What the hell is parallel compression?

[EricTheKid]

I'm just saying...I have no clue...

Would any of you who have some expertise in this area be willing to shed a little light on this subject for those (like myself) who might not completely grasp this idea?

Thanks...you guys rock!


- ETK

P.S. Does anyone ever feel like "Linda Richman" when starting a new thread...(okay, maybe I'm the only one)...either way, thanks in advance for your input...

Discuss...

[SimonT]

Maybe check out Kennys vid on parallel compression

[mmf1978]

It's a mixture of compressed and uncompressed sounds. Drums, for example, would be set up with 2 submixes so all drums feed to these 2 aux channels. Slap a compressor on one of them and smash the hell out of it (or compress it to your liking) then blend it in with the uncompressed aux.

You get the best of both worlds with this method. You get the smashed sound while retaining the attack of the original drums.

Kenny's vid will explain all this and more so this is probably all for nothing.

Mike.

[EricTheKid]

Originally Posted by SimonT

Maybe check out Kennys vid on parallel compression

Ah yes...perfect! ...I must have overlooked that tutorial, my bad.

Kenny is the man. I'll be on my way over to the sticky to check that out.

Originally Posted by mmf1978

It's a mixture of compressed and uncompressed sounds. Drums, for example, would be set up with 2 submixes so all drums feed to these 2 aux channels. Slap a compressor on one of them and smash the hell out of it (or compress it to your liking) then blend it in with the uncompressed aux.

You get the best of both worlds with this method. You get the smashed sound while retaining the attack of the original drums.

Kenny's vid will explain all this and more so this is probably all for nothing.

Mike.

Thanks Mike. Oddly enough, I've played with this technique a bit before, but never referred to it as "parallel compression". Didn't put 2 and 2 together, I guess you could say (yikes! ...a pun). Either way, off to the vids...



ETK

[jord]

I remember seeing a post somewhere in the womb, I believe from Mixerman, that some of the best parallel compression results came from using a compressor that has an extremely fast attack, such as a DBX160. I remember trying this, dialing in a DBX160 emulation on my Liquid Mix, and lo and behold, that little tidbit was more valuable than pure gold. The results on both drums and vocals were almost magical.

jord

[dnafe]

Will you guys get into the new millennium.

Parallel compression happens when...

After traveling through a black hole and just as you pop out the other side into a alternate parallel universe you grab a hold of the first bit of matter in your hands and squeeze it tightly thereby "compressing" a portion of said alternate parallel universe into a tiny ball which you can then bring back and place along side our existing universe.

Why you would do this is still up for debate

Caveat - make sure said alternate parallel universe is not made up of anti-matter as we all know what happens when matter and anti-matter occupy the same space....total annihilation





Don

can you tell I'm having a slow Monday

[lebouche]

Comeone dnafe...we all know you cant get out of a black hole....you must be thinking of wormholes.

I'll check the Kenny vid soon. Still bit manic today so I'll ask. When applying this technique do you still comp the original sounds a little. My guess is yes....but thats why I'm asking.

[dnafe]

Originally Posted by lebouche

Comeone dnafe...we all know you cant get out of a black hole....you must be thinking of wormholes.

How pedestrian...as I said let's get into the millenium...didn't say which one

I'll check the Kenny vid soon. Still bit manic today so I'll ask. When applying this technique do you still comp the original sounds a little. My guess is yes....but thats why I'm asking.

That is a totally subjective decision based on what works for the song.

In some cases I've used the "comp'd" tracks as my primary source with a hint of the original tracks blended in.

And in other situations I've done just the opposite.

YMMV

[jord]

Originally Posted by lebouche

I'll check the Kenny vid soon. Still bit manic today so I'll ask. When applying this technique do you still comp the original sounds a little. My guess is yes....but thats why I'm asking.

It all depends. I will often comp drums to shape them. Generally, I will only comp vocals lighly to reel in the dynamics a bit.

jord

[mmf1978]

I will compress each track as needed as well as using the parallel trick.

M.

[24bit441]

A slightly more scientific aproach to answering "what the hell is parallel compression";

Ray Dolby used a technique in his early "A-type" noise reduction systems that would allow the high level material of a signal to pass through untouched while compressing only the low level material (to raise it above the noise floor). Normal compression does the opposite of this, it squashes down the high level material and brings everything closer to the noise floor. By multing the signal and compressing only one part, you are effectively doubling (+6dB) anything below the threshold of the compressor. As the signal raises above threshold, and the compressor lowers its half of the sound, the original, uncompressed, natural sound is heard. It's like flipping a compressor over and compressing only the quiet part of the signal. The effect is used now to fatten sounds.

