Why Your Kicks Don’t Hold Up: Volumes’ Sidechain Fixes

Ever listen to a massive metal track, like something from Volumes, and wonder how those kicks just explode through the mix, hitting you right in the chest? A huge part of that power comes down to smart sidechaining. In a dense rock or metal mix, giving your key drum elements space to breathe is paramount. Daniel Braunstein, the man behind the console for Volumes, shared some killer insights on how he gets his kicks to deliver that much-needed punch and clarity. We’re diving into his techniques, insights you can explore further in his full session on Nail The Mix.

You’ve probably heard mixes from pros like Zach Cervini where the sidechain is seriously cracking, making the entire mix (except vocals) dip out for every kick and snare. This creates an incredibly powerful, huge-sounding drum event. While you might not always want to go that intense, understanding how to use sidechaining effectively will bring incredible movement, clarity, and punch to your mixes.

Setting Up Your Kick Sidechain: The Foundation

Daniel keeps a dedicated bus in his template called “Kick Side Chain.” This bus is fed by his kick drum. Crucially, if your kick sound is made up of multiple mics or samples, especially if some are very roomy, you’ll want to send a direct kick signal to this sidechain bus.

Why a direct signal? Because you want the compressor you’re sidechaining to to listen to a short, sharp transient. It needs to react to the initial hit of the kick, not a long, boomy tail. This ensures the ducking effect is precise and snappy.

Sidechaining the Bass: The Classic First Move

The most common and often most impactful use of kick sidechaining is on the bass guitar. These two instruments live in similar low-frequency areas and often fight for space.

Compressor Choice and Setup

Daniel reaches for the FabFilter Pro-C 2 for this task. A key starting point is to turn Auto Gain off. Leaving it on can sometimes juice the gain in weird ways when you’re trying to achieve clean ducking.

1. Route the Signal: Send your “Kick Side Chain” bus to the external sidechain input of the Pro-C 2 instance on your bass track.
2. Activate Sidechain: Engage the external sidechain listen mode on the compressor.

Dialing in the Ducking

To really hear what the compressor is doing, it’s a good idea to start with extreme settings and then back them off. You might even temporarily boost the bass level in your mix to make the effect more obvious while you’re dialing it in.

• Gain Reduction: Aim for around 3 to 6 dB of gain reduction on the bass each time the kick hits. Too much, and the bass will sound overly pumpy and unnatural. Too little, and it won’t clear enough space.
• Pro-C 2 Style: Daniel prefers the “Punch” style on the Pro-C 2 for this. As the name suggests, it allows the compressor to get in and out quickly, perfect for making way for a transient.
• Release Time:: Keep the release time very low. You want the bass to return to its normal level quickly after the kick transient has passed.

Kick vs. Bass: EQ Carving for a Happy Low End

Sidechain compression helps with the dynamic relationship between kick and bass, but their tonal relationship is equally important. They both occupy a lot of the same frequency spectrum, especially in the low end and low-mids. Check out our EQ Strategies for Mixing Modern Metal for more on taming the low end.

Daniel highlights two main approaches to decide which instrument takes precedence in which frequency zone:

1. Option 1: Bass for Low-Mids, Kick for Subs.
   • You’d identify the core punch of the kick (e.g., around 100-150Hz) and dip that area out of the bass. Then, you’d let the kick dominate the sub-bass frequencies (e.g., 40-80Hz) and give the bass more energy in the higher sub/low-mid area.
2. Option 2: Bass for Subs, Kick for Low-Mids.
   • The reverse: the bass takes the deep sub frequencies, and the kick gets its primary energy from the low-mids.

For the Volumes track in question, Daniel found that the kick was tuned very low. Initially, he tried giving the bass the subs and the kick the low-mids, but it didn’t quite serve the song. The low-tuned kick felt more impactful when it owned more of the sub-bass region.

