Now say it: the kick ducks the bass
How would you make the kick duck the bass? Say which track the compressor sits on, what it listens to, and how you set each control.
Start each part with its opening words. Give a value or a direction for each setting: the word "sidechain" on its own says too little.
Tick each point your words make.
- Also worth saying
On the paper and in Live: the same controls
The names you may meet
| On the paper | In Live's Compressor | On some compressors |
|---|---|---|
| Sidechain, side-chain, key | External, then Source: the key's track | Key input |
| Ducking, pumping | (the sound it makes, not a control) | |
| Threshold | Thresh | Threshold |
| Ratio, Attack, Release | Ratio, Attack, Release | Ratio, Attack, Release |
| Gain reduction | GR | GR |
External switches the sidechain on; Source picks the track it listens to, here the kick. Then the grey in Live's display shows the kick.
In this picture External is on and Source reads Kick: the kick is the key. The yellow line is the gain reduction: it falls at every kick, by up to 19.6 dB, then climbs back until the next kick.
Ratio, Attack and Release (the plain dots) have the same names in Live; our model has a hard knee: Knee 0 dB in Live. Not asked for here: Post FX, Mix, SC Gain and SC Filter (how the key is heard), Makeup, Look., the Peak, RMS and Expand buttons, and Dry/Wet.
The picture of the Compressor is a screenshot of Ableton Live, used for teaching. Ableton and Live are trademarks of Ableton AG. Music Tech Studio is independent and has not been authorised, sponsored or otherwise approved by Ableton AG.
The compressor panel is our own drawing, in the exam's names. Its meters, its pictures and the sound all come from the same numbers: a model of a sidechain compressor, made for teaching. The bass is a recording; the kick is made in the browser. Made for a laptop or the whiteboard.