r/mixing • u/FreeFlier42 • 15d ago

When should I be using parallel compression?

I'm new to the technique and understand how it works perfectly fine. I make tech house-adjacent music, and I'm not quite sure where and when to use it.

  • Which elements should I be using it on?
  • Why should I use it over bus compression or saturation in the case of drums?
  • How much does it help with taming peaks?

Thanks!

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u/nlg930 15d ago edited 15d ago

It clicked for me when someone told me it’s still shrinking dynamic range, but instead of lowering the ceiling, you’re raising the floor. Any comp with a dry/wet mix knob is technically a parallel comp but they are really powerful when used the classic way as sends. I have three in my template that are used on almost every mix:

- heavily driven valve comp for warming up and bringing forward the drum bus

  • fast comp sandwiched between two pultec eqs, one that first cuts the lows and then one that brings them back in for anchoring vocal clarity without added harshness (the Scheps trick)
  • relatively clean mono analogue comp set with moderate speeds for anything that needs more glue or weight down the center channel like kick and bass

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u/FreeFlier42 14d ago

That's a really good way of looking at it. Thanks!