SUMMERY:
Parallel or "upwards" compression is simply the process of combining an un-compressed signal with a compressed-one and blending to taste. With parallel compression you can preserve the dynamics, transients, punch, character and frequency response of the un-processed signal while slamming or adding weight to the compressed track to achieve a happy medium. Parallel compression is typically used on drums however it can be used on anything from vocals to acoustic guitars.Parallel Compression
How to Set it up:
Like the "wet/dry" mix parameter that are implemented on some plugins that allow parallel compression, you can easily achieve this effect with any compressor/limiter. What we need to do is duplicate the track we want to compress "Alt+Shift+D", then add the desired amount of compression and blend it's fader level with the original to taste.
What we are doing is getting the character we want out of the desired sound while preserving all transients so our final result doesn't sound like a squashed tomato.
This trick can be used in subtle or extreme ways and I really like to use it on snares. It is also really cool to do on drum room mics to bring out the room sound.
Another key thing to note when using parallel compression on drums is to create a few drum busses. For instance a kick drum can eat up a lot of a compressor due to it's low end. So what I like to do is send my kick to one track for parallel compression and my snare and toms to another and if I feel like it I will do the same for all my cymbals. Alternatively you can set up a wet and dry send on each of your drum track's buss sends and control the amount you wish to send to the compressor.
Automation:
Automate your parallel track up and down at different sections of the song, bring it in during the choruses for more power and support, bring it down during the verses for a more intimate feel.
Compensate for any delay to maintain phase coherency: Because some compressors/limiters incur a small amount of processing delay and sometimes a lot of delay, it is important that each track in the parallel chain is delayed by the same amount. For instance, if you were to create a duplicate a snare track and apply a L1 Maximizer to the duplicate (parallel) track, there would be a noticeable latency and serious comb filtering would be heard when both tracks are played together. In Pro Tools LE/Mpowered, the easiest way to solve this is to copy the plug-in to the original "dry" track and bypass it, thereby incurring the same delay on each track.
NEVER shift the duplicate track backwards by the amount of delay the plug-in is causing. The reason for this is that it is way to easy to get lost and forget what you have shifted and what you have not.
A simple way of checking how much delay is occuring is by holding down Command and click twice on the tracks volume display thus changing it to display the Delay Samples.
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