Drum Track Processing Tips, Part 3: Parallel Compression
This is the third installment in my series of tutorials on processing of drum tracks. We focus here on parallel compression.
So your guitarist has decided that he’s going to triple track all nineteen of his brilliant ideas using his Mind Bleeder distortion pedal and your keyboardist wants to layer every rad Moog and Nord patch he’s ever programmed since the 80’s. Your bassist insists on playing nothing but chords he learned in Bass Frenzy magazine on his custom Booty Humper Low F# seven string. So how do you deal with trying to get your drum tracks to punch through this wall of sound?
You should experiment with parallel compression of your drum tracks. Simply put, you’re blending a compressed drum track with an unprocessed track for more “oomph”. I don’t generally care for this technique on anything Jazz related, but if you’re dealing with a wall of mud and you can’t carve out the proper space any other way (or don’t have the time), this technique is worth exploring.
How do we do this? Once you’ve gotten your drums in a good place, take a few elements of the drum tracks… say your kick, snare, and toms and bus them to the input of a compessor in wait via an aux send. Remember your drums are still being bussed to the master out in addition to the aux send you’ve just created. Knowing you have a clean signal as well, feel free to smash the snot out of the compressor and gently blend the output of this mangled signal with your original drum tracks until you start to feel the drums gaining weight. You may find that you won’t need much… just a “hint” is all it may take to cut through that wall of doom. Essentially, you’re increasing the perceived loudness of the drum track without resorting to radical EQ or unjustified levels of gain. Many pro mixers have mastered this subtle art and have produced amazing drum sounds that we hear day in and day out on the radio.
Play around with it and see if it works for you. Hell, if you’re really feeling frisky (audio – wise) mess around with some slight distortion on the snare and kick drum tracks, too.
Enjoy your experimentation with parallel compression on your drum tracks, and be sure to read part four of this series on drum track processing. In part four, I will discuss ambiance.
eDrumSessions Podcast: