In your exploration of mixing and music production, you’ve most likely come across a unique form of audio ducking known as sidechain compression.
Sidechain compression is one of the most useful tools in the electronic music production realm. Today, we’re going to go over a few ways to implement sidechain compression in your mixes using the tools available in FL Studio.
But first…
What is Sidechain?
In the simplest terms possible, you can think as the side chain as the “boss” of a compressor plugin. Essentially, decide chain will tell the compressor plugin how to react to an incoming signal.
The term sidechain is a shortened version of the phrase “side – signal chain.” In this case, “side” means a signal different from the main input source, while “signal chain” refers to the audio process, which in this case, is compression.
What is Sidechain Compression?
Sidechain compression is a unique mixing tool or method in which the level of one instrument controls the level of another instrument through compression. We often hear sidechain compression in electronic dance music, the way it is just as common in all modern styles of mixing and music production.
Often, a compressor is placed on the bass track, so that each time a kick drum hits, the level of the bass drops in order to create space for the kick.
Let’s take a look at some of the most common uses of sidechain compression.
Common Uses of Sidechain Compression
You will usually find sidechain functionality on dynamic processors, including compressors, Dynamic EQs, and gates. Truly, any effect that uses a threshold-based system should work. To get you going, let’s look at a few situations in which you often encounter sidechain compression.
Bass Covering Up Kick
One of the most common uses of sidechain compression is getting the bass to drop in level each time the kick plays to make room for the kick.
In essence, ducking the bass out will make the kick drum more audible. Using sidechain compression on the kick and bass is a great way to get the kick to punch through the mix more, especially if you have kick and bass sounds that are in the same frequency range.
Mid-Range Instruments Covering Up the Lead Vocal
Getting a lead vocal to cut through the mix can be difficult, especially when you consider how many mid-range instruments can easily get in the way. With sidechain compression, you can subtly turn down all of your offending mid-range instruments each time the vocal is present.
To do so, you can send all of your instruments to a single bus and use a compressor that is side-chained to the vocal so that the overall level of the mid-range instruments is turned down whenever the vocal is heard.
Rhythmic Pumping for Effect
Of course, you can also use a sidechain for that EDM pumping effect. I often like to sidechain all of my instruments to the kick, so that each time the kick hits, the entire mix pumps in rhythm. This can be a fun way to add movement to your tracks.
Now that you have a better idea of when you might use sidechaining in your mixes, let’s look at a few ways you can get it done in FL Studio.
Getting That Killer 80s Reverb Sound
Snare drum reverb hit its pinnacle in the 1980s, and one of the best ways to enjoy that unique reverb tone is with sidechaining.
You can do so by inserting a gate directly after a reverb plugin on a send channel. Then, send the snare to the reverb channel, as well as to the gate’s sidechain. Now, every time the snare plays, the gate will open up and let the sound of the reverb through. After each snare crack, the gate will close immediately.
Essentially, the existence of the snare signal will trigger the reverb, while the lack of the snare signal will cut the reverb, either gently or abruptly depending on your settings.
#1 Sidechain with the Fruity Limiter
The first technique is to use the Fruity Limiter, which also happens to be the most common FL Studio sidechaining technique.
To give you an example, let’s pretend that we are sidechaining a kick drum to a bass. We will then use the Fruity Limiter to compress the bass signal each time the kick appears.
The reason we might want to do this is that kick and bass often share the same or similar frequency range, from anywhere between 60 and 120 Hz. This can make either one or both of the instruments sound weak.
Step 1 – Add the Fruity Limiter to Your Bass Track
The first thing that we need to do is add the Fruity Limiter to the bass track.
Next, we need to link the kick and bass track signals. You can do so by clicking the bass mixer track. While the track is selected, you can right click on these small arrow on the bass track and choose the “sidechain to this track option” in the popup menu.
Step 2 – Adjust the Fruity Limiter Settings
Once the tracks are linked together via the side hain, we will want to tweak a couple of the parameters on the bass track’s Fruity Limiter. Open up the Fruity Limiter plug-in on your bass track and switch it from LIMIT mode to COMP mode. Then, switch the number in the sidechain box to 1.
Next, we will drop the threshold amount on the compressor and increase the ratio.
