QUICK TIPS

1

If you want to make your beats really gnarly, try this. Set up the New York Compression technique we look at in the threestep walkthrough and then feed the ‘dry’ source drums to your parallel compressor as a sidechain input signal.

2

As we see in the six-step walkthrough, parallel compressors don’t have to be ‘dry’. Use them in combination with spatial effects like reverb and delay to bed them into the mix.

3

Alternatively, use parallel compressors as a means to bring a more direct, dry signal back into a part which is drowning in effects. So long as the effects you’re using on a source sound aren’t inserts (and are being added via auxiliaries instead), dry parallel compression channels can bring back focus and power.

4

If working with a singer, don’t just record a lead vocal take and expect to create power through parallel compression treatments in post-production alone. Both double-track and harmony vocals give a ‘performed’ version of the same idea, with more natural, musical results.