Not sure if they are tricks, but learned this on vocals. adding a lot of 12K on the compressed addition. Then flop the compressor pre and post that EQ. And yeah, absolutely on the drums.
Setting the Weiss DS1 ratio to negative values and blending that in parallel really adds some lovely body to the drums. So it's essentially upward expansion blended in parallel.
l've had success sending the gated kick and snare to an aux with devil lock plugin sauced in then compressed. increasing their RMS, I've not used samples so this helps.
It feels like you created a room over a snare.. and everything.. so in the end it’s like you’ve taken the drums to a room with super controlled reverb 😁 It’s amazing what parallel can do!
This is an interesting take on parallel compression. I always thought it was blending a squashed channel into the original, but this method almost feels like layering in some ways.
Love the FG Stress, especially for the drum crush. Never thought of doing a separate Attack bus. Thanks again, Warren! My only issue with the FG Stress is I want to use it everywhere and I quickly run out of CPU!
As a live FOH engineer for 25+ years I’ve been doing this type of processing since my days on Midas analog desks. I started doing it myself without anyone suggesting it, and so many live engineers I’d meet would scratch their head, but I got the greatest drum sounds! As great as new desks are it’s the one thing that’s saddened me about modern digital live mixing that hasn’t really been possible, maybe until very recently with the newest Avid desks. Lucky for me I’ve recently returned to more studio work lately and it’s been such a pleasant experience to know that this IS possible in the digital studio space, and that latency isn’t such an issue. Feels natural for me, and it’s great to get back to my analog days on my ‘in the box’ studio rig.
@@Producelikeapro You are so welcome! Question regarding this technique - are you summing two identical source tracks to a bus? I always thought it was "incorrect" to double the exact same source audio. Obviously they're affected differently but I'm still confused about that.
Great one Warren. I use a parallel comp track to spice up the transition from the verse to the chorus. Instead of volume automation the drums, I automate the parallel track to have that added impact in the chorus.
Hi I'm Anita and I like to crush drums :P It's been awhile since I've annihilated a drum kit unfortunately (or fortunately heehee) I usually just send the kick, snare, and toms to a separate crush bus do anywhere from 25:1 to 50:1 on the compression. I don't think I've used any kind of saturation on it though might have to try that the next time I need to crush something.
I have the Slate Digital Everything Bundle. Got it when it came out. It's worth every penny if you produce music or even just do RU-vid videos for dialogue. Being on a budget I use a Phonic Summit 16 channel mixer interface. I use 10 mics on my kit. Kick in- Shure Beta 52. Kick out-SM-57, snare SM57, Tom's- Beta 56s. Overheads- Shure SM81s, hi-hat- Lewitt LCT 140 Air. As picky as I am I'm finally satisfied with my drum sound. Wish we had this tech in the 90s. I remember being a kid and taking my dads 57s and 58s and micing my first drum kit. Using a mixer going into a tape deck that had 2 quarter inch mic inputs. I remember thinking by doing this I would get a world class sound. Until I played it back. I was like what am I doing wrong. This was before RU-vid so I had no idea. I always been extremely fascinated by recording production. Nice video.
Triple Parallel Processing - genious! I created the heaviest hitting and best controlled mix I ever achieved with this technique while it still sounds so smooth to the ears. THANKS a lot 🐮
Definitely going to try this one, Warren... I've been using Bobby's 'NY Compression trick' on kick, snare and toms, but this sounds way more aggressive - just what I've been looking for for a couple of songs... Can't wait!
Sooooo I tried out some of the tricks you taught us in this past video, and my drum mix truly went to the next level. It was so exciting that I think had the drums a little too hot in the mix. It was so addicting to hear the drums just blow up and energize the song. One thing I did that found made the hi that swing a bit more was In added a 1/8 note delay to the hats. Make real quiet, added a bit of de-esser (like you say) and the compressors did the rest. So cool Thank You Brother.
Thanks Warren, gonna be a bit daring and experimental after watching this, got my first live drums recording with band to mix for uni :) Have you done any specific videos on referencing?, it is new to me, be interesting to see how other folks approach it. Love your channel
I like using the Pulsar comp. There was a free one a couple of years ago and it's killer! Can't remember exactly which one it was but it's a copy of the "blue stripe" comp with the "all buttons in" mode. Killer on drums! Tons of energy!
It would be interesting to consider certain differences in mic placement BEFORE using this parallel compression technique. For example, my kit is an entirely close-mic scenario because I simply don't have a good room. As a result, strong transients tend to need some massaging and any ambience is made in the box. By contrast, the drum example you used here sounds to me like there was room ambience and the mics were placed at a little distance. In the close mic scenario perhaps more emphasis would be placed on the "smash" bus to create ambience.
There are close mics, however they are blended with reverb and there is a sample that has some ambience on them as well. This technique can be used in many different ways! I agree, an ambient mic could benefit from this technique as well!
That's cheating! I love it. 💙 I've been doing parallel drum compression for a while, but apparently I've been pretty timid about it. I'll have to try the double nuke technique. 🤓
Thanks for this video and this excellent trick. This way of handling drums has now become my go-to drum sound, as this is perfect for rock and hard rock!
Da$# Warren I just checked out your IR pack link. I had know idea you were Sir Shred-a-lot on the guitar. I know that you have an extensive background as a player, but man🤯. I can't believe how polished your chops are. Thanks be too you, and this incredible community. #🎸#🎛️ #🤘
Fantastic tutorial. Never thought to buss the Drum and Drum PComp busses together. Going to try that tomorrow on this rock mix I'm working on right now.
