Applying sidechain compression
Sidechain compression might sound like a fancy term, but the concept is fairly simple: take one track’s signal, and let it control a plugin on another track. When applied to a compressor, you can think of it as “ducking” the track. An example that’s easier to imagine is a podcast scenario. Let’s say you have a music track that you want to lower every time someone speaks. You apply a compressor to the music track, but instead of using the music’s own signal to lower the volume, it’s set to the speaker’s. Every time the speaker talks, the music’s compressor will react and lower the volume, and when they stop talking the music will come back up in volume according to the release setting.
Musically, sidechain compression can serve two main purposes:
- To create a rhythmic “breath” or “pulse” to a track (common in electronic dance music)
- To lower certain...