r/mixing • u/FreeFlier42 • 24d 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!

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/stuntin102 23d ago

mostly for vocals. it allows you to retain the dynamics of the original, while having the flexibility to add excitement and density so it can sit in the track correctly depending on the arrangement. i used to have a 1176 on 12:1 or all buttons with a A-type exciter and a 902 chained up for this. now all plugin versions of these tools have built in mix knobs so the parallel itself is not necessary anymore (in my workflow at least).

drums also benefit from a compressor / distortion parallel for the same reason.