Parallel Compression on the Whole Mix - the ‘Rear Buss’ Technique
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Learn Andrew Scheps’ signature technique of parallel compression on a ‘rear’ buss in order to add energy to a mix.Watch mixing tips from Andrew Scheps himself: waves.com/tag/.... Also visit recordingrevol...
Don't forget the whole purpose is to keep the ORIG transients...so, on the Blended Parallel use FAST Attack settings. Most guys forget and use the setting to preserve transients. You want to wipe em off the compressed ball and then tuck it up under, bring the level up slowly ...to fatten it up. It's like the opposite of what they usuall do. You want the parallel side to be the Mid/Fat, the bulk, and the Orig to be the High w/ Transients. You get more in the end this way. Hard to Explain. Yes, On the Dual Mono! You can also go LCR like Andrew also does. - Gilroy
yes yes yes YESSSSS !!!!
do you have a video on this ?
Yes, I think so too...but Andrew uses UAD 1176AE with the slowest attack value, the attack knob at 7 o'clock (in the 1176 the values are reversed)....there's a reason for this??? Thanks
So fast attack on the new blended parallel track and slow on the stereo comp? Any combo you’d use?
@@AlbanEmiri fast is slowest with the 1176
I must have said it before about you but it's important. Thé gréât thing about you is that you never assume that your audience is only people who know certain things. So you explain everything. Even if I know somethings, I don't mind your explanation because you never know. Sometimes my take on something might be wrong because I coukd have forgotten or got the wrong idea from the start. After watching a video of yours, knowledge is reinforced in my mind. Keep doing videos this way. It is what puts you in a special place for learning. And your ego is minimal. Your goal is to learn and share your knowledge. I will always go back to your videos to clarify and strengthen my knowledge. I bought your basic video set awhile ago(at least a year) and keep watching them every so often to make sure I am clear on basic concepts. Those videos are worth gold. Thanks again for everything.
Been using this trick to master an album that was sent to me. A good solution to material that was mixed too loud but has great tone. I was able to “fill in” the low and high mids this way using a band-pass parametric EQ (250-2500kHz) or whatever fit the bill for the song, and then the UAD SSL on the return fader. Typically 6-8dB of reduction but automated and gainstaged very carefully, some phase issues may come into play when the return fader is adding too much level into the stereo buss. I was typically at about -33 to-29 on that return fader
This ‘rear buss’ technique is so good to be aware of. It’s a versatile approach ... for example ... one doesn’t always have to heavily compress the original mix buss to attain ‘streaming volume’ target.
Not that different from what CLA described (in a Pensado interview if I remember correctly): send everything except for drums and bass to a bus (I call it ALL-B&D) and compress that. He described it as "let the song mix itself". The main difference is you're applying parallel compression to that bus. The other difference is that you're including the bass as well.
Just barely discovered the one knob and vitamin plugins and it has changed everything I knew about my mix downs
Also a nice trick for live foh, i was doing that a long time ago a bit out of necessity and also taste. In a event /live hall i had a very nice soundcraft series5 analogue console and only 4ch of compressor and also to put them to each different insert i had to hang out of the balcony or climb a ladder, so i used them in group channels, 2 parallel or only the group and 2 for a stereo parallel mix compression. Some times the band was playing hard but it was eating time for the people (weddings, tourist events etc) so i used the compressed mix (with high pass cause i had low end energy from the monitors) to be gently but also hearing everything and then when i had more crowd or it was dancing time i had the compressed(using other eq than before) to boost the more dymamic clean signal, so different use through the night
Nice real world example 👍
I had the pleasure of attending Andrew's seminar this year at Mix With The Masters and can confirm his extensive use of this technique. The only difference I can note is that Andrew uses a UAD 1176 AE in dual mono mode for his rear bus - dual mono is really the important part. You can set your sends to FMP but if the compressor isn't dual mono, it will have zero effect because information panned on one side will effect that on the other - this is inherent with any stereo compressor. Andrew uses very few, if any, group auxes for instruments. A lot of the sends to the rear bus come right off the instrument tracks themselves and sometimes certain tracks aren't sent at all. Based on Andrew's reasoning, whether or not certain instruments get sent to the rear bus depends on how much interaction between them is desired.
