How to Sidechain in Ableton Live: Complete Guide

Learn what sidechaining is and how to sidechain in Ableton Live. This guide takes you through the steps of setting up sidechain compression. It also shows you how to sidechain third-party plugins.

Sidechaining is a technique in music production that uses an audio signal from one track to control an audio effect on another track.

Sidechaining has a variety of uses, from practical audio mixing to creative sound design. Several plugins have external sidechain inputs, including compressors, equalizers, gates, filters, vocoders, de-essers, synths, and similar devices.

As a music producer, you will find many applications for sidechaining. You can apply it to bass, drums, vocals, synths, effects, bus groups, full mixes, and more.

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The most common use of sidechaining in electronic music and pop music is sidechain compression.

Sidechain compression is an essential mixing technique that creates groove and separation between two sounds. Creating space for important elements in the mix will improve clarity, presence, and punch.

For example, use a sidechain compressor to control competing low frequencies between the kick and bass. Sidechain compression creates separation by quickly reducing the volume of the bass when the kick drum plays. This technique gives the kick drum space to cut through the mix.

This guide takes you through the steps of setting up sidechain compression using Ableton Live ‘s Compressor device. You’ll learn how to use a sidechain compressor to make space for vocals being masked by a synth sound. This technique will make the vocals sound more present in the mix.

Note: You can use this exact sidechaining technique to reduce masking and clashing frequencies between any two sounds. It’s not limited to vocal mixing.

Instruments like synths, guitars, strings, and drums often have frequencies that interfere with vocals. These clashing frequencies affect the clarity, punch, and presence of your vocals.

Sidechain compression is an effective mixing technique that will help you control the instruments competing with your vocals.

Set up a sidechain compressor by first loading Live’s Compressor device on the instrument track clashing with the vocals. You could also group all the instruments with interfering frequencies and apply sidechain compression to the group. For simplicity, let’s use a single synth track causing frequency masking issues.

Access the Sidechain parameters by toggling the sidechain button in the title bar. The sidechain toggle button reveals two sections: External and EQ .

For this example, enable the Sidechain button to access the sidechain routing parameters. This step allows you to choose an external source like the vocals as a trigger.

Sidechaining requires an external sidechain trigger track. For this example, click the top dropdown menu under “Audio From” and choose the lead vocal track.

Every time the vocal plays, the synths will attenuate or “duck” in volume. Think of it as an automatic volume control. By reducing the volume of the synths, you create space for the vocal to sound more present in the mix.

Next, select “Pre FX” from the bottom dropdown menu. This option sets the external tapping point. You can tap the input signal from these three points:

Pre FX will give you a clean and more accurate signal. Vocal effects like reverb and delay can alter the accuracy of the trigger.

Adjust the compressor settings to get the desired results. The four primary parameters to set are Threshold , Ratio , Attack , and Release .

Start with a ratio of 2:1, a fast attack time at 0.10 ms or less, and a fast release time at 30 ms or less.

Next, lower the threshold level until you have a subtle amount of gain reduction around 2-3 dB.

Last, adjust the Ratio, Attack, and Release controls to taste. Aim for a fast attack that quickly attenuates the masking instrument without causing pops or clicks. Also, find a fast release time that recovers from gain reduction before it re-triggers. However, setting the Release too fast can create a “pumping” effect and other unnatural sounds.

Note: For best results, apply subtle amounts of side compression that sounds natural and transparent. The goal is to reduce the masking instruments enough to let the vocal shine without sacrificing their impact and presence.

Ableton Live features an external sidechain source chooser for several of its native devices. You can route audio from Live’s Compressor, Glue Compressor, Auto Filter, Multiband Dynamics, Gate, Corpus, and various Max for Live devices.

However, third-party plugins used in Ableton Live 9 and older versions do not provide a sidechain input chooser. Routing audio within a third-party plugin is a feature only supported in Live 10 and later.

These steps show you how to sidechain third-party plugins in Live 10 and earlier versions of Ableton Live:

Live 10 simplified sidechaining by adding a routing panel to VST3 compatible plugins. Follow these steps:

Note: Sidechain functionality depends on the plugin. If the plugin does not support external sidechaining, then it won’t have sidechain routing.

Live 9, and earlier versions do not support sidechain routing within third-party plugins. However, it’s still possible to sidechain third-party party plugins in earlier versions of Live. It requires more configuring to route the sidechain trigger signal.

This method uses Live’s track mixer In/Out section to route a kick track trigger source to FabFilter’s Pro-MB. Follow these steps:

Note: You will not hear the sidechain trigger track. The signal is being sent to the third-party plugin and not the Master output.

There’s also a downside to this approach. You will need to create a new sidechain routing track for every third-party plugin you use for sidechaining. The best way to manage the multiple tracks is by “Grouping” them to preserve screen real estate.

You can use a sidechain compressor in various ways. The possibilities are near endless. Sidechaining is excellent for creating separation, groove, excitement, effects, unique sounds, and more. It’s a versatile and necessary technique to learn!

Here are five examples of how to use sidechain compression as a mixing tool:

Here are five examples of how to use sidechain compression for sound design:

Learning how to sidechain in Ableton Live is essential. It’s a technique every music producer should know.

Spend time experimenting with the different ways you can apply sidechaining. Discover how it can shape and affect sounds. You’ll find exciting ways to boost your music production skills and the quality of your mixes.