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Bit of a stupid thread but I just want to make sure I'm not making an arse out of myself.

I said that choosing a kick sample that sounds good when the Sub is removed/reduced is a better alternative to having to sidechain the kick to the sub as it leaves space for your sub to play undisturbed in it's own frequency range.

I was told that I was cutting corners by doing that and that it makes your tunes sound worse. So is sidechaining better? The person I had this argument should know a lot more than me but I want a second opinion before I go and start sidechaining my subs to my kicks

(I hope this makes sense, I'm tired)

Do what you feel sounds best and suits your style. People like to think that THEIR way of doing things is the end all be all and to pretend that they feel somewhat confident in what they're doing, they turn into anti-sidechaining sizan.

I've done tunes where I sidechained and EQ'd the kick. Both have their purpose.

And you know, me personally, I love a very low, boomy, subby lowpassed kick with a very low sinesub sidechained to it in some tunes, mostly when I'm doing 4x4 shit. Makes it sounds like the whole tuny is being carried by a fucking behemoth.

If you arrange things right you can have your cake and it too. Arrange your sub and kick to play nice...watch adsr settings on both...plus you can get a groovy call and response going w them as well.

fragments wrote:If you arrange things right you can have your cake and it too. Arrange your sub and kick to play nice...watch adsr settings on both...plus you can get a groovy call and response going w them as well.

This.

Having an intelligent arrangement can often mean that you don't need to do too much to your key elements, such as having bass hit just after the kick, envelope settings (as fragments mentioned) and other tricks - allow you to create space without fucking with their signals too much. Somehow, to me anyways - it ends up being a more interesting tune, as well. Off-beat hits always carry a funky flavour.

I usually do both. don't know if that is bad or not.

I always sidechain the kick to the bottom end of the reese and the sub, subtle ting, 2~3db to put emphasis on the kick.

Hircine wrote:I always sidechain the kick to the bottom end of the reese and the sub, subtle ting, 2~3db to put emphasis on the kick.

If I sidechain a kick to a sub/bass this is how I do it...just a gentle duck you can't really hear.

lol while I don't think Cyberoptics's comment that you were cutting corners was all that necessary, I think a subtle sidechain as described above could only benefit the kick/sub relationship if done properly. I don't think it's always necessary to sidechain though, depends on the kick and the song.

I like using something with a short attack like a closed hi-hat sample as my sidechain signal. Copy/paste the kick MIDI to the hi-hat sample and disable audio sending to the master, then use that channel as your sidechain signal. Adjust attack to minimal and release to taste.

teakthek wrote:lol while I don't think Cyberoptics's comment that you were cutting corners was all that necessary, I think a subtle sidechain as described above could only benefit the kick/sub relationship if done properly. I don't think it's always necessary to sidechain though, depends on the kick and the song.

Haha you saw it. I was only asking here as he made out like leaving space for the sub would ruin the track and that sidechaining was necessary

It all depends what kind of tune ur making.

Nothing is right, nothing is wrong.

Try triggering an EQ cut.