" - this is inherent with any stereo compressor" , you mean in Linked mode ..
giordash thinking about getting that Brathwaithe series from them, is it worth it?
@@michaelcake3186 Yes! "Stereo" implying that the detectors are linked. Most stereo compressor plugins default to being linked. Will accept the late reply award too lol.
@@MrArtVein Their videos are among some of the best resources online. I highly recommend all their content. And the seminars!
Ah I was doing this in my session last night and wasn’t sure what exactly I was doing but loved the result. Great video, now I can move forward a little more confidently.
This is a really really cool trick, leave it to the old-timers who always had to find workarounds or just straight up try things with their consoles... just tried this on a metal mix and it really added a nice extra dimension. I used the SSL as well and I did find that the stereo version of the plug-in had a strange phasey sound, so I used the multi-mono version of the plug-in and that did it. And you can also un-check the FMP button to shape sounds differently if you want. I decided the snare could use a little extra snap so I added in a little bit of my room snare sound to the rear bus as well. So many options, this is really going to be great for my workflow going forward. Thanks Graham.
A similar trick (or maybe just a more specific version of the same trick) when you have two lead instruments like sax and guitar that trade licks is to buss the both to a common bus and compress it so that the louder of the two lead instruments automatically ducks the other. Side chaining doesn't work for this cause they alternate riffs and sidechains are dedicated to duck one or the other. but like the rear bus when an instrument steps forward the other politely steps back and says "Yes Please Riff Away". Here's an example:ruclips.net/video/FXx9xZqnQyE/видео.html
I don't quite understand this. If you're talking about a compressor on a bus with two instruments coming into it, how does one duck the other without sidechaining? Do you mean simply because when the loudest instrument hits the compressor both instruments will be gain reduced because they're bussed? So it seems like the quieter instrument is ducked? But then won't they both be reduced by the same amount? I don't get it!
@@evanmcgregor3758 because you’re mixing the two. Raise the fader on one it triggers compression and lowers both and Vice versa, so as you alternate raising each instrument, which ever one is raised ducks the other.
@@Endless_Skyway_Adventures oh ok, makes sense, thanks
Just tried it, it really works well and thickens up the mix nicely thanks Graham!
I think we should start calling this the Scheps Bus! Awesome trick!
One thing to note (for Logic, at least) is that creating a bus track will automatically be mono. Make sure you change that to stereo if you want it to match your panning
Hank Fontaine Shouldn’t the buss track treating the parallel compression be a Mono track to begin with?
Great Graham, I love the ssl comp, thanks for this trick!!!...The more tricks the better, the better playing the better...:) Drummergreets from The Netherlands, Jeroen Simons, Independent, ex-Epica.
So what is this in simple terms bro? How do you achieve this the simplest way of explaining ?
You're subtly pitching these catchy songs in these videos Graham , I love it :)
i do this with the listen mic compressor on my SSL six. i did it originally just trying to squeeze as much as i could out of the unit, so was trying to make do and found it really added fatness and punch. only difference is that i mostly send drums to to it, then just add a small amount of synths to that channel. it makes the synths duck around the kick/snare so you get the whole mix to pump and the trick is to then play syncopated parts between the drums and synths so that each instrument hits super hard when it gets slammed with the compressor. i also play around with EQ on this channel and find that this channel becomes my "glue channel" and then i have a separate send for reverb so i can quickly balance space vs. groove and glue
Wow, this is a fantastic tip! can't wait to try it
Heard that A/B difference even with my little tablet speaker. Not just a gain increase happening there. The entire mix sounds more glued together.
All I could think of when hearing the song is "Heart shaped box" by Nirvana.
Me too ! lol
is that your new complaint ? * wink wink... *
Also sounds like Imagine Dragons "Believer" imo
This was good. He didn’t ramble on as he does all the time. Good information. He went straight to the point.
Amazing technique and video! At last... learning something new!
Incredibly helpful and informative instruction! 🙏🏽
is there a reason why you didn't send the group of the tracks instead of sending every single track ?
thnks
I was on to the phase issues before I used this, I set Fabfilter Q2 before the compression and set it to linear phase high.
