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Sidechain Several Tracks To One Kick Without A Routing Mess

Bass, pad and vocal all need to move for the kick. Group, send, volume shape or listen on one channel: four ways, and when to duck only the low end.

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By Nolvra

One Kick, Five Tracks That Need To Move

Sidechaining one bass to one kick is a solved problem. The trouble starts when the bass, the sub, the pad, the chord stab and the vocal reverb all need to step back on the same hit. Every DAW can do it, and every DAW makes you choose between a routing diagram that nobody can read a week later and a set of compressors that each react a little differently. The choice that matters is not which plugin to use. It is whether the tracks should follow the kick that is actually playing or the grid the kick sits on.

Grid Or Kick Is The Real Decision

There are two kinds of duck. One is shaped by the tempo: a curve that drops on every beat and recovers before the next, whatever the kick track is doing. It is perfectly regular, costs no routing and does not care if the kick changes. The other follows the kick audio: it ducks when a hit arrives, harder for a loud hit, not at all when the kick drops out for a fill.

A four on the floor track is happy with the first. A trap pattern with a kick that skips, doubles and stops for a bar needs the second, because a grid duck pumps through the gaps where there is nothing to make room for. Decide this first, then pick the method below that matches it.

Four Ways To Make Several Tracks Duck

Group The Tracks And Duck The Bus

Route everything that should move to one group or bus, put a single compressor on it and key that compressor from the kick. One attack, one release, one place to change it. The cost is that every track on the bus ducks by exactly the same amount, which is right for a pad and a stab and often too much for a vocal reverb.

Send The Kick To Several Compressors

When the tracks need different depths, give each its own compressor and send the kick to all of their sidechain inputs. It is the most flexible version and the one most likely to turn into a routing mess, so name the sends and colour the kick so the next session still makes sense.

Use A Muted Trigger Instead Of The Real Kick

If the kick has a long tail or the pattern is busy, make a silent trigger track with a short click on every hit you want to duck on, and key the compressors from that. You decide where the room is made, independent of what the kick sample does.

Duck Only The Low End

A full band duck moves the hats and the air along with the bass, and that is where the audible pump comes from. Split the track at the point where the kick lives, often somewhere around one to two hundred hertz, and duck only the part below it. The low end gets out of the way, the top stays steady. The 808 under the kick guide covers the case where the bass note itself is the better thing to move.

Where PULSE Fits

PULSE covers both kinds of duck in one plugin. In SYNC it pumps on the host grid with no sidechain at all and with zero latency, using one of sixteen curves or one you draw. SIDECHAIN follows a real kick, and AUTO finds the kick in the input for you.

For several tracks the part that removes the routing is PULSE BRIDGE. Put it on the kick, where it leaves the kick untouched, finds each hit and sends it on a channel, A to D. Every PULSE on the bass, the pad or the vocal set to listen on that channel ducks on that kick, each with its own depth and curve. LOW BAND limits any one of them to what sits under BAND FREQ, so the bass moves and the top of the same track does not. If your low end still feels crowded after the duck, building better low end is usually the next problem to look at.

Signs The Duck Is Set Wrong

  • You hear the hats or the reverb tail breathing. Limit the duck to the low end.
  • The bass pumps through a bar where the kick drops out. You are on the grid and the pattern wants the kick.
  • Every track moves the same amount. Split the bus or give the quieter elements a shallower depth.
  • The kick sounds smaller with the duck on. The release is too long and the bass returns on the kick's tail.
  • A week later nobody knows why the pad ducks. Name the route or collapse it into one channel.

One Kick, Every Track Listening

PULSE ducks on the host grid with no routing, follows a real sidechain or finds the kick itself, and PULSE BRIDGE lets every PULSE in the session listen to one kick.

See PULSE

FAQ

How do I sidechain multiple tracks to one kick?

Either group the tracks on a bus and key one compressor on the bus from the kick, or send the kick to the sidechain input of a compressor on each track. The first is simpler, the second lets every track duck by a different amount.

Can I sidechain without routing the kick?

Yes. A tempo synced volume shaper ducks on the grid with no sidechain input at all. It does not follow changes in the kick pattern, so it suits steady patterns best.

How do I sidechain only the low end of a track?

Split the track into a low and a high band and duck only the low band, or use a sidechain tool with a band limit, so the bass moves out of the kick's way while the top of the sound stays put.

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