Creative Tips for Using Side-Chaining
October 9th 2017
Side-Chaining? You may have never heard of it, or you may be a seasoned producer, either way it’s a great technique that can be used creatively and technically in your music.
What is a side-chain? A side-chain is effectively an input into a device, the strength of this signal tells the device such as the gain controller of a compressor, how much to reduce it’s gain by. For example most audio compressors will feature a side chain input.
Using this input can by used to ‘duck’ signals, the most common use in dance music being to reduce bleed between the kick drum and bassline, and thus clean up the low end of your mix.
Used creatively sidechains can be used to create the classic ‘pumping’ bassline effect found in genres from Electro House to Trance and Psytrance. Many filters also have a sidechain input, making them ideal for creative use.
Obviously there’s more to it, and those experts over at Computer Music Magazine have written a short article about using sidechain inputs for creative effects.
Read ‘8 creative sidechaining tips’ on Music Radar.
Learn more about exactly what a side-chain is on Sound On Sound.
