Reply To: What is the most effective method for side-chaining kick & bass,?

Michael, thank-you so much for your previous interview.

I have been thinking about this question, and decided to make a quick course on sidechain compression, as it’s such a powerful technique, that has many unique uses in the audio industry. (Not just the pumping we’re used to in EDM Dance Music.)

In short, a manual volume automation gives you most control, but more tedious (but again, great control over exactly what you want to do).

There are “sidechain plugins” as you mentioned like Gross Beat is capable of doing.. and they are a quick and easy way to do it, which is essentially like the manual way above, but much faster.

Finally, the basic single-band compressor is the “quick and dirty” way to do it, however, it does follow the initial sound’s natural curve.. so that can really keep the groove of the music naturally, then you dial in your settings.

(A bonus one is a multi-band compressor and just using it on the low-end.. it keeps the mid/highs, but just fixes the issues of low-end clash.. not so much an effect, but a critical mix fix tool.)

Keep an eye out for this sidechain compression course. Or, I also talk about sidechain compression in my current how to use audio compression course.