Quote:
Originally Posted by
guavadude
I think guitars benefit greatly from parallel compression both in pedals and when mixing. I used a dynacomp for years and it basically had one setting that sounded great. But even then it was full squishy which wasn’t always right. I always wished I could dial it back a little, not because I didn’t want to commit but because it would sound even better to keep some of the transient intact. With the Wampler Ego comp I can get that Dynacomp sound and a dozen others.
As far as mixing goes, acoustic guitars have transients that are like a hi hat. Parallel compression is a great way to even it out without making it sound overly compressed.
Sometimes I want to hear compression as an effect but sometimes I just want to park a guitar in your face and make it consistent. The more tools you have in the toolbox the better!
Compression by definition "evens out " frequencies, often bringing up artefacts one can live without. With a frequency rich sound like (other then aneimic) guitar sound, that evening out maybe not what's needed, especially if the amp and speaker are driven to compress the tone. Then you are parallel compressing, you are bringing all the artefacts back on top of the compressed sound. Kinda self defeating, as you are bringing phase type artefacts into the equation. That's why parallel compression has never been very popular with electric guitar. Inline it works if used sparingly.
Wampler Ego I like because when driven it has a kinda distortion which I like.
Dynacomp is a 1-trick pony. I find that something like Empress comp, at longer attack a much useful tool if used in parallel, but only very sparingly even with this epitome of a transparent comp.