Sidechaining voices to the kick ducks them on each hit, producing techno's pumping groove

A compressor with a sidechain input keyed from the kick briefly ducks (reduces the gain of) one or two synth voices every time the kick hits, opening space around the kick on each beat and creating techno’s characteristic pump. Ducking individual voices before the mixer keeps the effect nuanced — only the chosen voices move — whereas a second compressor placed on the main bus after the mixer is used instead for overall glue, punch, and limiting. The two jobs are distinct: per-voice sidechain shapes the groove’s rhythm, master-bus compression shapes the whole mix’s cohesion.

Examples

Sidechain the bassline and a hat-synth to the kick so they dip on each kick beat for a pumping feel; a separate master-bus compressor then adds gentle overall punch.

Assessment

Describe what kick-keyed sidechain compression does to a voice, and contrast per-voice sidechaining with master-bus compression.