 pm

Also, don't forget you can kind of sidechain using M4L Envelope Follower, too; just map it to the target channel gain, for example.

Hi i tried that tip just now but the envelope follower is sending the fader up what i want it to duck down. Is there a way to inverse the mapping?

Si B wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 02, 2020 10:28 pm

Fanu wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 29, 2019 4:30 pm

Also, don't forget you can kind of sidechain using M4L Envelope Follower, too; just map it to the target channel gain, for example.

Hi i tried that tip just now but the envelope follower is sending the fader up what i want it to duck down. Is there a way to inverse the mapping?

Yes: in E.F., you can set the maximum and minimum values.
With bipolar parameters (i.e., something that is, for example, -100 to 100), notice that 50 represents the zero / middle value.
So for EF to make an EQ duck or a fader go down, the values should go from 50 to 0.

You can use Nicky Romero Kickstart
https://www.reddit.com/r/ableton/commen ... n_ableton/

Auto Pan can do most of what that plugin does, just set Phase to 0.