How To SideChain Tracks In Logic Pro | Mixing Kicks And Bass

Producers and mixing engineers use many tricks and effects to make their tracks sound punchier without audio signals clashing with one another. SideChaining is a popular technique for different instruments to mix together better.

Many excellent qualities make Apple’s Logic Pro stand out as one of the most popular digital audio workstations (DAWs) in the world. One of the things that make Logic so versatile is its extensive library of professional plugins. You can find the ability to side-chain multiple of these plugins to create interesting dynamics.

In this post, I will show you everything you need to know about how and when to side-chain in Logic Pro.

What Is SideChain?

In general, side-chaining is when you feed the signals of a track or an instrument into a plugin hardware device or another track. You use the signals from the first track as data to affect some parameters in the other track.

The first track that we use as a reference to affect another instrument is called the side-chain source, and the second track, which receives data from the reference track, is called the side-chain target.

One of the most common appliances of the side-chain during mixing is to make kick drums sound more present in the mix, which is done by creating a ducking effect in a compressor plugin.

Audio engineers figured out that instead of increasing the volume on kick drums, they can program other instruments to compress when the kick hits and go back to normal when the kick is not hitting. In this way, your mix will temporarily make more room when your kick signals come in.

However, side-chaining isn’t limited to compressors. You can use the signals of one track to affect virtually any parameter in your DAW, so long as your plugin allows it.

How To SideChain Kick Drums And Bass

Before starting to use a compressor for side-chaining tracks, you must first have an understanding of how a compressor works. Click here to learn about how to use compressor plugins in Logic Pro.

For this lesson, I’ve prepared two tracks: a simple drum kick pattern that I’ve created with Logic’s built-in Step Sequencer feature, as well as a bass line using Logic’s Alchemy synthesizer.

We’ll add a compressor plugin to our bass track since it is our side-chain target:

•  Open the inspector menu by pressing “I” on your keyboard.
•  Click “Audio FX” and hover your pointer on “Dynamics.”
•  Select “Compressor.”

In order to program the kicks as the side-chain source, click the "Side Chain” drop-down menu in the top-right corner and find the kick drums in the instruments list. In this case, it is “Kicks - Analog Bliss (Inst 1).”

Changing compressor parameters is mainly done according to taste and preference. What I like to do is turn Auto Gain off, lower the Attack time to below 5.0 ms, and keep the Release around 20 ms when side-chaining kick signals to a bass track.

Try to play with Threshold, Ratio, and Make Up parameters to see what sounds right in your track. Try to make adjustments tastefully without going overboard with side chaining.

If your drum track has multiple kit pieces, you have two options to target the kick sound specifically as your side-chain source.

If you have a MIDI region, but the kit pieces are not separate, you can detach them by control-clicking on your region, hovering your pointer on “Convert,” and selecting “Separate by Note Pitch.”

Find which one is the kicks region and duplicate it to another track. Then, head back to the compressor plugin on your bass track and change the side chain source to the duplicated track. You can mute the duplicated track, and it won’t affect the side chain; the plugin will still receive the signals for compressing your track.

On the other hand, if you’re dealing with a pre-recorded audio track for your drums, you can add a filter on your compression to only target the frequency range of the kick sound:

•   Change the Output view to Side Chain from the top-right corner of the compressor window.
•  Select “LISTEN” under the filter section and reduce the Frequency knob until you can only hear the kicks.

Final Thoughts On Side Chaining Tracks In Logic Pro

Typically, you’d want to side-chain tracks once you’ve finished producing and are in the mixing stage. Side chaining can put a lot of pressure on your computer’s CPU and result in jarring latency issues when monitoring audio.

Many of Logic’s stock plugins and virtual instruments—as well as some third-party VSTs—allow you to side-chain signals to affect other parameters, so try to experiment with those as well.

If you need more help with producing, mixing, and mastering, check out my Free 6 Pillars To Learn Logic Pro Faster guidebook.