parallel compression tricks

[VanderBoegh]

Thanks Les, been EQ'ing my verbs but not Compressing... another thing to play around with!

I've never thought about compressing my reverbs either. I EQ them plenty, like Cass, but compressing them is something I've never tried. Well, no time like the present!

~~Matt

[WeWillWriteUaSong]

I've been sidechaining vocals to a compressor on the delay returns a few times lately...

[janbaars]

Right!
Delays can even get messier. It really cleans up your mix.

Nice stuff

[mojobone]

I've been sidechaining vocals to a compressor on the delay returns a few times lately...

You mean vocal ducking? I love that effect on delays and reverbs; cleans up so well. Back in the day, we had to ride the fader to the reverb send, LOL. I'm gonna reveal a really neat trick I just learned for emulating pedal steel guitar: two-knob Ross-style stompbox compressor IN FRONT of the volume pedal. Apparently, I've been doing it wrong for over thirty years...

[cosmicdolphin]

Depends on the song but I like a separate compression buss for the drums set to compress heavily and then blended back into the mix. My fave tends to be the Distressor Emulation in my Liquidmix. The Waves API 2500 is also one I like for drums.

I always try a compressor on the 2buss but generally one with a mix knob, which is effectively parallel compression. The Elysia Alpha Master plugin has been my go to for a couple of years now.

Mark

[janbaars]

Thanks dolphin.
I have the 2500, but I'll check out the other ones.

[waveheavy]

I mostly only use it on drums, and sometimes bass. I setup an Aux track and put a compressor on it set to really squash the signal. Then I send the snare or kick or bass to it, and the drum sends go to the Drum bus, while the bass send goes to the Mix bus. So the send is mixed in with the original drum and bass tracks. That's how I learned what New York parallel progression was and how it's used.

Hi guys,

How do you guys use parallel compression?

-Do you bounce your mix, compress it, and then put it on a separate track or do you do bus it?
-If you bus it, then what do you bus? All of it? Or everything without reverbs and delays?
-Pre or post fader? Mono even?

And most importantly: why?

[guscave]

I suppose a fast attack with a slower release might push down the transients and make the reverb not draw so much attention to itself.

I've been playing around more with the pre-delay on the reverb to get this same effect, but I'll start messing with eq too and see what results I get.

[andygabrys]

for me:

-Do you bounce your mix, compress it, and then put it on a separate track or do you do bus it?

Its always running real time in the mix. So its bussed.

-If you bus it, then what do you bus? All of it? Or everything without reverbs and delays?

I parallel compress drums all the time. I usually send the whole kit. I moderate the compression so that the cymbals don't get out of control on the wrong song.

I compress reverbs often.

But it sounds like you are talking about the entire mix here. I do parallel compress the entire mix in the master chain by using a compressor like "The Glue" by Cytomic that has a mix knob. But if I am compressing in the master chain I only do 1-3 dB anyways, so usually don't bother with mixing less than 100% compressor.

-Pre or post fader? Mono even?

Always sent post fader which means I have to readjust compression later in the mix - but for drums I have two sub mix busses going - one straight and one smashed and then I mix between those two and can automate either or both so that the chorus has more of the feel of the drums killing the drums if needed.

If I want to gate a verb - I usually send pre-fader and then compress the reverb send and gate it which makes it easier to have it trigger reliably.

I sometimes use Mono parallel comp on drums on the snare and kick - but usually I would use a UAD 1776 A sometimes just on the input setting with no actual compression so it just adds grit.

[janbaars]

thanks everyone.