How to set up sidechain compression in Ableton Live

Sidechain compression makes one track duck in volume whenever another track plays. The classic case is a bass or pad pumping under every kick. In Ableton Live you put a Compressor on the track that should duck, unfold its sidechain panel, turn on Sidechain, choose the kick as the source, then lower the Threshold until you hear the pump. Everything you need is built into every edition of Live 12: Intro, Standard and Suite.

This guide covers the routing step by step, starting settings for kick and bass, the ghost-trigger trick for a pump that doesn't depend on your actual drums, and two ways to get the effect without a compressor.

What you need

How to sidechain in Ableton Live

1. Add a Compressor to the track that should duck. This is the bass, the pad or the chords. It is not the kick track.
2. Unfold the sidechain panel. Click the small toggle in Compressor's title bar, next to the device on/off button. The sidechain controls open to the left of the main controls.
3. Turn on Sidechain. Click the Sidechain button at the top of the panel.
4. Choose the trigger. In the Audio From chooser, select the kick track. If your drums live in a Drum Rack, pick the kick's own chain rather than the whole kit. Then choose where to tap it: Pre FX, Post FX or Post Mixer.
5. Check the signal. Play the track. The input meter should jump on every kick. Click the headphones button to hear exactly what's triggering the compressor. Click it again when you're done, or you'll only hear the trigger.
6. Lower the Threshold. Pull Threshold down until the ducked track dips on each kick. The lower it goes, the more it ducks.
7. Shape the pump. Use Ratio for depth, Attack for how quickly the dip starts, and Release for how quickly the level recovers.

That's the whole technique. The next sections are about making it sound right.

Starting settings for kick and bass

These are starting points, not rules. Adjust them by ear, at the level you'll mix at.

To make the release follow the groove, loop four bars and adjust Release until the bass swells back in on the offbeat. For a more obvious "pump", lengthen the release rather than pushing the threshold further.

Two more controls matter here:

• Gain in the sidechain panel boosts the trigger level. Use it when you get too little ducking even with the Threshold all the way down. It only changes what the compressor reacts to: the sidechain audio is never heard through the compressor.
• Dry/Wet in the sidechain panel blends the trigger between the external source (100%) and the track's own signal (0%). Leave it at 100% for classic sidechain compression.

Ableton's Audio Effect Reference documents every one of these controls, including the sidechain EQ filter types.

The ghost-trigger trick

Sidechaining from your real kick has a drawback: when the drums drop out in a breakdown, the pump stops too. The fix is a ghost trigger, a kick you never hear that exists only to drive the compressor.

1. Create a new MIDI track with a simple kick sample or drum instrument.
2. Program a kick on every beat (or any rhythm you want the pump to follow) across the whole arrangement, including breakdowns.
3. Pull the track's volume fader all the way down.
4. In Compressor's Audio From chooser, pick the ghost track and tap it at Pre FX or Post FX.

It works because of where you tap the signal. According to Ableton's Routing and I/O chapter, only the Post Mixer tap passes through the track's volume fader. Pre FX and Post FX take the signal before the fader, so the ghost track still triggers at full level while staying silent in the mix.

The same idea gives you a pump that's cleaner than any real kick. A short, punchy kick sample with no tail makes the compressor's response easier to predict.

Sidechaining from a sampled loop

If your drums are one bounced audio loop, you can't select a kick chain. You have two options:

• Use the sidechain EQ. Turn on the EQ in Compressor's sidechain panel, choose the low-pass or band-pass filter, and set it around the kick's fundamental (roughly 50–100 Hz). The compressor then reacts mainly to the kick, not the hats and snare.
• Split the loop first. Run stem separation on the loop to pull out the drums stem, then use that stem, or a kick isolated from it, as the trigger.

Sidechaining without a compressor

Two alternatives are worth knowing. Both produce the pump without any compression artefacts.

• Auto Pan-Tremolo in Tremolo mode. Put Auto Pan-Tremolo on the ducking track, switch it to Tremolo, sync the rate to one cycle per beat, and use Shape and Phase Offset to line the dip up with the kick. It's perfectly regular and doesn't care what the drums are doing, so it's effectively a built-in ghost trigger.
• Gate with a sidechain. The video shows the opposite of ducking: a Gate on the bass, sidechained to the kick, so the bass only sounds when the kick hits. It gives a very tight kick-and-bass relationship. The Gate's Attack, Hold and Release shape how long the bass stays open.

The video also shows sidechaining Auto Filter. With an external sidechain, its envelope follower moves the filter cutoff in time with the trigger, which is useful for rhythmic filtering on pads.

Other things to sidechain

• Pads and chords under the kick: the classic house and techno pump.
• Reverb and delay returns ducked by the dry signal, so tails bloom only between phrases. Put the Compressor on the return track and sidechain it from the source.
• Vocal chops that duck under the lead vocal, so the two never clash. See how to build the chops in Simpler.
• Music under speech, for podcasts or voiceover. This is what the manual calls "ducking".

Frequently asked questions

How do I sidechain in Ableton Live 12?

Put a Compressor on the track you want to duck, unfold its sidechain panel from the title bar, turn on Sidechain and choose the kick track in Audio From. Then lower the Threshold until the track dips on each kick.

Why isn't my sidechain compression doing anything?

Check that the sidechain input meter moves when the kick plays. If it doesn't, the source or tap point is wrong. If it moves but there's little ducking, lower the Threshold or raise the sidechain Gain.

Can I sidechain from a muted track?

Use a track with its volume fader down instead of the mute button, and tap it at Pre FX or Post FX. Those tap points sit before the fader, so the track still triggers the compressor without being heard.

What's the difference between Pre FX, Post FX and Post Mixer?

Pre FX takes the track's signal before its devices. Post FX takes it after the devices but before the mixer. Post Mixer takes the final output, after the volume fader.

Can I use Glue Compressor for sidechain compression?

Yes, in Live Standard and Suite (Intro doesn't include Glue Compressor). The video shows it set up the same way as Compressor: enable its sidechain, pick the trigger and lower the Threshold.

How do I sidechain without a compressor in Ableton?

Use Auto Pan-Tremolo in Tremolo mode, synced to the tempo, and shape the dip with Shape and Phase Offset. It creates a steady pump without depending on the kick.

Does sidechain compression need Live Suite?

No. Compressor, Gate, Auto Filter and Auto Pan are in every Live 12 edition, including Intro. Only Glue Compressor needs Standard or Suite.