multiband compressor

I dont get what multiband compressors are..? I use the Waves C1 Comp..and i guess its great. but whats the advantage of going multiband?
 
Chessrock wrote


For a beginner MB compression user, think about it as something you use on material -- be it individual tracks or full mixes -- that has things that "pop out" at you from time to time that are mostly frequency-specific.

Probably the simplest and most common example of a MB compressor is the de-esser. When you consider the vocal track, the "ess" problem is something that 'pops out' at varying intervals (whenever the singer makes the "ess" sound), and it's frequency-specific, as the trouble exists mostly in the higher registers above 4 khz.

In that example, you use a MB comp / de-esser as a means to tame those peaks only within the frequency range(s) where the problems existwithout effecting everything else. Another good example might be bass guitar. You might notice -- especially if you play bass -- that there might be certain notes, that when you hit them, they suddenly stick right out and sound louder than everything else you've been playing to that point. And usually it's somewhere on the low-E string. MB compression can, again, be effective in dealing with those sorts of issues, because, again, you're dealing with something -- in this case, a note or a string -- that suddenly "pops out" every time you play it. And it resides in a narrow frequency range.

If you think about compression as sort of an intelligent, automated gain-riding control ... think about MB compression as an intelligent, automated EQ-riding control. Whenever the energy within a given frequency range reaches a certain threshold, the MB comp will automatically apply subtractive EQ to deal with / tame it ... after which time, it will return to normal.

These are the simplest examples, and most common uses of MB compression, so if you're new to the concept, I think it's important that you try and wrap your brain around those first, before you delve in to anything more complicated. Because once you fully master the idea/concept of it in those contexts, then the more complex stuff will eventually present itself to you, and when it does, it will be easier to learn and will make much better sense to you.

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