Parallel Compression

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 10:52 am

Anyone familiar with the technique Parallel Compression and have any ideas they would like to share on this technique. A friend of mine who has a fairly established studio was telling me about this technique.

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 10:57 am

Possibly.

I do lot's of things in the studio and onstage without really thinking "what's the definition of this" or "when I set up the mics like this it's called ______".

What about parallel comp peaks your interest?

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:24 am

Bent, that's the thing about compression: it has no peaks. Laughing

OK, that was terrible.

I'd imagine parallel compression involves splitting the effect send, to 2 separate compressors configured differently and then bringing them back together in some ratio. Dunno why you would do that though. Maybe to give a semi-rough sound to the voice?

And when I do stuff onstage like tilt mics a little, I think "why do I bother".

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:25 am

Parrallel Compression (in theory) is where you duplicate a track. Run one track without compression, and then track a second vocal track (possibly a copy) with a hard compression of say 10:1 at around -15 db threshold. You then add this to the mix with your original uncompressed vocal. I was suggested around a 30% (not sure what that would be in Db's). I was told you mix the combo till here when it suits your need.

I am going to experiment with this, this weekend for my son's project. Again part of my goal to get that A7X vocal sound.
I guess what kind of music styles or voices does it suit for is the kind of feedback as well if anyone has a rock solid science tip on this. This is all new to me. I have been using Antares plugins but I find they sound robotic and cheap when it comes to making the vocal cut through.
Also I have eq'd the vocal to get that radio sound or just eq'd it to fit in its own freq. spectrum but it seems there is still that one thing missing. Maybe its just skill I need.
Anyways, without rambling on anymore, I'm exploring ways of getting that magic vocal.

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:28 am

u guys are hilarious with these 1 sentence puns.
where do you come up with this stuff?

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:36 am

Ah right, I've heard of that. Actually I tried it one time, only with other stuff as well.

Recording of our Church band live, doing a song. I used the 2 board effect sends to capture the main sound, with a pre-done stereo image (and horrible EQing) and mixed in the guitar/vocal monitors later (after shifting them to fix phase issues). I put a reverb on the vocal monitor signal, with the vocals still coming largely from the effect mixes.

Just remeber, you don't have to stick with comp/verb/EQ with vocals. You could try distorting one of the vocal signals with a plugin, might get you something interesting.

And as for the wit, it's a gift I use all too often. It's a joke a minute but a laugh an hour with me.

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:21 pm

Nice one, Monkey!

"No peaks..." Hahaha!

Laughing

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:23 pm

Quote:

And when I do stuff onstage like tilt mics a little, I think "why do I bother".

Probably because you read a post where I said that it's a good thing to do?

[/feeling all high and mighty]

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:03 pm

I did this on a song before, I bussed all the drum channels to a stereo track them compressed the shit out of it and introduced it to the overall drum sound for effect. It was neat. I just can't remember why I did it, I think it was for the sake of experimenting. When I was in Recording school we did lots of experimenting like building forts around kick drums and amps, then miking at various spots in the fort. I can't tell you how many times I built a fort because I didn't have a vocal booth.

As adults, we don't build enough forts. Fort building Rocks!

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:14 pm

"No Peaks", I get it, I think you better hire the "king of dry" Seinfeld for some of those dry one liners, lol.

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:16 pm

yes HalifaxSoundGuy, this was another example of Parallel Compression that was mentioned to me.
Obviously going to recording school has its benefits. I have to hear about these things from other guys in the field that do this for a living.

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:50 pm

As I think back, I believe I read in in an EQ or Mix Magazine.

I don't know anyone who builds forts for a living, but that would be an awesome career like Lego Designer or Mattress tester!

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:59 pm

I don't anybody doing Mattress testing or Lego Designing but actually I do know someone that works at the Fort in Fort Langley, BC. Not sure if Fort building is part of his title. I think that was done for him already. Thats the closest job to fort building I know of.

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:59 pm

This is the program I took and it was awesome.

http://www.nscc.ca/Learning_Programs/Programs/PlanDescr.aspx?prg=SOUN&pln=RECORDARTS

This is not a take your money school. Because its a community college, its mandate is to make sure that every student passes instead of seeing how many they can pipe through in a year.

The school was moved to a brand new Facility which houses all the New media courses throughout Nova Scotia. All the courses work together through out the year.

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:01 pm

In Nova Scotia of all places, very cool. Not exactly what I would of expected out there. Last time I was there, I ended up taking a crab cage with me home as a keepsake.

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