Ableton Forum

Hey!I'm doing some sidechaining in some of my newer projects.
I'm noticing though that when I set up my sidechain, I'm hearing small clicks and pops along with what's being sidechained.
So for example, I want to sidechain my pad. My trigger is the kick drum. I have my ratio set to inf. with a very short attack and release. My threshold is really down.
Is there anything I'm doing wrong? I like the track I'm working on but this problem is slowing me down.

Hey mate!

You tried messing with your attack and (more likely) release time? Sometimes if that's set too fast you can get some weirdness.

ClintB wrote:Hey!I'm doing some sidechaining in some of my newer projects.
I'm noticing though that when I set up my sidechain, I'm hearing small clicks and pops along with what's being sidechained.
So for example, I want to sidechain my pad. My trigger is the kick drum.

Usually this is about the attack or the release setting. See if you can time them better.

It could also be that you encounter the bad side of Compressor and Glue. See my previous response in Subject: Sidechain pops: Does this eat up headroom in a mix?

Note that since I've abandoned Native Instrument Compressors, not because they click easily — they don't — but because I prefer others.

Hey...So I'm in my studio now, This is the weirdest thing. I put my headphones on and you know what, it's not popping or clicking I'm hearing. I'm hearing the kick drum itself...the kick drum that is muted and acting as my trigger for my compressor.

So basically I have a ghost track with a kick drum on it. This track is deactivated but I have that track routed to a bus track where I have my compressor.

The compressor is set to sidechain and the "audio from" is from my Ghost track.

I'm trying to sidechain a 4 bar pad section. When the pad plays, I can hear the ghost track playing faint in the background.

On the speakers, it sounds like clicks and pops but when you put the headphones on, you can clearly hear my kick drum.

How can i have or use my ghost tracks without me hearing it?

I want to be able to sidechain different sounds/instruments in my song, even if my main Kick drum isn't playing.

SOLUTION!!!! Ok...I fixed it. Anyone else having this problem this is what worked for me.

On the compressor you have to set it to RMS and Peak...then you make whatever adjustments you need to make.
I'm able to get some serious sidechaining going on now without any noise or issue. When I switched it back to peak, the problem resurfaced.
I don't know why that is but at least I was able to solve this issue.

Like everything else with music production, sometimes if you keep messing with enough buttons, you'll fix anything!

Thanks for the responses...

ClintB wrote:This track is deactivated but I have that track routed to a bus track where I have my compressor.

The compressor is set to sidechain and the "audio from" is from my Ghost track.

The bolded part is not necessary with Compressor nor with Glue. They take care of the routing. You only need to route the SC signal with third party compressors.

ClintB wrote:SOLUTION!!!! Ok...I fixed it. Anyone else having this problem this is what worked for me.

On the compressor you have to set it to RMS and Peak...then you make whatever adjustments you need to make.

But you just said you didn't hear any clicks but the kick drum itself as you routed it? So how can this be a solution for anyone else? As I explained above it's not normal to route the SC source to a track with Compressor or Glue. And if yo do with a third party plug-in you route it to the SC input of the plug-in.

ClintB wrote:SOLUTION!!!! Ok...I fixed it. Anyone else having this problem this is what worked for me.

On the compressor you have to set it to RMS and Peak...then you make whatever adjustments you need to make.
I'm able to get some serious sidechaining going on now without any noise or issue. When I switched it back to peak, the problem resurfaced.
I don't know why that is but at least I was able to solve this issue.

Like everything else with music production, sometimes if you keep messing with enough buttons, you'll fix anything!

Thanks for the responses...

almost always need to set it to RMS, at least if you're using the stock compressor...the peak setting I think almost can't "handle" the fast attack time required to sidechain stuff (I'm assuming you're talking 4 to the floor beat stuff)...RMS lets you get the same effect with a more transparent sidechain

other option is to get a plugin (or do it yourself) that does volume ducking on its own...I have been doing this more and more, I like the sound better