New York Drum Compression

Programmed drum parts and loops can get lost in a mix as new parts are added. Parallel Compression is an alternative to merely turning faders up

Over-compressed audio signals rarely sound great. Perhaps sounds whose volumes have been smashed to within an inch of their lives might serve a useful function but usually, not so much. We like full dynamic range and this is as true on individual sounds as it is across whole mixes. But there’s no denying that super-squashed sounds have a real grittiness which is hard to ignore. So… what if the best of both worlds could exist, whereby a sound, or a combination of related sounds could ‘play twice’ simultaneously; once with their full dynamic range intact, and also with a second, underlying signal, whose dynamics have been pushed much harder. This is the New York compression technique and here’s how to set it up.

Start with a track featuring separately programmed kick, snare, clap and ride cymbal parts, with the rhythmic elements completed by a white noise loop and a metallic ‘tick’ sound at the end of each four-bar cycle. Synth bass and sweeps sounds complete...

We route the kick, snare and clap tracks to a new auxiliary and set up FabFilter’s Pro-C 2 compressor. We select the Opto algorithm, with high Ratio (6:1) and low Threshold. Attack and Release times are crucial. In the audio, the parallel compressor...

There’s more weight and impact in the drums now. The final stage is to set a parallel compression level which works alongside the dry drums and the other track elements. Use the auxiliary return fader to set a volume balance you like.