Mix masterclass with Jon Musgrave
Parallel compression
Like the sound your compressor adds but want to retain some of the original signal’s sound? This technique could be for you
Download the accompanying video and the MIDI/audio files at bit.ly/cm326downloads
#11
Jon Musgrave
Jon is a London-based platinum award winning mixer, producer, composer and club remixer with a diverse CV that spans dance, pop, rock and music for media. He’s also a long term contributor to Computer Music. Jon usually handles final mixdowns, which is why we’ve got him to share some of his pearls of mixing wisdom here
Compression is one of our core mixing tools, but there are many specific techniques that use compression in different ways, so we’re allocating individual mixing masterclasses to each. This month we look at a very popular technique – parallel compression.
Parallel, or New York compression as it’s sometimes called, is a mixing technique that blends a dry and compressed signal, and is particularly popular for beats, bass, vocals and even the master bus. The technique was first developed back in the analogue days and in its simplest form involves paralleling a signal across two channels, one of which you compress quite heavily and one of which you don’t. You can then find a balance of the two signals, allowing you to benefit from the flavour the compressor adds but also retain some of the cleaner transients of the original sound. It’s a very liberating technique, and if done properly, can really help position sounds in your mix.