Been doing this on every mix since I saw a Scheps tutorial. Use the CLA 1176 Blue.
I like distortion on vocals. It would be cool make video about distortion effect on vocals.
Woooo! Congrats for the mix, it's sound amazingly fat & present! Nice technics, I'll try this out on the futur! Thanks for sharing!
I may be a beginner but all this bazard to do parallel compression, while all compressors on a button provided for this purpose
I don’t understand the part about panning! Shouldn’t you just the pan knob dead center of the rear mix bus? I have a guitar at 2 or 3 being sent wouldn’t it still be at 2 or 3 coming out of rear mix bus? This the only thing I’m confused about
Same here , he doesn’t explain. Is he creating a separate bus for each pan group and then to the yellow rear bus ?
Good trick..but in this tutorial i hear the top end getting a bit grainy, i dont like that. maybe its the quality of the Waves version of SSL comp.
yep got the Universal audio SSLG's, they are more loud, round, drop more low end and the grain when you add +1 of makeup addition is waaay more transparent
or maybe to higher ratio,to deep with the threshold,and to slow on the attack so in turn it will distort
Great tip and very well explained - thank you, Graham.
You're a Master Graham! Thank you.
Thanks for the tip however, couldn't you just send your instrument and vocal group busses instead of the individual tracks to the parallel channel? Thanks again.
of course you can... especially in the digital domain there's no difference. In that case is even better because I saw some movement on the groups completely lost in that routing... so the rear bus is not receiving the exact replica of the mix. Dual mono compressor on the "rear bus" and if you use sub mixes use aux on these post fader... much faster and accurate!!!
I was wondering the same thing. If you've got a lot of processing on your group busses then that is not going to be replicated in the rear buss if you're sending straight from the individual tracks. Makes more sense to send from the groups. Quicker and easier too.
mvh that's exactly what I do. Works for me.
I thought that - why not just send from the groups? Plus it looks like there is automation happening on the groups, which won't get sent to this parallel channel if the sends are done via the individual channels. Maybe that's on purpose?
The difference is the concept is that you literally create a mirror of the full track so the panning is important and should match up with the original track
Nice! I also like side chain compression also on the instrument buss being triggered by the lead vox.
U got a link that demonstrates that?
I've been doing that for a while now, it works good
Done this on drums before but not the mix. Any reason you did this using sends on each individual track rather than the groups for guitar, vox, bass etc. Assuming you had a group for everything?
Also could you use parallel compression on the drums at the same time as this by having a second one... advantages/disadvantages?
Marlon, I was wondering why he wasn't using the sends from his groups as well, would seem to simplify things.
An awesome vid yet again Graham!!! Kudos!!!
the difference is incredible
Ive been doing this on occasion for years. I actually thought I invented it ! Just kidding. I did come up with it by my own accord however because it was pre internet. And Im completely self taught. Anyhow, When I do, do it. Its a bit different. Ill explain if anyone would like to try it.
I use a parallel bus using the send from my mix groups. On the parallel bus I use a reverb (because I dont lay verb across my master bus) and I use a multi band compressor. In that order. That way you can shape your reverb to taste, and still add punch and glue to your mix. Use more dry than reverberated signal otherwise it will pump.
OR another cool trick is to have a parallel reverb bus and a parallel comp bus side by side routed to an unaffected bus. It gives you tones of control over your shit. PS ITS BUS NOT BUSS
Good video, Graham, thanks. It definitely adds something but it's a fine line to dipping in the mud, lol. But I am definitely going to try it out. Still perfecting my personal mix templates. Probably a lifelong work in progress.
Awesome buddy! What an amazing tool to use. Thanks
Maybe I am wrong, but I think Andy also uses mono to stereo compressors. This way he is compressing the left and the right channel independently.
this is insane thanks a bunch.
Great tip thank you, I get the idea. Now I need to experiment in logic X bless up
How is this different from compression we used during mastering a track ??
Very nice technique.
Why not just Control Click to assign the tracks to the parallel bus directly? Having it through a send serves no additional purpose if all the sends remain at zero anyway.
weedywet makes sense you can do this with Cubase as well I think. Using sends is a little confusing.
