Let’s talk about that classic French Touch pumping sound you hear in Daft Punk, Alan Braxe, Stardust, and Lifelike.
In the late ’90s, they used the Alesis 3630 compressor on the master channel to get that big, breathing effect. No fancy sidechain routing, just pushing the whole mix hard.
Here are some plugins that recreate it nicely: NightShine by discoDSP and Shy 90s Dynamix. For Ableton Live users, there’s also FrenchPump (Max for Live).
I get the best results when the kick is the loudest in the mix. On Shy 90s Dynamix, I love using RMS mode with the “Bam!” switch on. Just tweak the threshold and ratio until it really breathes, sometimes it works well with the default mode (Peak + Hard Knee + Bam Mode)
Here is a preset I made for Shy Audio – 90s Dynamix (you can hear the effect if you put the kick very loud compared to the rest. (see screenshot below)
Watch out: this style of compression can thin out the low end a bit. I usually add a gentle low-shelf boost after.
These days, most of us use Kickstart, volume automation, or cleaner sidechain plugins. But nothing quite beats that raw, glued-together French Touch vibe.
Check out Alan Braxe & Lifelike using the original Alesis 3630 Compressor.
Take care! ❤️
Jocelyn from Justesse Sounds