the beginner’s guide to live <
Sidechain routing
Most of Live’s audio processing effects have a
single stereo input, but Compressor, Gate, Glue
Compressor, Auto Filter, Multiband Dynamics
and Vocoder all feature an auxiliary or
‘sidechain’ input that enables them to accept
another audio signal separate to the one being
processed. What these effects all have in
common (aside from Vocoder, which is a special
case that we cover in Extreme effects with
Vocoder on p142) is that they make use of
envelope followers.
An envelope follower detects the amplitude
level of a signal and uses it to control the effect
processing that signal. For example, a
compressor only begins to attenuate the signal
once its input has exceeded a certain threshold
level; and Live’s Auto Filter has an Envelope
parameter that determines how much the
> Step by step 25. Ducking a bassline with a kick drum
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Drag Kick loop.wav and Bass loop.
wav onto audio tracks in Live’s Session
View, and Press Ctrl/Cmd+L to set up a
loop around the clips. Drag a Compressor
from the Audio Effects folder onto the
bass track, then click the Sidechain
Toggle triangle at the top left-hand corner
of the interface to bring up the effect’s
sidechain parameters.
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The Compressor’s Release parameter
determines how quickly it responds to
input level changes. Turning it up gives
the kick more room to breathe, but if you
don’t want to squash the bass too much, a
faster setting is the way to go. Setting the
Release to 20.0ms gives a good balance
between punchy kick and solid bass.
(Audio: Faster Release.wav)
amplitude of the input signal modulates the
filter cutoff frequency.
Sidechain routing involves sending a signal
from another track to the envelope follower, so
that the amplitude of that track, rather than the
main input signal, is the one controlling the
effect and defining how it sounds. The most
ubiquitous application of this technique is
sidechain compression, where the input signal is
‘ducked’ (attenuated) when a particular sound
on another track plays. A famous example of
this in action can be heard in the Eric Prydz
classic Call On Me, where the musical loop
ducks in volume when the kick drum plays,
creating a pumping effect.
So-called ‘trance gate’ effects, meanwhile,
feed a gate effect with a sidechain input from a
hi-hat (or other percussive sound) track to raise
Click the Sidechain button to activate
the Compressor’s sidechain input, then
click the Audio From drop-down menu to
display the list of available audio sources
and select the kick loop track. On
playback, you’ll see the Compressor’s
Threshold meter respond to the input it
receives from the kick track.
Solo the bass track. We can tune the
sidechain input’s response to a specific
frequency range with the effect’s built-in
equaliser. Click the EQ button to activate
it, then click the Sidechain Listen
(headphones) button to hear the EQed
input signal. Set the sidechain EQ mode to
Lowpass. This filters the input signal so
that only low frequencies duck the bass.
ABLETON LIVE: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE 2015 / 47
and lower the volume of a sustained signal, such
as a lead guitar or synth pad, creating a rapidly
strobing sound.
Not all uses of sidechaining are so obvious,
however, and it’s often applied imperceptibly to
allow particular elements of a track to punch
through the mix. In this walkthrough, we’ll show
you how to use Live’s built-in sidechaining to
help a kick drum and bassline both sound loud
and full in the mix.
Eric Prydz’ Call On Me brought
pumping sidechain
compression to the charts
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Drag down on the Threshold fader
and eventually you’ll see the Gain
Reduction (GR) meter start to pump
along with the kick drum. This shows us
that the Compressor is lowering the
volume of the bass whenever the kick
plays. Set the Threshold to -20dB. (Audio:
Sidechain compression.wav)
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Set the Frequency to 80Hz, then click
the Sidechain Listen button to make
the bass audible again. Unsolo the bass
track to hear how the effect sounds. You
can use the Ratio knob to control the level
of the ducking, and even mix some of the
bass into the sidechain signal with the
Dry/Wet knob in the Sidechain panel,
making the effect less pronounced.
(Audio: Filtered sidechain.wav)