Sidechain Compression as Terminus technicus is relatively new, at least as far as the sub-concept 'sidechain' is concerned. The sidechain effect, which became established at the beginning of the 2000s in hardware devices and then in virtual effects, is preceded by the ducking effect.

Ducking means the reduction of the volume of an audio signal by another audio signal. The ducking effect comes from the radio and TV area. It causes, for example in simultaneous translations, the lowering in volume and makes way for the signal of the translator's voice. The same principle was and is also applied to the volume ratio of speech and music. Prior to this automation, this kind of volume correction or volume suppression was done manually by appropriate fader movements on the mixing console.

The same principle applies to sidechain compression, but with the ability to more complexly control the process and build multiple concatenations. The aim of sidechaining is to expose certain sound components such as the bass drum, the bass or the lead vocals in a mix.

From the first beginnings with subtle use of the effect (One More Time by Daft Punk; 2000) to prominent applications (Teenage Dream by Katy Perry; 2010), sidechain compression has become ubiquitous in pop music.

Since sidechain compression has become a natural part of production, the developers of studio effects and editing tools have launched new products which facilitate dynamic editing. For example, the company Cableguys offers 'instant' sidechain compression, which processes an audio signal as if it were part of a compression chain. This simulation allows the creation of extreme volume-shaping and gate effects. Such tools are targeted at laymen and semi-professionals.