In a Q&A session in 2013 Michael Brauer said he’s not sure if this technique will sound as good when doing it in-the-box (using a DAW), it works fine in the hybrid<\/strong>. I see a lot of people asking about Michael Brauer parallel compression trick so I thought I should add that so you don’t waste your time trying to do it on a software such as FL Studio lol just kidding \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n OK enough with the jokes and boring intro let’s get straight to it.<\/p>\n To put it in the most simplest form, this is mixing a dry signal with a processed signal<\/strong>. Sometimes the original signal is not 100% dry, it might have some subtle compression applied to it. But the processed signal needs to be heavily processed.<\/p>\n This will bring up the softest parts of the sound that is getting compressed adding audible detail while leaving the loud transients intact. hmmmm that’s rocket science.<\/em><\/p>\n Put it this way, a normal compressor does what is called downward compression<\/em> which is bringing down the loud peaks, parallel compression is the opposite<\/strong>. The quieter parts are brought up in level while keeping the other parts the same, so this processing technique is upward compression<\/em> and does the opposite of a normal compressor. And this technique is also known as New York Compression.<\/p>\n You can do parallel compression by using send or Fx\u00a0channels. The way I do it is to duplicate the sound to a new channel that way I have full control of both dry and compressed signals<\/strong>. Some compressors come with a dry\/wet parameter so you can use that as well.<\/p>\n Most people don’t know this but Logic stock compressor does have a dry\/wet parameter\u00a0hidden<\/strong>. You can find it by by clicking on the triangle at the bottom left of the plugin as shown below.<\/p>\n Remember that this is a concise guide<\/strong> so the compression settings can be applied to any reputable DAW, Cubase, Ableton, Logic, FL Studio, Reaper etc.<\/p>\n When it comes to the envelope you want to use a fast attack but don’t kill the transients and a medium release will work<\/strong>. The ratio settings needs to be high that is why other people choose to use a limiter instead, because it has unlimited ratio. Be careful though sometimes a high ratio can cause the signal to distort or create a pumping effect<\/strong>. While in some cases\u00a0a small ratio of 2:1 will work.<\/p>\n You’ll also need to use a high gain reduction<\/strong>, but this will depend on the material so play around with a gain reduction of around -10dB<\/strong> to -20dB<\/strong> and let your ears be the judge.<\/p>\n I choose to use very high settings because I know I have full control of the 2 signals. But just make sure the 2 signals blend well when mixed together<\/strong> and don’t make it sound obvious. Keep everything as organic\u00a0as possible.<\/p>\n Parallel compression can be applied on anything that you think needs upward compression<\/strong>, it could be vocals, drums or even an entire mix during mastering.<\/p>\n As mentioned above, people like Michael Brauer use parallel compression on vocals. If you want to learn more about this technique then head over to Sound on Sound and check out a great post written by Mike Senior.<\/p>\n He shows a step by step process on how to do the Michael Brauer parallel compression technique using Cubase<\/strong>. You can use the same process on any DAW. Here’s the direct link to the blog post.<\/p>\n >> http:\/\/www.soundonsound.com\/sos\/apr09\/articles\/cubasetech_0409.htm<\/a><\/p>\n If you’re using this technique on drums then duplicate the original signal to a new channel. If the drums are on separate channels then export all the drums and import the drum track to the project.<\/p>\n Then add an eq to the duplicate channel. The eq settings will be a smile curve<\/strong> like the one shown below:<\/p>\n After adding that eq then I’ll add the compressor and use the settings I mentioned above. Once I’m happy with that then I’ll drag the volume of the processed channel back down\u00a0and bring it up slowly<\/strong> to blend it with the original signal.<\/p>\n You can use this production technique on anything, just make sure that you switch on the delay compensation on your DAW to avoid phase<\/strong>. I use the FabFilter Pro Q for these kinds of situations because it has both zero-latency and different phase processing modes.<\/p>\n You can add whatever you want on the processed signal chain, it doesn’t need to be the eq and compressor only<\/strong>. Feel free to add your own creativity.<\/p>\n You can also make your mix punch using this technique, which is not the main purpose of parallel compression though. The question I see popping a lot is “how do I know if everything is sounding right after doing new york compression…?”<\/em><\/p>\n The most simple answer is. What were you trying to achieve?<\/strong> If you just add something and hope for the best then you’re going to have a big problem. You should be able to picture\u00a0the end results before doing any processing<\/strong>. If you know why you added the compressor then you’ll know if it sounds right or not<\/em>.<\/p>\n Hope you found some useful info in this blog post and leave a comment below if you have any questions or maybe you just want to say Thank You \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n See you again soon with more production tutorials and you can download my books<\/a> if you want more tutorials.<\/p>\nWhat is New York Compression<\/h2>\n
![\"PARALLEL](\"http:\/\/talkinmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/PARALLEL-COMPRESSION-logic-9.png\")
<\/p>\nParallel Compression Settings<\/h2>\n
Applying The Technique<\/h2>\n
![\"parallel](\"http:\/\/talkinmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/parallel-compression-settings.png\")
<\/p>\nParallel Compression Tutorial – Get Phat Drums<\/h2>\n