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Ok so the benefits of sidechaining bass or leads to the kick are well known, but do any of you sidechain pretty much every track to the kick to really bring it out? Depends on the vibe of the song I suppose, but for hard hitting tunes...

Yeah if you're making commerical house in 2004.

No but I do sidechain certain things. I always sidechain my sub to the main hits in the beat so that it pulsesnin and out and that way I can make my kicks as fat as I want. Otherwise might sidechain pads or breaks but thats about it.

depends what im going for - some tracks sound fucking wicked with everything sidechained. gives you a kind of pulsating feel. i like it.

I don't side chain, I don't use compressors and I don't use limiters. I am 1337.

You can get some cool sidechain gating effects that bring in pads only when there is space in the mix, which can fill out a mix nicely. Good for electro house and breaks and stuff.

legend4ry wrote:Yeah if you're making commerical house in 1994.

Fixed

I like sidechaining, it is fun, and I like how it sounds when I use it. Gives it a lot of movement.

If I'm making 4/4 stuff I'll generally sidechain to get that 'pumping' feel without overdoing it and going all Alan Braxe on myself. For dubstep, because I find myself using more atmospherics, I'll often sidechain some of the longer background sounds, like pad sweeps or random background noise, but with longer release so the sound kinda washes around the beats as opposed to snarling in and out of the spaces between them.

In terms of getting sidechaining, the 4/4 stuff tends to use the standard FL Peak Controller Right Click Link to Yadda Yadda, but for the atmospheric stuff I'll use Sidekick;

http://www.twistedlemon.nl/site/index.p ... &Itemid=60

Wicked little Sidechain VST, hardly any processing footprint, easy to use and cheap as hell for a license.

What type of attack and release settings do you guys mainly use in the sidechain compressor for sub bass and big bass/mid synths?

stevemac wrote:What type of attack and release settings do you guys mainly use in the sidechain compressor for sub bass and big bass/mid synths?

Not a clue, I just adjust stuff until it sounds like how I want it to sound.

wub wrote:

stevemac wrote:What type of attack and release settings do you guys mainly use in the sidechain compressor for sub bass and big bass/mid synths?

Not a clue, I just adjust stuff until it sounds like how I want it to sound.

good advice!

i do! but you wouldnt be able to tell..... i use it for headroom rather than an effect. with short enough attack and release you would never know

i do not sidechain anything unless I want that particular effect, you dont Need to sidechain anything to make space in your track.

I agree I've never sidechained anything so far. I've learned the technique and I know what it does. Maybe if I could compose a song with a lot more things going on at once than, drums and a lead.

I use Renoise, so it's not 'real side chain compression' and I only do it as a creative effect, not as a mixdown tool.

Having said that, the 'four to the floor kick to bassline' isn't what I use it for much. Unless it's gabber.

Hell, most of the 'side chaining' I do is modulating effects parameters with the gain of something else. I.e. kick drum controls the amount of bitcrushing on a sample/pad.

I love signal follower. o.o

Certainly not everything, but I find if you SC the percussion elements to say, a kick, it gives a nice little bit of tension with the "suck" before the snare hits.
Also, had good results with really heavy use of it on pads with a real short release- gives a great feel of space as the dynamic changes

I never use it as a helping tool to bring the kick out... Only as a creative effect...

Well if you like subby kicks like me, its the way to do it, I find it really gives the track that thwack!

LordBid wrote:Well if you like subby kicks like me, its the way to do it, I find it really gives the track that thwack!

if i want to do that, i'll just write my subline so that it isnt hitting when the kicks are.