when and when not to use parallel compression

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dirtnaper2323
  • Start date Start date
Dirtnaper2323

Dirtnaper2323

New member
i do quite a bit of metal. and i think i may have gotten trigger happy lately. i have parallel compression tracks on my kick my snare my ovhds on a tom buss, bass gtr, gtr buss and even a vocal effect buss.....too much? it sounds like hard hitting metal. i'll let you be the judge. one of the problems i faced is when mixing metal if you dont have that crack on the snare or presences of the kick or grind of the bass ect ect ect it doesn't sound like good metal. nearly every application or instrument needs to be in your face. heres a link with some examples ive done recently. this project was perfromed,tracked, mixed (ITB) and mastered (ITB) by me. let me know what you think of the mixes and in general about the senario of so much compression in metal these days

DIRT NAP
 
Last edited:
I know this will sound like a smart arse, but use it when it works and don't use it when it does not.

I mix in the analog world but what I do should also work if mixing in the box. Have all drums going to busses not to stereo, Set up a drum buss with no compression and then a second one going through a stereo compressor. Select which drums you want compression on and send them to both busses, drums that do not want compression on send them only to the Non-compressed (straight) buss, noting that you will have to turn them up more due to the signal only going to one buss.

My usual set up.

Kick channel(s): EQ > own compressor > straight buss
Snare channels: EQ > gate if req. > compression > straight buss (but try in both busses depending on song)
Toms: EQ > gate (or automated mutes) > straight and compressed buss.
Hats: EQ > straight buss
Overheads: EQ > Stereo compressor (sometimes not used, hard or mild depending on song) > straight buss.

This is not a hard and fast rule, I have mixed drums with little no compression and no gates, if say mixing jazz or ballads, but this would be my setup for a rock sound. However the compression used could very greatly due to the song or the drummers technique. Just an example of a setup, everyone works in different ways.

Alan.
 
FWIW, I never used parallel compression. Not that I'm not open to it but there's never been a time where regular compression didn't get me the sound I wanted.

Parallel compression, to me, is a technique that supplies the 'thickness' of heavy compression with the 'openness' of unaffected transients. In that regard it's an attempt at achieving the best of both worlds. For me, when I use compression, I like to hear it working, especially on drums. I want to hear it biting and transient being tailored. That is why the ADR Compex was so great. So, IMO, it's as important to choose the right compressor as it is to set it correctly.

The other thing I don't really like about parallel compression is that it brings noise and bleed up too much since the general approach is to set a fast attack and a heavy ratio with LOTS of gain reduction. That is then mixed in with the original. The point is to thicken things up without it sounding squashed. I wouldn't use it on toms for the mere fact that it will bring overall bleed up. I dunno. I like my toms very open sounding with full sustain.

My 2c.

Cheers :)
 
You can solve the bleed problem by gating the parallel comp buss before the compressor though. On it's own it will sound quite unnatural, but it can work when mixed in. Plus, in modern metal the goal isn't natural at all, especially with drums.
 
Mo Facta said:
FWIW, I never used parallel compression. Not that I'm not open to it but there's never been a time where regular compression didn't get me the sound I wanted.
Click to expand...

This ^^^^^

People sometimes seem to be really quick to jump to techniques that they don't fully understand or simply don't need to be done. I'd bet that if you're doing that much parallel compression and you have to ask about it, you're doing it wrong. Is it a genre trick and you're just doing it because you think you're supposed to? That seems to be the most common reason people use DAW tricks. If your ears and experience are tuned so well that you can identify when and where parallel compression should take place, then you wouldn't be asking about it. I guess my question to you is: What makes you think you need that much parallel compression?
 
for my tomes and snare i usually go through and edit out everything besides the transients. and apply fades so i get reduced bleed. it takes a long time but the end result is much cleaner. on problem i have found to be more elusive is getting the hi hat out of a snare mic(s). god damn that can ruin your day
 
agreed. the drums in these songs are real drums. but they sounds pretty processed imo. granted they sound a bit more natural programmed drums.
 
Dirtnaper2323 said:
for my tomes and snare i usually go through and edit out everything besides the transients. and apply fades so i get reduced bleed. it takes a long time but the end result is much cleaner.
Click to expand...


God...I'm so glad I'm not into recording modern Metal music! :D

Don't take this personally...but the amount of micro-editing and note-by-note precision recording that a lot of Metal guys seem to use to "get their sound"....I would rather spend that time having wisdom teeth removed without Novocain.

I mean....is that really what Metal music is about....robot like, mechanical precision? I preferred Metal when it use to still Rock....now, it's just an exercise in technique, most of which comes from digital editing.
 
well after listening to the tracks for months i have to say that i am pretty happy with the end result. but when i thought about it, it just blew my mind how much compression was being applied. kinda makes me wish metal could be obtained more naturally, than being done my processing? idk if traking differently would really have much to do with it either. compression to some extent is just trying to get all the ingredients to fit in the same bowl. when i started noticing how parallel compressing my drums made them bang, i tried it on the bass. and then later on the guitars. and it really started to make the record hit hard in all the right places. and dynamically you would think it would have less, considering how much everything is being squashed. but it to my ears at least, has much more energy with the parallel. what did you guys think of the tracks?
 
when and when not to use parallel compression
Click to expand...

that one's easy.


use it, when it gives you what you want..


don't use it, when it's not working for you.


there is no rule to this kind of compression, i think you'll find it's the best on drums tho
 
Dirtnaper2323 said:
for my tomes and snare i usually go through and edit out everything besides the transients. and apply fades so i get reduced bleed. it takes a long time but the end result is much cleaner. on problem i have found to be more elusive is getting the hi hat out of a snare mic(s). god damn that can ruin your day
Click to expand...

