13/7/2015 Q.Whatdoes'parallelcompression'mean?

SoundOnSound:Est.1985

Q.Whatdoes'parallelcompression'mean?
PublishedinSOSAugust2011
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A
sabeginner,itseemsthatthemoreIexplore,thelessIunderstand.Certaintechniquesare
referredtoalotbutgorightovermyhead.ParallelcompressionissomethingIreadaboutthatis
acompletemysterytome!Couldyouexplainwhatitmeans?

ElizaMonterossoviaemail

SOSReviewsEditorMattHoughtonreplies:Essentially,thisisatechniquewherebyyouusethe
compressorasasendeffect(you'dtraditionallyuseitasaninsert),sothatthedryandcompressedsignals
arerunninginparalleljustasisshowninthediagramonthispage.You'dnormallyachievethisby
takingthesourcetrackandthenusinganauxsendcontrolto'send'someofthesignaltoanotherchannel
withyourcompressoronit.Youmightthenbusboththesourceandcompressedchannelstoagroup
channel.InamodernDAW,youcouldachieveasimilarthingbyduplicating(or'multing')atrack,butI
preferusingsends,asevenaftereditsyou'llknowthatyou'reworkingfromthesamesourceaudio.
Increasingly,newcompressordesignsincludeawet/dryblendcontrol,whichavoidsallthisroutingand
allowsyoutoperformparallelcompressiononasinglechannel.However,youmightormightnotprocess
thecompressedversiondifferentlyfromthedryversion,andasimplewet/drycontroldoesn'tallowyouto
dothis.

Parallelcompressionisoftenusedondrums,andthetechniqueisfrequentlyreferredtoasthe'NewYork
drumtrick'.Theeffectcanhelptokeepapartsolidand'anchored'inthemix,whileretainingsomeofthe
dynamicsoftheoriginalandyoucaneasilydeterminehowdynamicthepartisindifferentsectionsof
thesongbybalancingthetwochannelfaders.Acommonextensiontothistrickistoputaslight'smile'EQ
onthecompresseddrums.

Someengineerstaketheparallelcompressionprinciple
muchfurtherthanthis,though,andyoudon'thavetostopat
asinglecompressor.MichaelBrauer,forexample,reportedly
likestosendvocalpartstoseveraldifferentcompressorsand Thecluetoparallelcompressionisinthe
blendstheresultstotaste.Youcanreadmoreaboutthatin name:twosignalsone'dry',andone
aCubasetechniquefeatureweranbackinSOSApril2009 compressedruninparalleltooneanother.
Thisisoftenusedwithdrums,asinthe
(/sos/apr09/articles/cubasetech_0409.htm). diagram,toblendwetanddrysignals,thereby
maintainingsomeoftheoriginaldynamics.
Onethingyoushouldbearinmindisthatyouneedtohave
plugindelaycompensationswitchedoninyourDAWtousethistechnique,particularlywhenworkingwith
transientrichsourceslikedrums.Otherwise,whenthepartsaresummedbacktogetheronyourdrumor
masterbus,theresultmightphasenastily,robbingyourdrumsofpower. .
PublishedinSOSAugust2011

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