So, he reversed it: kick taking up the subs, and bass taking up the low-mids. This doesn’t mean completely carving one out of the other’s territory – a natural overlap is fine and often desirable. But by making a conscious decision about which instrument leads in which key low-frequency area, you can achieve much better clarity. For this Volumes track, letting the kick have more low-end authority made sense due to its tuning, allowing the bass to provide harmonic richness in the low-mids.

Spreading the Love: Sidechaining Guitars and More

Once the kick and bass are playing nicely, you can extend this sidechaining concept to other elements to further enhance the kick’s impact.

Rhythm Guitars: Subtle but Effective

Next up, Daniel sidechains the rhythm guitars to the kick. Guitars are generally less forgiving than bass when it comes to sidechaining.

• Gain Reduction: Aim for 3dB or lower of gain reduction. You don’t want the guitars to audibly pump, just to subtly dip out of the kick’s way.
• The effect is often a feeling of the kick “opening an envelope” in the song, creating a pocket for it to sit in.

Lead Guitars and Production Elements

The same principle applies to lead guitars and other production elements (synths, pads, effects).

• Lead Guitars: Use a similar, subtle amount of ducking as with rhythm guitars.
• Production Elements: You might go even lighter here, just enough to ensure these elements aren’t masking the kick’s attack.

Percussion Too!

Don’t forget other percussive elements like shakers, tambourines, or claps. A touch of sidechaining here can help the kick maintain its prominence, especially in busy sections like a chorus.

Snare Sidechaining: Making Room for the Room

It’s not just the kick that benefits from sidechaining. Daniel also uses it to help his snare cut through, specifically to bring out the snare’s room sound and decay.

Setting Up the Snare Sidechain Bus

Similar to the kick, create a dedicated bus for your snare sidechain (e.g., “Snare SC”). Again, it’s often best to feed this from a direct snare mic, like the snare top, rather than a full snare bus that might include long reverb tails. You want a tight, defined trigger.

Targeting Snare Decay

The goal here isn’t just to duck for the snare’s initial snap (though that’s part of it), but to create space for the bloom and decay of the snare, especially its room sound.

1. Apply to Bass & Guitars: Place your sidechain compressor (like the Pro-C 2) on your bass track and guitar bus, this time keyed from the “Snare SC” bus.
2. Compressor Settings:
   • Attack: Lower the attack time (make it faster). This allows the compressor to react quickly but you’re aiming to duck the instruments during the snare’s body and release, not just the very initial transient.
   • Pro-C 2 Style: Daniel switches to a “Normal” style on the Pro-C 2 for this application, which might offer a slightly softer knee and less aggressive clamping than the “Punch” style used for the kick.
   • Release: Adjust the release so the ducked instrument returns smoothly as the snare’s room sound fades, allowing that room ambience to “whack through.”
3. Placement: Remember, the sidechain compressor should generally go last on the track being ducked, after any other primary compression. For more on compression, check out Metal Compression Secrets: Beyond Just Making It Loud.

By adjusting the attack and release, you can shape how the bass and guitars react to the snare, creating a pocket that emphasizes its sustain and ambience.

The Result: Drums That Punch Through Every Time

By implementing these kick and snare sidechaining techniques, you can create a dynamic and powerful drum sound that cuts through even the densest metal mix. The kick gains clarity and punch by momentarily pushing other conflicting elements out of its way, and the snare can achieve a greater sense of space and impact.

These strategies are fundamental to modern metal mixing, and Daniel Braunstein’s approach with Volumes is a masterclass in their application. If you want to see him build this mix from the ground up, explaining every EQ move, compression setting, and sidechain tweak on this very Volumes track, then you absolutely need to check out his full Nail The Mix session.

Ready to take your mixes to the next level? Explore our comprehensive guide on Unlocking Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets or dive into the wealth of knowledge, pro sessions, and exclusive plugins available at Nail The Mix. Your kicks (and snares) will thank you for it!