Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
MXR MB301 Bass Synth: the six-knob pedal is pictured in use against a petrol-blue background.
Bass Guitars “Thunderous sub-octave, expressive envelope, and lush modulation effects with killer tracking and sustain”: MXR unveils the MB301 Bass Synth – instant funk for your pedalboard
Plugins
Plugins How to get famous sounds and effects using only Logic’s stock plugins
Home studio
Music Theory And Songwriting You don't need to be a music theory expert to make electronic music, but it helps - here's our guide to the basics
Marshall Jefferson
Samples SampleRadar: 267 free deep house samples
Woman playing on a digital piano with headphones on
Music Theory And Songwriting Technically capable, but struggle to make your tunes sound musical? 5 simple music theory hacks to make your tracks stand out
 Playing a monophonic synth
Music Production Tutorials Play mono synth properly: the skills you need
50 producers
Music Production Tutorials 50 production secrets from the pros
  1. Tutorials
  2. Music Production Tutorials

How to create a punchy, pumping bassline

Tuition
By Computer Music Specials published 26 June 2012

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Duck and drive

Duck and drive

Bass sidechaining is one of the most ubiquitous techniques in dance music. Whatever kind of bass part your track features, you can use sidechaining to add bounce and pump, duck it to make way for other sounds, or simply pull your bass and kick in tightly together.

The basic concept is simple: sidechaining uses an external source to modulate a dynamic effect (normally a compressor) so that it is effecting the audio channel to which it is applied, but is not controlled by or following it. Rather, it uses another audio source, known as a sidechain key, to control when and how much it compresses.

In the case of bass, sidechaining is nearly always done using a kick drum to control the compressor, ducking the bass for the duration of the kick sound to ensure that the kick punches through. This often generates an audible pumping effect in the bass.

The results can vary according to the plug-ins you use, so the key to good sidechaining is finding a compressor that suits your needs - whether you’re after punch, heavy pumping or smoother sidechaining, which can be useful for real kits and electric bass guitar lines.

Once you’ve had a go at our technique that’s outlined over the next few pages, there are a number of additional things worth trying out with your sidechained bass parts. One is some firm limiting on the bassline after the sidechain compressor.

This is regularly overlooked, as common sense would seem to indicate that the limiting would undo the pumping effect - in practice, however, it often works to fatten the sound while retaining some of the pumping effect.

Another important thing to note is that compressors can change the overall level of the audio signal. This means that if your kick drum stops in the arrangement the level will leap up, as the compressor will no longer be getting any signal and will thus stop compressing.

You can balance this beforehand with the compressor’s gain so that the signal is about the same level with and without a sidechain source, or you can create a kick drum playing all through your track that is not set to any output and so is unheard.

For a complete guide to improving your mixes, check out Computer Music Special 54: Make Over Your Mix, which is on sale now.

NEXT: How to create a punchy, pumping bassline

Page 1 of 5
Page 1 of 5
Getting started

Getting started

Step 1: We start by adding the audio files Bass - no sidechain @ 125bpm.wav and Kick @ 125bpm.wav to our DAW (click here to download), setting the tempo and letting them play back in a loop. The effect works best when there is some compression on the master output, so we add some of that now.

Page 2 of 5
Page 2 of 5
Setting up the bus

Setting up the bus

Step 2: We like to use a bus as the sidechain trigger, as it allows us to use various sources, and in varying degrees. We change the output and our return track to Sends Only so the signal doesn’t get routed to the main output, then raise the Send on the kick channel.

Page 3 of 5
Page 3 of 5
Setting up the compressor

Setting up the compressor

Step 3: Now we add a compressor to the bass channel and take its sidechain signal from the return track. We pull the Threshold down and raise the Ratio to get a pumping effect going. We set a fast Attack and use the Release to set the timing of the pumping effect.

Page 4 of 5
Page 4 of 5
Varying the send level

Varying the send level

Step 4: Finally we have a little fun by switching the pumping on and off using our send system. We leave the Send turned up full for the first three bars of the loop and then pull it down for the last one, generating a great groove change.

Liked this? Now read: 8 creative sidechaining tips

Connect with MusicRadar: via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

Page 5 of 5
Page 5 of 5
Computer Music Specials
Read more
MXR MB301 Bass Synth: the six-knob pedal is pictured in use against a petrol-blue background.
“Thunderous sub-octave, expressive envelope, and lush modulation effects with killer tracking and sustain”: MXR unveils the MB301 Bass Synth – instant funk for your pedalboard
Plugins
How to get famous sounds and effects using only Logic’s stock plugins
Home studio
You don't need to be a music theory expert to make electronic music, but it helps - here's our guide to the basics
Marshall Jefferson
SampleRadar: 267 free deep house samples
Woman playing on a digital piano with headphones on
Technically capable, but struggle to make your tunes sound musical? 5 simple music theory hacks to make your tracks stand out
 Playing a monophonic synth
Play mono synth properly: the skills you need
Latest in Music Production Tutorials
ableton
8 things you can do with Ableton Live's updated Auto Filter device
API
Our pick of the very best VCA compressor software emulation plugins for any music project
Native Instruments Raum
How to use reverb to build impressive-sounding filters, reverses, risers and pads
Uvi Phasor
How modulation effects work and how to use them
bon iver
"It’s simple enough to create the perfect hard-tuned and harmonised effects within our DAW, providing you have the right software": How to harness hard-tuned vocals
Plugins Future owns
Our resident platinum award-winning mixer and producer shares 10 of his go-to plugins
Latest in Tuition
Plugins
How to get famous sounds and effects using only Logic’s stock plugins
Plugin Chains
How to emulate a classic analogue recording system entirely with plugins
Odin 2
Fantastic (free) plugins and how to use them: The Wave Warden Odin 2
ableton
8 things you can do with Ableton Live's updated Auto Filter device
Native Instruments Raum
How to use reverb to build impressive-sounding filters, reverses, risers and pads
mixing desk
“Learning how to mix is almost as important as hitting on your original musical idea”: New to the mixing process? Start here

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...