Realraven2000 - Not confusing. Just makes sense to some engineers out there. Double bussing directly out of a track is on average more confusing to the untrained regular person than a send fader.
Also using sends has been the way for years when it was done on analog consoles. Imagine having to "mult" all your tracks out to another channel or bus on a console?! You'll run out of mult patch points very quickly. So, use the console's sends.
Thank you!
Good demo. I'd suggest a way faster attack time, heavier compression, and fine-tuning with the release. You can dial in a lot more parallel processing when the gain reduction "pump" is musically timed to the song. Faster release times typically equate to more top-end excitement while slower release times negate the pump and add mix density.
Cool trick and cool song! I gotta try this on some of our songs!
You have to use a dual mono plugin not stereo ;) .
Graham fuckin Cochrane, you are Hero!
Can anyone tell me which of these might be optimal and why?:
1. Routing rear buss back to a main mix bus/master where all other buses also end up so they all then get processed again at final stage (e.g. light glue compression on master track)
2. Having a mix bus or 'premaster' where I do my light glue compression/master processing which then goes to master channel. The rear buss does not get sent to the premaster but goes separately direct to master where there is no additional processing
I intended to setup no. 1 but accidentally routed 2 since I already had the premaster routing setup. It sounded good so I'm wondering if there's anything wrong with that? I suppose the rear buss doesn't get that final bit of glue with everything else but since its level is lower anyway, I doubt it would be getting compressed further by the 2bus compressor anyway?!
Thoughts appreciated!
when parallel processing in general and especially in this case, do you generally eq the compressed signal to avoid build or cancellation of certain frequencies with the unprocessed track/mix?
Hey! What song is that? Also, great video! I've been doing this in a different way but this one is better. Thanks!
When applying the chosen bus compressor, should I make the dry signal 0? Seems in the spirit of this exercise.
juat curios why exclude drums from this mix when doing the parralel compression?
Especially in Andrew Scheps case, he's very particular with the punch and bounce of his drums. So if you add parallel compression to the drums, it squashes any punch that you would want out of the percussions.. In fact, the parallel compression is meant to offset the strength of the instruments, as Scheps mix is so drum-centric.
I find it's a good way to think about the mix. Get your kick and snare in the right place, pick a couple of central instruments, and chain your vocal correctly, then let the rest of the instruments eb and flow with the mix via the parallel comp.
WOW, this is amazing!!!
That sounded super THICC!
But post-fader - that means as the faders go up and down due to automatation, the level of parallel compression will go up and down too. Surely we want the parallel compression to stay even, no?
When mixing the “Trap” genre, would you send an 808 track to the parallel channel ⁉️
Nice Trick, I'm about to try it right now
Why do you send all the instrument busses separately instead of just sending once from the overall mix bus (minus drums)?
How do you do it so it doesn't bury your drums?
...and are you doing bus compression after that?
thanks a lot for sharing this technique....was wondering if you would still use bus compression if you were using this technique on a mix
Do you have this on at the beginning of your mix so you can hear it right away while making your mix choices? Or do you get a overall mix first, then turn on the parallel compression? I'd imagine if you had it on right away, it would affect your moves/decisions with dynamics
Hi Graham great video man, i wanna know if i cant place ny heart on the parallel channel instead of a compressor please?
wow, great trick here..thanks again man!
Great video man, thanks!
Why not the drums as well? I use parallel compression on my drum buss as well (i guess its for fitting for Techno production?)
You'd want to parallel compress the drums separately since they are percussive and usually pretty high in a mix. You wouldn't want the guitars to compress every time the kick and snare hit.
Won't this throw the drum balance off with the rest of the mix? You're fattening up (making louder) everything but the drums. Obviously, listening and going from there is the best solution, but I'm curious, since I haven't done this yet, does it affect drum balance, or does it just stay sitting well? Thanks in advance.
You do the parallel compression right from the start. It should be on while you are mixing.
It should be on while you are achieving the drum balance. Also it should be done in dual mono, and NOT stereo
I'm worried, won't there be a phasing issue?
