There are many side-chain compressor simulation effects today that offer the benefits of side-chaining without compression. You can hear this effect on just about every top charting dance track of today. Producers apply it on multiple instruments, drums, vocals and on just about any element in the mix.
Try out LFO Tool by Xfer
In most recent years, we witness the emergence of effects that significantly eased up this process by avoiding parameters found in compressors like threshold, attack, release, and sometimes complex routing of the effect. One of those software plugins that are not just reserved for a simple side-chaining effect but offers a variety of options for further processing of the signal is without any doubt LFO Tool by Xfer. So in the next tutorial, I will go through its basic functions and show you what this plugin is capable of.
I have made a short Progressive Techno pattern In Soundbridge, which contains some basic elements like a kick drum, hi-hat, snare drum, chord sequence, and bassline.
Let’s start side-chaining.
In the first place, I will apply the LFO Tool plugin on the bassline. I want to achieve that side-chaining effect. Upon opening of its interface, we can see an envelope part in the center. You can assign the envelope not just on volume but also on filter cutoff, resonance, panning, and just about any other parameter available for control. You can create lots of envelope points in order to develop complex envelope shapes. However, for this purpose, I will lower the attack point by dragging it down and make a short and smooth edge on the release point to avoid the cracking sound at the end of the loop. Let’s hear how the bassline sounds before and after applying the effect together with the kick drum.
~Bassline – Unprocessed
~Bassline – Processed with LFO Tool
Also, you can try placing the LFO Tool onto the Rhythm Group. Consequently, you can make a complex envelope sequence which will affect the filter cutoff and the resonance. I will automate the filter cutoff parameter to make it a bit more interesting. Let’s hear how that sounds, the first solo, and then with other elements of the mix.
~Rhythm Group – Processed with LFO Tool
~Full Mix
Feel free to download the project here.
