Parallel Compression

doncolga
Hey all,
 
So I just recently gave parallel compression a whirl for the very first time and I liked it alot.  As common for me, if I tried it one one instrument and liked it, I'd try it on them all.  I liked it best on piano, drums and backing vocals.  The cymbals were included on the stereo drum track from Stylus, and I'll be avoiding those next time for PC.  From your experience, any guidelines for types of tracks that seem to benefit the least from this treatment?
 
Thanks!
 
Donny

I get pounded for this advice all the time, but those who have either become students or have trusted me in what I say have agreed with me in the long run.
 
The advice is, be careful with it and try NOT to use it unless you feel a need, a reason or a cause and effect. Engineers (especially bedroom hobby guys) are in search of big, fat tones. In turn they think having this on all instruments makes things sound better when in reality, it does not. Some sounds need to be thinned out so they fit in the mix. Not every instrument is a focal point instrument so it shouldn't be treated that way. In other words....you don't "just do" something "for the sake of."
 
I actually don't like p-comp on anything but drums in certain situations. The added impact can be nice for certain things but you wind up losing some of your dynamics due to the additional resonance you pick up. I'd just about never put this on a piano or an acoustic guitar due to how dynamic those instruments can be. Too much p-comp across multiple instruments and you can totally ruin your song.
 
The next question I ask all my students is "how do your mixes sound without all these additional techniques?"
 
The fact to be concerned with here Donny is NOT to run before you can crawl or walk with authority. This is one of the things I hate about forums and reading books. These techniques are introduced to people (not talking about you here, just in general) that can't mix right just yet so they shouldn't be going here. It's like buying an old dirt bike used for trail riding....you get the basic idea on how to ride and have a little fun, then next week you come back with a race bike made for moto-x. You can get jacked real quick if you're not careful.
 
My reason for stating that is due to all the people I've heard abuse this technique to the point of me just shaking my head. Hearing previous work they had done made me shake my head some more. It's like this....we had incredible mixes without this technique for quite a few years. Don't depend/rely on it to work magic. You should be able to come up with great mixes without it. When you're at that point THEN experiment a little and see where it works and where it may skew your mixes....because it can, and it will.
 
Unfortunately, this isn't one of those effects/techniques that you can use "a little" of. Meaning, you have to use a decent amount of it to hear the effect of it. Subtle doesn't do it justice really. So for sure it's something to be super careful about in MY opinion only. I've used it on drums when the drums needed that sound.....I've used it on bass for a bit of the "now sound" for clients.
 
I've used it on vocals for "effect purposes" in parts of songs....but it's not something I would ever put on a bunch of instruments at once because not everything needs to be big, and not everything needs that kind of impact. So just be careful with it and try to come up with a reason as well as a cause and effect for why you feel you need to use ANY technique.
 
The reason being, sometimes less truly is more and will do the job even better. If the sounds you are working with are not sounding big enough or they don't have enough impact, find out why. Record new sounds if you need to and experiment there. 9 times out of 10 you win when you capture a killer sound from the beginning instead of trying to make something bigger or give it more impact via effect or technique. Other times, sure, effects and techniques are great for that. I'm not trying to talk you out of anything....I'm just trying to feed your head while making you think.
 
I had a few students recently that were sending me mixes with p-comp in spots. They were having issues with the mixes and weren't crazy about them. I made them kill the p-comp, they re-eq'd and compressed properly, applied some effects differently and replied back "now I know why I work with you...what a difference for the better!"
 
So the moral of the story here....just like in real life, you have to pick your battles. Know when to have impact, know when to allow dynamics and natural sounds to flow through while getting them right instead of hoping a technique or effect will make the difference. Learn to do anything and everything you can at all times...but always be sure that you can record good tracks first and foremost, know how and when to eq, how to compress and where to pan. If you do that much and it sounds great, you honestly won't need much more other than "producing" the material a bit. If that fails though....p-comp and everything else won't save the mix. Just stay focused. Good luck. :)
 
-Danny