How to sidechain in Ableton Live 12
Sidechain compression turns one track down every time another one hits: usually the bass or a pad ducking under the kick, so both are heard and the mix breathes with the beat. In Live 12 it takes one Compressor and four settings.
1. Put a Compressor on the track that should duck
That's the bass (or the pad, or the whole music bus), not the kick. From the browser's Audio Effects, drag Compressor onto that track.
2. Turn on the sidechain and pick the kick as its source
Unfold the Compressor's sidechain section with the triangle in its title bar. Since Live 12.2 it opens on the left of the device, with its own header. Switch the sidechain on (External, or Sidechain in older versions) and choose the kick's track in the source menu (Source, or Audio From in older versions).
- Kick inside a Drum Rack? Choose the Drum Rack's track as the source, then pick the kick's pad in the menu under it. Only the kick drives the compressor, not the snare and hats.
3. Set the compressor
- Ratio: start at 4:1. Higher pumps harder.
- Threshold: lower it until the gain-reduction meter moves a few dB on every kick. The further down, the deeper the duck.
- Attack: short, around 1 ms, so the bass drops the moment the kick lands.
- Release: somewhere from 50 to 200 ms. Set it by ear so the bass is back before the next kick: too short clicks, too long never recovers.
Play the loop and listen to the bass alone, then with the kick. You want the kick to punch through and the bass to swell back between hits.
4. Keep it pumping when the kick drops out
If the kick stops in a breakdown, the ducking stops too. A common trick: a second kick track with its fader pulled all the way down, used only as the source, with Post FX (or Pre FX) chosen in the menu under the source. It keeps driving the compressor whatever the audible drums do.
Or ask Amable
sidechain the bass to the kick
Amable puts the Compressor on the bass and points it at the kick, even a single Drum Rack pad.
how do I sidechain the bass to the kick?
Asked how, it offers to set it up or to walk you through it. Walking you through, it gives one step at a time in Live 12's names and checks your set before the next.
Free trial, no card needed. Needs Ableton Live 12.