It happens. But you can amend it by inverting the polarity of the phasing elements.
cool track! and cool techique
How would you do this in pre sonus studio one? Cheers
Awesome stuff, thank you! Just a question: Will parallel compression on drums interfere with this technique?
Yes because of the constant changes in dynamics
@@raffertysantiago2458 I thought it might. ;)
Apologies if I missed it, but why not send the drums too?
Brilliant🎉
Thanks!
Dank Brisket is this your tune, mate?
Would you perhaps EQ that parallel mix?
Great video. Thanks for sharing. What is the name of the mixer fader controller you are using?
Would we get the same effect by putting a compressor over the master bus, and using the blend knob on the compressor to balance between wet and dry signals?
Hey, Graham! I think your camera footage could use some color correction, the skin tones look quite yellow, which is unnatural and sometimes make you look a bit like a zombie. I have no idea what video editing software you use, but I'm sure there's tools that can help equalize that. I'm not a color-correction expert, but I see that your videos could improve on that subject.
Good luck!
unfa its a spray tan
Do you need to AUX out the AUX effect channels (reverbs, delays) to the 'rear buss' as well?
Joshua Pannepacker Grear question, what’s the answer to that?
@@RaduJon I personally wouldn't, the transients from the original signals (uncompressed) are really what make delays and reverbs shine generally, so sending the parallel bus to those effects as well might just end up cluttering the spectrum and even perhaps introducing noticeable phase issues.
Spencer Ouellette In this case - sending dry parallel to aux would indeed cause phase, because it means you’re sending the dry signal to AUX effects once, and parallel signal to AUX effects a second time.
I’m sure the original question was if AUX signal of the original dry signal should be sent to be processed in the parallel track.
My first answer would be no, because I think of reverb & delays as a filler sound, such as dark matter / dark energy that fills the void. No need to enhance it, it’s there already.
I personally process it by telling the AUX Reverbs & delays to get outta the way using dynamic Eq side chained to the original signal, in its specific frequency range where the original signal needs to remain clear ( Ex: Vocals around 1500hz, strings around 3500 etc). Wherever the original signal shines , Duck the reverb in that area.
Compression of the reverb is fine too, such as using an Elysia compressor on the side signal ( mid / side ) just to beef it up a bit.
I’d still leave reverb out of the parallel signal, BUT - as every mastermind mixing engineer will ever reply with their best advice, the answer to every important mixing & mastering question starts with.. ‘IT DEPENDS’ 😅
There are no rules but what you make of it 👍
Great video Graham, one of your best!
Does anyone know why you specifically want to exclude the drums?
Why are the drums excluded in rear buss compression?
So basically thats just like putting that comp straight to main bus, except you can level its output from volume slider?
that's a great way to do it. What If I have a 2 track beat only. will this work also??
Try it out and see how it works for you ;)
I have som sub groups with e.g. "All synths" "All VOX"etc. Should I send both the subgroups to the P Comp Buss, as well as the individual tracks that feeds the subgroups? Also, should all the EFX channels send to the P Comp Group as well? Thank you in advance for all your brilliant advice and knowledge. :-)
I would assume that the effects as well go to that parallel mix, can you do me a huge favor I am a blind producer with a limited amount of vision, and really can’t follow along with the settings that he has, can you either create the process for me Doesn’t matter, if it’s waves, or universal audio, or can you tell me in detail, where to place each knob, so I’m able to follow along. Thank you so much.
If you’re able to do that favor for me and creating the presets, I’ll send over my email. Thank you.
great tutorial!
It works fine thx. But why are no FX sends in this track?
Why not including the drums? Thank you!
Hey Graham just curious with your routing thing in protools.Can you please explain what master fader 2 is about?Thanx for a really good tutorial.
Best video ever. This have been the biggest step forward ever!
Thank you so much !!!
This sounds like Graham singing BTW, badass song!
Is there any specific reason that you don't apply this to drums?
prolly cause you do the drums while your mixing. at least i do. then the instruments i do later in the process
You do the parallel compression right from the start. It should be on while you are mixing. It should be on while you are achieving the drum balance. Also it should be done in dual mono, and not stereo
Is it what modern plugins just call MIX? Like FabFilter ones