Envelope Follower Madness: Andrew Huang Unleashes Dynamic Mayhem

Let’s kick things off with the basics, mate. Envelope followers are like the party animals of the audio world—they track the volume of whatever you feed them and use that info to control other parameters. Imagine a kangaroo bouncing along to your music, shaping effects in real time. Andrew Huang breaks it down with his usual clarity: you get to decide how quickly the envelope responds, so you can make things snappy or let them swell like a wave at Bells Beach.

The real magic? You can map that envelope to just about anything—filters, effects, you name it. It’s a simple idea, but the power it unlocks is wild. Most DAWs don’t even have this built-in, so you might need a third-party plugin or a workaround. But once you get it going, you’ll wonder how you ever mixed without it. It’s the kind of trick that turns a flat mix into a dynamic playground.

Andrew wastes no time showing off envelope followers in action, starting with a classic auto wah effect. Grab an envelope follower, slap it on an EQ, and suddenly your filter’s dancing to the rhythm of your playing. It’s like giving your sound a set of dancing shoes and letting it loose at the local pub. You can fine-tune the response way beyond what any pedal can manage—perfect for those who like their FX dialled in just right.

But why stop there? Andrew takes it up a notch by running envelope followers on drums, using his own plugin, Transit 2. This beast lets you map the envelope to multiple effects at once, creating everything from subtle movement to full-blown sonic chaos. Whether you want your drums to shimmer, flange, or just get weird, envelope followers make it happen. And if you reckon you’ve heard it all, wait till you see how he tweaks the detection sensitivity for even more madness.

Here’s where things get spicy. Envelope followers aren’t just for wild FX—they’re a secret weapon for mixing and live performance. Andrew shows how you can use them to make transients pop, giving synths and drums that extra snap without muddying up your mix. It’s like adding a dash of hot sauce to your snags—suddenly everything’s got more bite.

He also demos a clever alternative to sidechaining. Instead of ducking effects with a compressor, you can use an envelope follower to control when and how much reverb or delay gets through. The result? Effects that breathe with your vocals or instruments, making everything feel more natural and glued together. It’s a trick that’ll have your tracks sounding pro, whether you’re in the studio or playing a dusty outback rave.

If you thought envelope followers were just a mixing tool, think again. Andrew dives into the deep end, using them for cross-track modulation and wild sound design. Want your synth to only play when the kick hits? Easy. Fancy blowing out your speakers every time the drums slam? Sorted. The possibilities are as endless as a Melbourne laneway on a Saturday night.

He even gets meta, modulating the envelope follower itself or the parameters it’s controlling. It’s modulation on top of modulation—like stacking sausages at a Bunnings BBQ until the whole thing topples over. The results are unpredictable, lively, and totally unique. If you’re after soundscapes that move and morph with every note, this is the trick for you. But honestly, words can’t do the madness justice—you’ve got to see and hear it in the video to believe it.