Best Way To Sidechain in FL Studio!

This tutorial will show you how to sidechain in FL Studio 20. Sidechaining is one of the most important mixing tools available to you as a music producer. Sidechaining is essential to create space for your kick and bass in the mix. Without sidechaining, your mix will often end up sounding muddy and muffled. So what exactly is sidechaining? Sidechaining is basically volume ducking. It ensures that various elements in the mix duck in volume and gets out of the way so that the kick and bass can cut through the mix without problems.
If you want to learn mixing and mastering, sidechaining is something you need to know how to use and set up, and in this video I will show you several different ways to set up and use sidechaining in FL Studio 20. The first method I will show you is how to set up and use old-school sidechain compression using a compressor. This is the correct way to use sidechaining, and it will work on anything, no matter what kind of kick pattern you use. I will also show you how to set up sidechaining using plugins such as LFOtool, grossbeat etc. These plugins basically emulate sidechaining by utilizing automated volume ducking. This works well as long as you use a standard four to the floor beat. However, it won't work on more advanced rhythms, for that you'll need real sidechaining with a compressor and a trigger.
Sidechaining is relatively easy to set up and use in FL Studio, and this video will show you how to do it, as well as explain shortly what sidechaining is and why we use it.
Note: I recommend that you use a dedicated sidechain trigger for your sidechaining, instead of the main kick. In that case, you need to make sure that the trigger pattern is an exact duplicate of the kick pattern at all times, or else the sidechaining won't match your main kick, which is the whole point.

If you want to know more about what sidechaining in FL Studio then check out these videos:

00:00 Introduction
00:28 What is sidechaining?
01:13 How to sidechain using a compressor
03:00 compressor basics explained
04:37 Sidechaining a nonstandard beat
04:57 When to use sidechaining and how much
06:25 How to sidechain using plugins such as LFO tool etc.
07:22 Sidechain on leads, vocals etc in modern EDM

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[justchill]

This video has probably helped me 1, 000 times I always come back to this one and be like “yeah I knew that” this was the video I watched when I first started engineering 3 years ago thank you

[RXVENVS]

Hey I thought you should know, after you rename and recolor something, it is stored in the recent list of renames under the little 'v' down arrow when you're in the renaming tab. It also stores the color used :)
Saves an extra couple seconds so you won't have to retype the same thing multiple times!

[MeMe-whtr]

Wow, very interesting. I never knew what that effect was called. Honestly, I never like it when I hear it in songs. That weird volume dip when the beat hits. I can hear the volume drop, so it's like any other standard music effect. Some artists go nuttts with that one, to where it becomes annoying and means to a play stop. Please people, use it responsibly.

[beniiadjei]

I've tried to understand and implement sidechaining in my mixes for a while now but didn't succeed. After watching your tutorial I've been able to do it. It is indeed that simple. My kick and bass are enjoying a sweet relationship now. Thank youuuu💕

[DaWizeDeciple]

This is a great tutorial, the only part I'm confused about is when you cloned your kick, it also cloned the pattern in the piano roll. How???? When I try it it only clones the instrument...

[oziaso]

after doing both for 10 years i find volume automation is the most precise as you can really draw the shape of the space better ...and less set up is required.

[jakezepeda]

Interesting.
Also that info on about compression you put to the side is very helpful.

[dj_sombra]

finally a real tutorial about a classic sidechaining, thank you sir

[solitajre]

I used to use sidechain compression as my main means of ducking bass from kicks. Now I use a bus for
whatever I want to duck and automate the mixer volume envelope of that bus where ever I want. I just place it in the playlist.
The automation has the same "wave"-shape as in LFO-tool or kickstart, except now I don't need ghost notes or
connect any side chains.
It's just so convenient.

[adamjozsef]

Yep, as always, great video sir! Oldskool sidechain compresson was my thing before I got my hand on LFO Tool. Lately I use the old way less and less, however some nice "ghost" hat to sidechain for melody is always lovely.

[dussie]

And that's why I promote use of hardware and cables. To really find out how techniques work and why you do things that way. This gives you the insight software not always does in my opinion. It's a nice way to learn.

[Delta-ek]

today I learned something else from you! why should i consider different sidechain methods? simple! if i don't have a four to the floor, then i need a processor that adapts to any x signal and doesn't work in a grid like all the other sidechain fully automatic machines!

I love to understand more and more!

Thanks!

[tempomusicgrasslandrecord]

Ur are the best teacher with u my mix becoming more interesting

[makavelizu]

I loved the way you explained how to do this process. I will definitely check your channel for more insightful info. Stay blessed. ✌🏾

[hoplayou]

You can also use effector in transient mode 1/1, i don’t think people know about this.
Thank for the tutorial 🙏

[Cheffingquan]

Amazing video really helped me understand the basics of sidechaining and I learned a lot about, threshold, ratio, gain, attack and release!

[rareguy]

Hey, FireWalk! Great video as always.

I want to share my method of sidechaining, and it has some simple routings.

So it goes like this:
1. Imagine we've already established three things; Kick, Sidechain Trigger, and Bass and put it in the mixer track, 1, 2, and 3 respectively.
2. Instead of directly routing from Sidechain Trigger to the thing we want to sidechain, I use 4th dedicated mixer track, let's rename it to "Sidechains". Ususally I will dock it to the right side.
3. After routing "Sidechain to this track" to Sidechains, I routed with "Route to this track only" my instruments that needed to be sidechained to the Sidechains track, so that all output is going through sidechain first before going to master.
4. Then set up the limiter however you like.

The plus side is now sidechaining is pretty much instant, just route another instrument there, then it's done.
The downside will be the sidechain will be uniform and now the sidechain will be the "last effect".

[Nerevaar]

You can switch LFO Tool to midi envelope mode and input the signal through midi notes. With his change it makes side chaining very efficient, at least when it comes to ducking a kick which is easily translated into midi events

[nokturnal]

I wish there was more that I could do for you other than subscribing/liking your content, this was IMMENSELY helpful and soooo easy to follow. Very simple instructions for such a seemingly complicated concept. I think I speak on behalf of everyone learning to make music when I say this, THANK YOU SO MUCH!😁

If anyone is having trouble actually getting it to sound "Sidechained" I noticed I skipped over a couple steps on accident after a re-watch or two. I followed this to the T finally and my track sounds CRAZY good and I haven't even really done anything to it yet! Follow the steps carefully! 🙂