Should I use parallel compression on drums?

If you want your drums to sound punchier and more impactful, parallel compression may be the answer. First add sends on all of your drum tracks and send them to your parallel compression track. Generally, you want to send more of the kick, snare and toms than the overheads.

Should you use parallel compression?

Although most commonly used on drums and vocals, parallel compression can be used whenever you need to increase the presence and punch of an instrument, but still want to keep the dynamic quality of the original audio.

What does parallel compression do?

Parallel compression uses a send and return setup similar to how you would send a signal to an effects processor. It is the combination of the dry signal mixed with a compressed version. In a parallel setup, you can use heavier compression to pull more depth out of the source signal.

Does parallel compression cause phasing?

If you implement parallel compression by setting up the compressor as a send effect (a pretty common choice of routing), you’ll only get phasing between the unprocessed and processed signals if the routing or processing introduces a time delay between the two audio streams.

Do you EQ parallel compression?

EQ Your Compression Often when using parallel compression you may only want to bring out certain frequencies. This is because parallel compression can sometimes amplify problem frequencies in the vocals that you don’t want to hear. The solution is to add an equalizer plugin either before or after the compressor plugin.

What is one of the benefits of using parallel compression?

One of the main advantages of parallel compression is that this technique can be used to considerably raise low-level signals without compromising the sonic integrity of that signal’s transient peaks.

Do I need to compress drums?

Compressors drop the volume of your audio when it gets louder than a predetermined threshold, which helps you tame loud peaks. This is especially important with drums, which can have extremely sharp peaks on hits.

How do you use parallel compression in mastering?

If you want to use parallel compression prior to any other effects you’ll need to use a plugin with wet/dry functionality, or create multiple busses and/or utilize the stereo output channel to separate the signal and perform your mastering on these auxiliary channels.

Do you compress drum overheads?

Make sure the compressor fully releases the overheads as soon as the snare’s attack is finished. This way you’ll have less snare in the overheads, without bringing up the hi-hat. Sometimes, the drummer nails the kick while only feathering the snare drum.

How do you make drums more punchy with compression?

Drum Compression: One Simple Technique for Punchier Drums

1. Parallel It.
2. Step 1: Duplicate the Track you want to work with.
3. Step 2: Compress the Duplicate.
4. Step 3: Change the Attack and Release.
5. Step 4: Mix the original and the duplicate together.
6. Always think of the entire mix.

When should you compress drums?

Do you need to compress every track?

It can be easy to get in the habit of throwing a compressor on every track because we assume we should. But not every sound needs to be compressed. You aren’t doing yourself any favors throwing compression on tracks that already sound fine. The intention should come first.

How do I make my drums sound fuller?

1. Compression. There are a few different ways that you can use compression in order to make your drums mix sound bigger and more full.
2. EQ. When diving into the EQ, you should consider what you want your drums to sound like.
3. Picking the Right Sample.
4. Distortion.
5. Panning.

How much should I compress drums?

Compression can be tricky, but it’s one of the keys to achieving a modern drum sound. It’s common to apply between 3-6 dB of gain reduction to the kick and snare. Toms sometimes get compressed as well, but it depends on how often they’re used in a song.