Who here parallel compresses their entire mix?

[Jules]

I had to mix a song once where the original had a crazy indie rock charm (it was intentionally distorted) but wasn't quite good enough - my mix was 'cleaner / more punchy' but a little boring next to the mad distorted mix..

So I blended the old mix in with mine...

Worked a treat!

Kind a cheating I felt but hey! The artist never found out, nor did the original mixer..



That was 'parallel mixing'... of a kind...

(As the old mix and my DAW session were both digital there wasn't too much of a problem syncing them to play side by side without a detrimental, audible phase shift, if one of the two element was tape - the wow & flutter would have caused a crazy tape phase sound. making it pretty useless as a mix)

Back to the exact topic, I always wanted to try the technique of crushing a parallel of a mix, but never have..

Carry on....

[Methlab]

haha..cool!..im gonna go for it this weekend!

Ill start with the SSL buss comp for maximum crushation and tweak it out. Should be a fun little experiment.

[Lord Alvin]

I have done it at mastering with good results. If you like how it sounds then go for it.

[gainreduction]

I had a phase when I did it but it has passed. I even had a custom made sidechain mixer with a dedicated "blend" knob made for the purpose.

Nowadays my 2-buss stays quite clean.

[taturana]

i used psp vintage warmer on a 30%mix setting for that last night on a vocal to make it fit the mix...

[mdbeh]

Originally Posted by Jules

I had to mix a song once where the original had a crazy indie rock charm (it was intentionally distorted) but wasn't quite good enough - my mix was 'cleaner / more punchy' but a little boring next to the mad distorted mix..

So I blended the old mix in with mine...

Worked a treat!

Kind a cheating I felt but hey! The artist never found out, nor did the original mixer..



That was 'parallel mixing'... of a kind...

"Chicago at Night" by Spoon has different mixes in the left and right channels. It's pretty weird sounding if you listen to it closely, but it's effective nonetheless.

[Methlab]

Originally Posted by mdbeh

"Chicago at Night" by Spoon has different mixes in the left and right channels. It's pretty weird sounding if you listen to it closely, but it's effective nonetheless.

Did the guy who did the record have an interview in Tape Op? I read about him I think and how he parallel comps his mixes. He does a lot of it.

[wallace]

Originally Posted by Methlab

Did the guy who did the record have an interview in Tape Op? I read about him I think and how he parallel comps his mixes. He does a lot of it.

There was an article in tapeop about that... the guy set up two parallel comps: one for the whole mix (panned toward the center) and another one without the bass, panned slightly wider (I think).

[C/G]

Originally Posted by mdbeh

"Chicago at Night" by Spoon has different mixes in the left and right channels. It's pretty weird sounding if you listen to it closely, but it's effective nonetheless.

Same with Stereo Lab's Margarine Eclipse album. The whole album has a different mix in each channel. I wish I had the link to that Tim Gane interview where he talks about it.

[Methlab]

Originally Posted by Colin Gaucher

Same with Stereo Lab's Margarine Eclipse album. The whole album has a different mix in each channel. I wish I had the link to that Tim Gain interview where he talks about it.

wow, thats cool as hell.

I know they actally mix through the crushed compressor when they do this panning technique. So its like they mix the song a few times and blend it.

I think Thrillfactor does the parallel thing a lot..he may know some nice settings or tricks if he sees this.

[C/G]

Originally Posted by Methlab

wow, thats cool as hell.

I know they actally mix through the crushed compressor when they do this panning technique. So its like they mix the song a few times and blend it.

I think Thrillfactor does the parallel thing a lot..he may know some nice settings or tricks if he sees this.

Methlab, I'll get a hold of a friend who knows where to find that article and I'll post it once I get the link, but it is literally an entirely different, but complementary mix going on. I actually had no idea they did that until I read that article about the recording of Margarine Eclipse so I went and listened to the album again very closely.

Now the coolest fact, which I left out in my initial response, was that it is not simply the same bed tracks just mixed differently. They actually recorded the album twice with each seperate mixed recording going to it's own channel. That is pretty ****ing cool if you ask me. Lots of click tracks and beat detective going on for sure.

[djui5]

There comes a point in everyones life when they push things over the edge, just go a little too far by not realizing how far the envelope has been pushed already. You see, it's easy to walk over the edge when you don't ever look back, and keep your narrow mind on the task at hand, never seeing the overall picture.

This is one of those times.

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by Methlab

wow, thats cool as hell.

I know they actally mix through the crushed compressor when they do this panning technique. So its like they mix the song a few times and blend it.

I think Thrillfactor does the parallel thing a lot..he may know some nice settings or tricks if he sees this.

Hey Meth,

The only times i really parallel compress mixes is when i mix dance music which i really don't do much of anymore.

The only way to get the punch and bass of some dance records is sometimes to parallel low and mid punch copies of the mixes and mix that in with the original.

When i had the 6000E this was simple because it has 3 mix busses and i could assign multiple sends/copies to different busses. That way on a low buss i could strap lets say a sub harmonic processor across it for the extreme lows and something really snappy for the mids buss.

But i wouldn't do it eveytime only if the producer needed something a little extra.

[baikonour]

Originally Posted by Colin Gaucher

Same with Stereo Lab's Margarine Eclipse album. The whole album has a different mix in each channel. I wish I had the link to that Tim Gane interview where he talks about it.

