Complete beginners forum
DAW or Software Questions
Hey Tu!
1. Ableton's stock plugins do the job but other plugins come with extra benefits like multiband for instance (sidechaining/ducking the high and low frequencies in different amounts). Devious Machines Duck is one plug that does this for instance. The reason it's useful is you might not need to duck the whole signal, which can make the sound cut out a bit too obviously, but might prefer to just get the bass out the way and have the highs stay mostly as they are.
Another option is dynamic EQ btw. This is a type of EQ that can be fed a sidechain signal, e.g. kick drum, which then controls an EQ band, like a low frequency band or shelf, which can be made to lower when the sidechain signal is received. It's another subtler and sometimes much more preferable form of ducking. Pretty sure this is covered on the EQ Fundamentals course https://www.producertech.com/staff-picks/148/eq-fundamentals?number=PT001
2. You can find a sidechain on Live's filter and also gate. They can both be used to achieve different things - the filter sidechain allows you to modulate the filter cutoff with the sidechain signal, to bring high or low frequencies (or a band/notch in those modes) in or out, often to create interesting rhythms, e.g. using a drum loop as the sidechain signal on a filter on a bass track. You can learn about that in the Art of Filtering course. https://www.producertech.com/staff-picks/170/the-art-of-filtering?number=PT007
Gate sidechaining is a bit like a compressor one in reverse - the signal being sent to the sidechain opens the gate (in default mode), so makes the sound heard, after which the gate closes and the track is turned down or silenced. You might use this for instance if layering two sounds together, or if wanting to create a 'gated' effect on a sustained sound, e.g. using a drum loop as the sidechain signal for a gate on a noisy, sustained synth track.
So, they all have different effects and you should play around with all of them to get to know them, after which you'll be able to decide for yourself when you might find them useful......
3. That's up to you. The reason people do that is if they want the ducking to occur the whole time, whether the kick in the track is heard or not. If you use the actual kick in the track, and then create a fill where the kick drops out, then the bass and other sounds being sidechained won't be ducking anymore and might suddenly shoot up in level, which might not be something you want!
Hope this helps!
updated by @ptmembership: 08/20/21 04:33:52PM