Greetings Warren. yes I quite often now use parallel compression, certainly on drums and bass. It certainly helps to mould that punchy sound and create that ballsy feel need for certain tracks. Alway enjoy your advice.
That super nuked drum with a fast attack could be very useful to emulate a room mic when recording live audio from a concert. Put a very small stereo studio verb on it to emulate the room even more and you have something like a studio sound.
I'm a little late to the party but I really enjoyed this video. I've been doing a version of this with my vocals but was missing a few key elements. I'm looking forward to applying this to drums as well. Thank you for very a useful and well-explained video!
It's easy to over compress drums when adding multiple layers of compression, but one thing I've started doing lately is sweeping the "ratio" control closer and closer to 1:1 while compensating by adding output gain. You can get super "smashed" sounding compression at lower ratios and not have to sacrifice all the dynamic range.
Brilliant!! And couldn't be better timed; I start production on a neo-punk pop rock tune tomorrow, and to thread the needle between NY Dolls and Poison, I planned to nuke the drums with a Distressor. It's going to be fun! 👍🏼
Parallel compression has been a useful tool for me. Blending it in has forced me to not compress as much as I tend to over-compress a lot - especially on drums and vocals. I don't use compression on other tracks for the most part. On a side note, I like the Slate Digital plugins so far. I use the 1176 modules quite a bit. I've been wanting to try the FG Stress as well as the FG-A also.
Very interesting parallel drum processing. I'll have to give that a try although I don't have slate stuff - will have to use the Arousor!!! Thanks for sharing. Please go back to the SM7B - sounds much better. Thanks!!!
Hi Tom, yes, I understand you don't personally like this mic! You've told me MANY times! Hahaha The guys much prefer using it as they don't have to do as much processing! I look forward to you telling me again soon on a different format! Haha
I used to use a lot of parallel compression, but as time has gone on I find myself using it less and less. Most often, I use parallel functions to duck reverb below a vocal, or duck bass for the kick, something like that. Actually having a drum crush bus is sorta rare for me these days. Not really an intentional thing, just the way my recent mixes have gone. I feel like if I had a really aggressive rock or metal song come through I might use it then, but for the pop, hip hop, and more jazzy things I have done recently, it just wouldn't fit the vibe.
You could get similar or better effect in my mind if you place a mic outside the room where you record and blend that to the mix. This sounded a bit generic
@@millmoormichael6630 it's a mix video, I have plenty off drum recording videos that use many different micing techniques you can check out! These Mixing videos show techniques using the mics available, in this case, kick, snare, toms, hat and overheads, something home studios might have access to.
Great tutorial Warren. I feel you almost need to do this with modern rock and metal drums to get them to sound big enough in the mix. Cheers mate for the OC. Not too far away from you running a studio in downtown Santa Ana.
I've got a question about the "mix-knobs": If I bussed the drums to two (or more) parallel busses, I'd go for 1. a clean one, 2. an attacked one and 3. a smashed one. Then I'd have the "mix"-buttons on the compressors in buss 2 and 3 at 100% and finally I'd mix the three busses into the one with a tape-sim (or similar) on it. And now the question: is there a "hidden" advantage in using two already blended signals over blending three discrete ones, or is it just a matter of different workflows?
The idea is pretty nice but something seems a bit weird in terms of process: wouldn't it be better to, instead of controlling Blend controls for both compressors individually, just leave them at 100% wet, and bring the dry mix as a third channel so you can balance the three directly? I don't know, it seems to make more sense to me.
Warren excelente video as always, I have two little questions or well maybe 3, is there a monthly subscription option to the pro academy? and is the mix rock/pop with slate is included in the complete membership or does It sold separately ? and finally sorry for asking this much, hahaha, I know you are using the new mic for this vlogs, but could you share the previous channel chain you used for the SM7b, I think it sounded always amazing, and I'm experimenting with my new acquired sm7b, muchas gracias de antemano, Many thanks in advanced LOVE YOUR RU-vid CHANNEL!!
Sorry lm not able to find the link of the video where you use only slate plugins. By the way Warren l have to tell you that you're one of the inspiring guy from the industry l've ever heard. I love your vision and it allowed me to question myself several times and to improve myself I take this opportunity to say a big thank you Christophe (sorry for my english :-))
Great tip! I just didn't understand why you used the mix knob on the distress plugin if you were going to blend the levels using the buss faders. Have I missed something? thanks!
Hi Hudson, there’s three sounds. The original drum mix, the attack bus and the smash bus. So without using the mix blend control I would have to create a third bus and blend that with the other two. If you ordered working like that you can as well, I have in the past before mix knobs became popular on plug ins
Hi Warren. Do you ever use parallel distortion/saturation on your drum bus? Also, I’ve been finding that the cymbals can just get out of control when parallel processing. Lately I’ve been sending just the kick, snare, and toms to the parallel drum buses.
Hi Warren, do you send the entire drum bus to the parallel buss or just the kick drum, snare and toms without the cymbals and the room? For the parallel buss for drums, I like to use the API as it gives this specific pumping sounds and allows modes like bypassing some of the low end to avoid distortion. Cheers!
Just a quick question. When parallel mixing drums like you have just shown are you having the final drum sound come solely from the parallel compression or is it a mixture or the parallel compression and the original stems? Hope this makes sense !
Hi Warren, The drums sound awesome! In your opinion, how does this method differ compared to using the SSL G Bus compressor? Do you prefer one over the other or both?
Sorry I'm just catching up (only a year behind). Do you apply compression to the individual drum tracks as well or just the overall drum bus? I'm just mixing my first tracks and I'm using EZ Drummer 2. Thank you.