Serial compression
While the parallel compression technique runs a compressor in parallel with an original signal, serial compression runs two or more over a signal in series. Is the result like throwing a single compressor at a signal? No, serial compression can give you a hugely more transparent tone while still compressing the daylights out of a signal if needed. Let’s explore this using the Venomode Complexer 2 compressor. This effect hosts three compressor stages, routable three ways: as a multiband setup, each affecting a different frequency band; as a stereo setup, each compressor affecting left, right or both channels; and as a serial setup, with each compressor’s output signal running into the input of the next.