I've got a friend who uses Yamaha AW2816 workstations in his studio. The built in compressors have a mix knob which lets you use them as parallel compressors. I like to use PSP's vintage warmer like this. It too, has a mix knob.

[lebouche]

Originally Posted by 24bit441

I've got a friend who uses Yamaha AW2816 workstations in his studio. The built in compressors have a mix knob which lets you use them as parallel compressors. I like to use PSP's vintage warmer like this. It too, has a mix knob.

I had a friend once.

anyway...couldnt you put comp across a bus and use a send to do this?? Rather than creating another track. The only prob I can see with that is that if you adjust the volume of said track ...the amount of volume going in to the bus would change. Perhaps you could link the two together somehow.

[Donovan Murphy]

Originally Posted by jord

The results on both drums and vocals were almost magical.

jord

Vocals? Excuse me while I pull up some older sessions...

I always called this New York compression. Is this the same thing or is NY compression something different?

[24bit441]

Originally Posted by lebouche

I had a friend once.

anyway...couldnt you put comp across a bus and use a send to do this?? Rather than creating another track. The only prob I can see with that is that if you adjust the volume of said track ...the amount of volume going in to the bus would change. Perhaps you could link the two together somehow.

Could you explain this further? How would this save you from having to create another track?

[otek]

Originally Posted by 24bit441

Could you explain this further? How would this save you from having to create another track?

The thing with the mix knob is, it all happens on the one track you are compressing. An important point with a Yammie AW, since you only have 16 tracks.

Using LeBouche's suggested method, you don't have to create new tracks either - you will use another bus, but you won't have to copy any tracks (it is, however, more of a hassle than a mix knob). Anytime you don't have to create more tracks is good, because each new track taxes the hard drives more.


otek

[jord]

Originally Posted by lebouche

I had a friend once.

anyway...couldnt you put comp across a bus and use a send to do this?? Rather than creating another track. The only prob I can see with that is that if you adjust the volume of said track ...the amount of volume going in to the bus would change. Perhaps you could link the two together somehow.

I once had a psychic girlfriend... she left me before we ever met.

There's nothing saying that you couldn't do this across a bus. No telling, however, if you will get the results you desire. If anything, it's no more taxing in Logic if you route the track's output to a bus and then tap 2 aux channels off a bus (one dry and the other compressed). This way, it's easier to mix the 2 together, IMHO. And for me, this gives me the results I'm looking for.

jord

[jord]

Originally Posted by Donovan Murphy

Vocals? Excuse me while I pull up some older sessions...

I always called this New York compression. Is this the same thing or is NY compression something different?

This is indeed called New York style of compression. I believe that it was originated in the Power Station in NY. I could be wrong on the history, but that's what I remember reading.

And, yes, it does work very well on vocals. From what I heard, John Mayer's latest album used parallel vocal compression. I had to try it out for myself (I didn't believe it when I heard it was done so I had to see for myself). I tried it on a session that I did with someone from our church and the results were fantastic.

jord

[Jason Phair]

I'm a fan of the much lesser known, but more effective Purpendicular compression.


Until that is, someone stole my guitar. It was sitting in the backseat of my car.

[Oreganmusic]

Originally Posted by jord

I remember seeing a post somewhere in the womb, I believe from Mixerman, that some of the best parallel compression results came from using a compressor that has an extremely fast attack, such as a DBX160. I remember trying this, dialing in a DBX160 emulation on my Liquid Mix, and lo and behold, that little tidbit was more valuable than pure gold. The results on both drums and vocals were almost magical.

jord

Can anyone suggest a plug-in known with an extreme fast attack such as the above mentioned Dbx160 Waves, Mcdsp maybe etc??

thanks

[John Suitcase]

You can do something similar with a distortion/saturation type of plug, too. Can bring some nice meat into the tracks.

Michael Brauer has used a similar technique with great success. (search Google for Michael Brauer Multibus compression)

Basically, he'll set up several busses, one for each frequency range, sort of. With different comps, and settings.

Then, using the channel sends, you can send the vocals, for instance, to a clean buss, and to multiple other busses, in varying amounts, to get a sound you like.

I find that setting up a send with something like Camel Crusher, and another with something like the free Excitifier, and sending a bit of the drums to each, you can get drums that are meaty and cut through well. Then I also send the drums to a drum buss which gets a bit of overall compression and eq. The OHs, I send to another buss, with the room mics...

Not too off topic I hope, my point was that you can have several parallel processes, from clean compression to full on distortion, and by sending things to them get really meaty tones (while retaining the clarity of the unprocessed tracks)...