I always found that the bleed would still jump up during the edited tom transients which is why I've never done that sort of surgical editing again. All you're really doing is applying a gate manually, so why not use a gate? Better yet, why not use a gate with an adjustable floor? It sounds WAY better to merely lower the floor, say, 12dB below full headroom and let it open when the tom transient triggers the threshold.

Even BETTER is to use a dual-band gate like the Airwindows Gatelope.

Anyway. There are a million ways to skin a cat. Personally, if I was spending so much time editing tom transients I would just gate and trigger the toms and be done with it. I really can't be bothered to spend hours and hours on minutia like that.

Plus, if you're using Pro Tools or Cubase, you could just Strip Silence (it's called Detect Silence in Cubase), which could save you, oh, about eight hours work.

Cheers:)
 
I also use an embarrassing amount of parallel compression. If it sounds good, it's good. No two ways about it. The only thing that matters is the end result. The path to get you there doesn't matter at all.

Awesome tunes, by the way. Very glad to hear metal that isn't that bland and unoriginal stuff that seems so prevalent lately.


Dirtnaper2323 said:
i do quite a bit of metal. and i think i may have gotten trigger happy lately. i have parallel compression tracks on my kick my snare my ovhds on a tom buss, bass gtr, gtr buss and even a vocal effect buss.....too much? it sounds like hard hitting metal. i'll let you be the judge. one of the problems i faced is when mixing metal if you dont have that crack on the snare or presences of the kick or grind of the bass ect ect ect it doesn't sound like good metal. nearly every application or instrument needs to be in your face. heres a link with some examples ive done recently. this project was perfromed,tracked, mixed (ITB) and mastered (ITB) by me. let me know what you think of the mixes and in general about the senario of so much compression in metal these days

DIRT NAP
Click to expand...
 
Being a hard rock kinda guy...as opposed to a metal kinda guy...the mixes sound very smooth.

To me, hard rock is about violence and energy and...okay, I'll use the word passion but I think its understood to mean overwhelming emotion unleashed to produce chaos, disorder, impact, implied and/or actual dissipation of mental energy, orders of magnitude beyond socially acceptible norms.

I pick up on that from these mixes, but only at a distance. I suspect the energy was there in the tracking session...and am quite sure it's there at gigs...but I do not hear it in the music.

I only infer it.

The music is too smooth.

"Loud" is not a definitive description, it implies "quiet", and one without the other is..."smooth". Loud ain't loud without quiet to compare it to, and compression is likely the main culprit here.

Back off some when you are laying your foundation.

Set them up.

Get them leaning forward...anticipating...

THEN rip their faces off with the punchline.

Right in the chops.


LOL...you asked!

:-)
 
Last edited:
Most of what I write is "progressive alternative", and I almost never compress on the tracks themselves, I almost always use parallel compression. I also use a fair bit of limiting to help the kit breathe. Vox I usually compress on the track, but even that will change from time-to-time. That being said, it depends on the sound your looking for and whether parallel compression gets you there. No hard fast rules!

I like your music (hate the vocals, but that's just me because I hate that genre of vocals) and the recording, mixing, etc... I wouldn't change a thing. I like the overall vibe.

Geez, I take one day off from recording, and now I have two posts in the last 15 minutes, and I've doubled my career post count (do the math)!!! OMG, my life is wasting away!
 
Jay Tee 4303 said:
Being a hard rock kinda guy...as opposed to a metal kinda guy...the mixes sound very smooth.

To me, hard rock is about violence and energy and...okay, I'll use the word passion but I think its understood to mean overwhelming emotion unleashed to produce chaos, disorder, impact, implied and/or actual dissipation of mental energy, orders of magnitude beyond socially acceptible norms.

I pick up on that from these mixes, but only at a distance. I suspect the energy was there in the tracking session...and am quite sure it's there at gigs...but I do not hear it in the music.

I only infer it.

The music is too smooth.

"Loud" is not a definitive description, it implies "quiet", and one without the other is..."smooth". Loud ain't loud without quiet to compare it to, and compression is likely the main culprit here.

Back off some when you are laying your foundation.

Set them up.

Get them leaning forward...anticipating...

THEN rip their faces off with the punchline.

Right in the chops.


LOL...you asked!

:-)
Click to expand...

Are you sure you're not a metal guy? LOL!
 
thanks guys! all the comments are appreciated. ive been working on a mix for a band called oblivion. im letting it breathe a little more. ill post a song soon. gotta get my low end right first ; )
 
I've read through the thread and found no satisfactory answer as to when parallel compression is necessary. The more I think about it... the stronger my belief that the exact same result could be achieved using a standard compressor/expander.

Can any expert shed some light on when a standard compressor or expander may not be sufficient, and parallel compression is necessary? Genuinely interested to know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top