MutantAudio.net - Parallel Compression Tutorial

[batman4ver1]

thanks



[eleckson]

Oh fuck yes....Oh FUCK yes.

[DtANE86]

awesome technique!!perfect for them techno drum breakdowns :)thanx for the tutorial man!

[voo4444]

You don't have to delay the dry track but the parallel compression track by minus 64 samples so that it would start earlier without the compression plug-in. The plug-in adds 64 samples so move the compressed track to the left by 64 samples and you won't have that ugly phasing anymore. This only works with two real audio tracks with audio material you can move backwards. You can also delay the dry track by 64 samples but then both tracks will be 64 samples behind the rest of the song.

[MutantAudio]

@voo4444 Thanks for the clarification on the delay compensation. It makes sense now.

[maciekkk123]

Thanks...

[evolutionist79]

I have a quick question about the plugin delay compensation...I'm using FL Studio 9 now. the dry mixer track as mrthingy01 says needs to have a delay of 64 samples. Am I essentially just delaying the dry track as much as the compressed track is being delayed?

Wouldn't the drum track then start a little ahead of the song?

[MutantAudio]

To be perfectly honest, manual delay compensation is something I never really got into and don't understand well.

[christianhoff123]

its very frustrating you havent started from the beginning and shown exactly how to do all the routing

[MutantAudio]

This wasn't a tutorial on the mixer. Go to the FL Studio site. Then to Support - Videos. In the Beginners section is a tutorial on the mixer that explains how to route tracks to sends.

[ONEyeMarco]

Thanks A bu/NCH!!!

gonna use on my vocals, so they stand out on my dance music... which is really hot "peaking" if you know what i mean

[kenzie1987]

thanks i think i have the hang of this, thanks for the video.

[DonJuanDeMarco2]

If my outboard mixer doesn't have delay compensation features, how do i go about sorting out phase issues ?

Are there devices i can insert in the audio path that creat a delay without degrading the signal ?

[geospiral]

Just a quick note, though. It wasn't originated in New York, this technique was used in UK, too, then the American took it and named it New York compression.

[cfsimon21]

Nice job.

[musicallionell]

Thanks alot man. This really helped me out alot.

[DJChrisMack]

Good job ! i learned something fo sho!

[jarooFLtutor]

thanks a ton :)

[motmr]

Thanks very much! Works cool on drums. How about parallel compression on vocals?

[dariunas]

No rules on this one. Whatever sounds best. Experiment. Might work on some vocals. Might not work on others :\

Works great on whole mixes too when you need to bring more out of the track without killing the dynamics and character. :)

[johncalcinotto]

nice one very clear and concise, for once someone who can explain without the bs ... nice one mutant

[teeteeboi]

Thanks Mutant Audio! One of the best tutorials on YouTube. Why does everyone else complicate or gloss over steps!?

[MutantRomance]

Nice vid. You described the technique very thoroughly. Great job. Learned a lot.

[lithion]

cool. thanks a lot

[jmbwalaska]

Traditionally, should the bus going to the compressor in parallel compression be pre or post fader?

[killthepixelnow]

Thanks for posting this technique. I'm gonna try it with MIDI drums... and then, if I'm lucky, with real drum tracks.

[SanFranCrisko]

Great techniques there. I'm going to have to record drums for the first time soon. Bit nervous, LOL. Maybe its the YT video but when both the original and compressed signals are playing there is a fair whack of phase going on. Maybe its personal taste, but I like the sound of just the compressed track, but it would be ideal to have more of the attack and high-end in the compressed signal too. Would you personally keep the original track in the final mix?

[snezegard]

I'm hearing it too. Perhaps since it's routed through a bus, the un-processed signal is reaching output just a fraction of a millisecond later than the original signal. Perhaps the phasing could be eliminated with latency compensation??? Anyhow, it's not that prevalent, and I can definately hear the power of the drums because of this technique. Thank you very much for sharing!

[1lhp]

i do this on cubase, not just to drums but to a full track, and it worked beautifully.

I just added a second track and you dont get any phasing, his phasing must be something to do with the send in fruity

[omakayd]

yes, the phasing is because of the dry signal and compressed signal are reaching the master channel at different times (a matter of milliseconds), not sure what version of FL this is but FL8 has delay compensation to correct phasing (assuming you set it up right).

[MutantAudio]

Go to the FL Studio site and look in their Beginner Video Tutorials section. They have a tutorial on the mixer there.

[geiuy]

how come the wave i export come out in lower amplitude/volume than the original? thanks

[Igneous01]

did u invert the phase on one of the sounds? if so that explains why it dipped in amplitude

[cfears]

how do you set each drum track to route to the compressed track?

[mrdanster]

Great Stuff. This really makes drums come out in a track. Stuff I've heard on albums before finally I can now duplicate.

Thanks a million.

[illeneef]

thanks for showing this technique - i'm gonna try it out

[warpie]

However, different tools have different problems. A Maximaizer is a great tool but destroys the dynamics. Non-linear Eqs are great too but but tend to alter the phase of the signal. Just to mention a few examples. There's nothing wrong with that, in a real world everything has advandages and disadvantages.

[warpie]

Although I never talked about what's 'wrong' or 'right' I don't agree with you. I understand what you mean by saying "Music is artistic expression, not a hard and fast set of rules of what's "correct"". However the first thing came to my mind is that is kinda 'wrong' to use a Maximizer or a 20:1 ratio in a jazz track... Why? Because 30-40% of jazz is about dynamics. Once upon a time, this was the case for other styles such as pop and rock..

[MutantAudio]

Right. Which is why you wouldn't use this technique on a jazz track. You wouldn't use a bit reduction effect on a jazz track either. Nor would you use a hammer to tighten a nut and bolt. Does that mean there's a problem with bit reduction effects and hammers? No. You use the right tool for the right job.

[warpie]

although i like this techinque it has a major problem. Loudness! i know the new trend is 'the lowder the better' but I believe this is true only for dance music. Nice example though..

[MutantAudio]

This technique is not meant to control dynamics. It's meant to add punch and help the drums breath with the track.

Dynamics have their place aesthetically, but so does loudness. Music is artistic expression, not a hard and fast set of rules of what's "correct". A technique doesn't does not have a "problem" because it doesn't match the aesthetics of a group of people. It's just a technique.

[MutantAudio]

6 with the Nuendo skin.

The audio is pretty compressed in this video. There's a lot of artifacts that aren't present in the original. Check it out on Mutant Audio for a higher quality version.

[omnistudio]

what FL version is that?

[lucasetten]

There is some phasing issue I think. But when there is no latency the effect works well. Sounds really nice on a big console.

[vertigopulse]

i guess you have to take it with a grain of ear salt since this video probably does no justice to the audio in that room. But that seems like an excellent technique. I cannot wait to try it!

[dreamworldprod]

Sounds like some really bad phase issue when you bring the compressed sound into the mix?

[mrthingy01]

I'm trying to remember if the FL Studio compressor adds a small amount of latency (literally a few samples) whihc could cause the phasing. I noticed it too.

[mrthingy01]

Just tested this in FL 7. To get rid of the phasing you need to set the track delay on the DRY send to 64 samples.

[warheadz]

Great Post! Very Informative, thanx!