At this point, you should see that the kick signal is working to compress the bass whenever it plays.
The kick should be poking through the mix nicely.
Note that you may need to adjust a few more settings to get the results you’re looking for. I often find myself having to adjust the Release and Curve settings on the Fruity Limiter.
The release setting controls how long it takes for the compression to wear off the bass. when the release is at a higher setting, the compression will last longer. However, when the release is at a lower setting, the compression will bounce back to unity gain much quicker.
It is crucial to make sure the setting is not too low, or it could cause unwanted distortion.
One of my favorite ways to determine the best release setting is to time it to the tempo of the track.
As for the attack setting, I often wanted to be as quick as possible, as I want the bass to duck out as soon as the kick hits.
#2 Sidechain with Fruity Peak Controller & Fruity Balance
This method of sidechain compression is very similar to the above method, though it does not use compression to achieve the results. Instead, you can use Volume knob in the Fruity balance control to automate the volume of the bass.
Step 1 – Add the Fruity Peak Controller to Your Kick
To start, open up your mixer and add a Fruity Peak Controller to the kick track. This will add a unique internal controller to change the volume of the bass based on the volume of the kick.
Step 2 – Link Fruity Balance
Next, you will head over to your bass track and add a Fruity Balance plug-in. You will then link the volume knob of the Peak Controller on a kick track to this plugin. To do so, open up Fruity Balance and right-click on the volume knob. Then, choose link to controller in the drop-down menu.
Lastly, look at the internal controller in the new pop-up window and select “Peak control – Peak” to create a new link.
Step 3 – Adjust Fruity Peak Controller Settings
To get things sounding right, you will need to play around with the Peak Controller settings on the kick. To start, you can crank up the Tension control I need kick Peak Controller. Next, you will change the direction of the volume knob in Fruity Balance by turning it all the way to the left.
Then, move the Base knob up the volume in which you want your bass to sit each time the kick is triggered. This might take a little bit of time and tweaking to get the settings right.
At this point, you should be able to see that the curve on the Peak Controller looks very similar to the compression curve we created using the first sidechain technique.
#3 Sidechain with Automation Clips
The last technique isn’t really sidechaining, as we’re actually using an automation clip to control the volume knob in Fruity Balance, adjusting the level of the base independently from the kick drum. However, you can achieve the same results. The beauty of this method is that it is far more versatile than the above two, allowing for more control and flexibility over your side change sound.
Step 1 – Add the Fruity Balance Volume Automation Clip
To start, you will head over to the mixer track for your bass and add an instance of Fruity Balance. You will then link the volume knob in Fruity Balance to an automation clip. To do so, open up Fruity Balance and right click on the volume knob. Once the drop-down menu is open, select “create an automation clip.”
You will then see an automation clip pop up in your playlist.
Step 2 – Shape Your Automation Clip
To achieve a side chain or ducting effect like we did with the other two techniques, you will want to manipulate the shape of your automation clip to resemble the Peak Controller or Fruity Limiter compression curve.
To give you a better visualization of how they should look, you can use your kick pattern for reference.
#4 FASTEST – Using Our Free Patcher Preset
However, if you want to make sidechaining as easy as possible, we recommend using our free Patcher preset, which you can download at the FL Tips website. Simply add our Patcher preset to your bass part or Melody, create a new MIDI out insert in the channel rack, and copy your kick MIDI to new MIDI in the insert.
The beauty of using a Patcher preset is that you can load it up anytime you want to sidechain in a pinch.
Final Thoughts – Experimenting with Sidechain Compression
Sidechain compression is one of the most valuable production and mixing processes in electronic music. Even beyond the EDM realm, it is a frequently used technique in just about any modern genre, allowing you tp create cleaner and clear mixes.
Whether you are simply trying to get various elements in your mix to fit together, or you’re looking to do something completely innovative, sidechain compression can be incredibly beneficial. We hope that the process of sidechaining doesn’t feel as complicated as it did before.
If you are looking to elevate your production or mixing game, make sure to head on over to the courses page on our website and check out our wide range of FL Studio production and mixing courses. Each course has hours of pro FL Studio material to take you from amateur to FL Studio master in no time.