We want the sidechained synth to pump pretty hard and fast, so let’s sync the compressor’s attack and release to short note values. This track is at the very common house tempo of 125 BPM. If you have Producer Tools or another delay calculator, this part is easy: just launch the Delay Calculator function, type in the BPM of your track, select a note length and hit “Calculate.” If not, you can still figure out the times by hand: just divide 60,000 by the BPM of your track to find the number of milliseconds in a quarter note, then divide that in half to find an eighth note’s length, and so on. Now we’ll need to figure out the attack and release times that correspond to the beat. Set the compressor’s sidechain input to the kick drum channel, then turn the threshold down and the ratio up until you hear the synth’s volume start to pump.

Load a compressor plugin onto the synth, vocal, or pad that you want to sidechain to the kick. Few if any compressor plugins have beat-sync abilities built in, so you’ll need to either use a delay calculator like the one in our Producer Tools mobile app to find the correct times, or work out the synchronization manually. Syncing the compressor’s attack and release controls to the BPM tells it to pulse in time with the beat, making it sound much better, rhythmically speaking. To help a sidechained sound gel with the rest of your production, synchronize the compressor’s timing parameters to the track’s tempo. Its pumping sound brings a shot of energy to basslines, pads, lead synths, vocals: nearly any element of an EDM track. Sidechained compression is an ubiquitous sound in dance music. Synchronize a Sidechained Compressor to the Beat

Bpm to delay time chart