Cool to have Stereolab quoted in Gearslutz!
That's a cool example of creative mixing, it's a take on the dual mono mixes done during the late 60's. it's just way easier to do it now with the help of a daw.
Don't want to name drop but a friend of mine is Stereolab's bass man and another is on kbd/guitar duties...he also mixed the last bout of 7's which have been compiled in an album earlier this year...

[baikonour]

To come back to the original question, I find parralel compression on full mixes to be a powerful technique to add punch and clarity to old tracks. i was amazed how more controled the bass is, you can also enhance the strereo this way...i'm using a couple of stereo mixes; one version eq'ed (lots of bass cut and some emphasis on the mid) feeding the uad fairchild in lat/vert mode. the other file generally untouched...blend to taste.

[Curve Dominant]

Who here parallel compresses their entire mix?

I did this once with a recording of a jazz quartet.

The drummer/bandleader complained to me how previous studio engineers had quashed the mix with compression. But he still wanted a "full" sound that compression would yeild.

So, I made one mix of the quartet with no compression.

Then, blended into that mix, a parallel compressed mix, using a BF 1176, 2:1, pretty heavy crush. ITB.

He loved the mix.

If prodded, I could post an MP3 before/after.

[RadioMoo]

Originally Posted by Curve Dominant

If prodded, I could post an MP3 before/after.

Prod.

[Labs]

Originally Posted by Curve Dominant

If prodded, I could post an MP3 before/after.

no prodding for you till you show us the goods.

[toolskid]

I'd LOVE to hear the mp3s!

[jgrif08]

prod, c'mon, lets hear em

[Methlab]

Originally Posted by djui5

There comes a point in everyones life when they push things over the edge, just go a little too far by not realizing how far the envelope has been pushed already. You see, it's easy to walk over the edge when you don't ever look back, and keep your narrow mind on the task at hand, never seeing the overall picture.

This is one of those times.

I disagree entirely. I am doing an indie/dance mix and I wanted to try this technique. If it doesn't work, I will simply undo what I did. I appreciate everyone's input though. It's an interesting topic, and it can work.....or it can't. Only one way to find out.

[Gregg Sartiano]

You know what's crazy? Nobody to my knowledge has ever made a parallel compression plug-in.

It seems like it'd be so basic -- not much beyond the regular compressor. Just add a "Parallel Dry" mix knob.

Or have two sides -- one mild, and one wild.

For one thing, there is no easy way to PC an ITB Pro Tools mix unless you're bumping EVERY channel to a bus and using that as Master (which a lot of people do) -- then you could have a single master fader, two parallel buses, and then the, umm, Master Master fader on A 1-2 for volume wars AHEM...Brickwall Limiting...

[Drumsound]

THe PSP Vintage Warmer has a dry/wet mix knob.

[Jonkan]

well, psp mixpressor does have a mix knob (or slider...cant remember)

/j

[Gregg Sartiano]

Originally Posted by Jonkan

well, psp mixpressor does have a mix knob (or slider...cant remember)

/j

Cool

[TBlizz]

On the excellent Shane Wilson's Guide to Mixing DVD, Shane uses parallel compression in a very interesting way.

“I'm leaving the original submixes unaffected, but blending this radical processing underneath just really bringing up the apparent loudness without over-compressing and without over-eqing. Just adding some excitement to the mix.”

Parallel signal processing chain:

dbx 160x: fairly heavy compression
Ratio 10:1 - GR 3 to 4 red LEDS
Threshold: between 0 and +10
Output gain +3

Phoenix Audio GTQ2-EQ (now Aurora): = Giant Smiley Face “aural exciting”
Shelf 80 Hz: +6 dB
Shelf 12 kHz: +6 dB

Tube Tech Stereo Compressor: some pretty heavy compression & tube wiggle
Limiter 1: Threshold: off
Compressor 2: Output: 0 - Ratio: 3:1 - Threshold: +3
Attak: 0.35 - Release: 0.07 - Preset Att/Rel: 2
Limiter 2: Threshold: 0
GR -3.5 (estimate)

[Kenny Gioia]

Putting parallel compression on individual tracks makes perfect sense to me but not on a full mix.

Here's why:

If you're mixing with compression on, your uncompressed mix probably isn't a very good mix. So why would you mix that back in?

What I do is:

1. Mix the song with compression on the 2 buss.

2. Remix the song with crushed compression (distortion?) and multiband limiting. Adjust individual levels with this setting.

3. Remix the song with no compression. Adjust individual levels with this setting also.

4. Blend all 3 mixes together to taste.

Additional option (takes a bit longer) :

a. Do a Mono mix with compression (only include tracks panned in the center.

b. Do a Stereo mix with compression (only include tracks not panned in the center)

Mix these in with the other 3 mixes.

[dnaflr2]

[QUOTE=Methlab;998047]My DAW is down for the day, but when I get it back, I am considering trying this on a mix, since it is close to done.

/QUOTE]

Hey look on the latest issue of tapeop magazine. Have only skimmed thru it, but saw a huge article on parallel compression.

[dnaflr2]

Originally Posted by baikonour

Cool to have Stereolab quoted in Gearslutz!
That's a cool example of creative mixing, it's a take on the dual mono mixes done during the late 60's. it's just way easier to do it now with the help of a daw.
Don't want to name drop but a friend of mine is Stereolab's bass man and another is on kbd/guitar duties...he also mixed the last bout of 7's which have been compiled in an album earlier this year...

Definitely- Stereolab Margerine Eclipse---- I don't think anyone has done as interesting things with panning since Hendrix and the Beatles. It's great to cut one side of a mix and hear something hiding on the other side.