Exploring the real-world measurements obtained from compressors in different configurations has revealed that, taken as a complete system and considering all signal levels from the noise floor to the clipping point, parallel compression is actually a variation on conventional downwards compression. The direct effect of adding 7.5dB of make-up gain is to raise the overall output level, which can be seen as the vertical shift of the 45-degree linear part of the transfer curve. I shot a video and posted it below so you could see and hear how I set this up on my drum tracks. When configured for parallel compression in this way, the contribution from the compressor during the loudest signal peaks will be well over 20dB quieter than that of the direct path, because of the massive gain reduction it is being forced to apply. The usual way to achieve this is to introduce 'make-up gain' at the output of the compressor. Place a compressor of your choice on the new send track and adjust settings according to... 3 … LANDR is an instant online music mastering tool. However, it's also quite common, where resources are available, to run more than one compressor in parallel. Parallel Compression, AKA New York compression, is an awesome way to make your drums punchy while retaining body. The first thing to establish is what a compressor of any form actually does, and the answer is that it reduces the dynamic range of the input signal. As a result, those loud but delicate transients are left completely intact and unchanged — which is the primary aim of this technique. Look closely and you'll see that the uplift compressor's trace is a perfectly straight line, but the parallel compression slope actually curves or 'bows' downwards. You can use this technique on ANY instrument including vocals, bass, electric guitars, whatever! All you have to do is dial in the appropriate settings for one compressor, and then copy it to as many additional parallel channels as you require. Figure 4: As you can see, true upward compression, shown on these plots, has a very different effect from downward compression, in that the loudest parts of the signal are left alone, and the quiet ones raised. Presumably this is a reason there are so few plug-in upward compressors, despite the fact that DSP designers are free from the constraints of electronics. Figure 2: In this plot, you can see the effect of different ratios (the light blue is 2:1, the light green 40:1) of downward compression at the same threshold. All contents copyright © SOS Publications Group and/or its licensors, 1985-2020. This is a technique I've known about for quite some time, and have been using to varying degrees for the past five years, but have only recently fallen in love with. "Given the difficulty of finding a true upwards compressor,” I hear you respond,”is there an alternative way of achieving something similar?” I'm glad you've asked that, because yes, there is. Figure 3: By adding make-up gain to downward compression, you shift the dynamic range, to give you greater level at the compressor's output, but the range itself is still compressed in the same way. It also works wonders on making drums fatter! Useful though this form of compression is, often we want to reduce the dynamic range without reducing the peak level. Heavy compression settings usually end in unnatural dynamics and a scarcity of punch that’s particularly noticeable in a dense combine. Although Brauer is probably the most frequently cited 'big-name' user of parallel compression, he's far from being the only one — our interview-based features are littered with similar mentions by successful producers and mix engineers, including Jaycen Joshua, who tells us that: "If you don't use parallel compression you risk things sounding thin. To try to make this 'bowed' compression slope more obvious, I increased the amount of dynamic range reduction by adding another pair of parallel compressors, totalling three in all, and the result is shown in the Figure 7. those above the threshold). In terms of dynamic-range reduction, as this simple form of parallel compression leaves the loud bits unaffected and raises the quiet bits by 6dB, the total reduction in dynamic range is only 6dB. (The Dbx Quantum, I believe, was one such device — but I'm not aware of any in current production.) Note, however, that this is achieved without disproportionately boosting the very quietest part of the signal — ie. However, if you spend a few moments thinking about the idea of genuine upwards compression, you'll realise that it wouldn't actually be a lot of use in real-world applications, because it would probably raise the noise floor to wholly inappropriate levels. www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/q-parallel-compression-revisited, Win! Whether it's configured to make the loud bits quieter, or the quiet bits louder, fundamentally it exists to reduce the overall dynamic range from something large and unmanageable to something smaller and more appropriate for the intended application. As you can see, quiet signals are raised by 12dB now, and immediately above the threshold, the compression curve is quite distinctly bowed before trending towards the 45-degree angle of linearity as it nears 0dBFS. Michael Hahn is an incredibly useful pro technique to have in your mixes and. 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