Parallel compression (inthebox) best methods? [DP4]

cleantone · Post by **cleantone** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:20 pm

Alright. I hate to turn to a forum with a question like this. I traditionally bussed a subgroup and put compression on the buss. My in the box mixing was a little limited by my processor. I have recently upgraded just a little in mac world. I can do a lot more now and really want to find the best ways to use parallel compression with the least amount of processor usage. I thought I would be able to do it pretty easily but when I set it up as I assumed it worked I had an issue. My sends are all mono and I cannot figure out how to get the tracks to hit a stereo aux track from the sends without them being mono. It's been a long day and that may be part of my problem. WTF am I doing wrong here? What is the best method? I am mixing in DP4 by the way. I am not a guru in it but have used it for many many years. I just use it fairly minimally in terms of it's ability.

Mane1234 · Post by **Mane1234** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:26 pm

Well I'm not sure how it works on DP4 but in Pro Tools I simply create a stereo aux and whether I send a stereo signal or a mono signal I get a stereo signal from the aux. As long as I don't pan it off to one side that is in which case I'd just use a mono aux. So this probably doesn't help much I just felt like reaching out....Good luck

cleantone · Post by **cleantone** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:33 pm

I think I get what your saying and that is how it works in DP but that is just a subgroup use of an aux. My brain is really going to mush. Maybe I should wait until tomorrow. I can hardly think. Thanks.

Mudcloth · Post by **Mudcloth** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:02 pm

I've been messing with parallel compression lately on dp4. I'm on a 4 year old G4 laptop on I've had a bit of a problem running several plug-ins at once.
One way to do it is to copy the track and paste on a new track. Then, compress the new track as desired. Next, bounce that compressed track to disk and use the "add to sequence" mono option. Now get rid of the original pasted track. No more plug-in usage.
If you really want a stereo track mix of the compressed and uncompressed tracks, then you can highlight both tracks and bounce to disk again using the "add to sequence" option and then mute or get rid of the original tracks. I usually don't take it this far. I like being able to change my mind about the blend between the two tracks.
The point is that after you're happy with how the plugged-in track sounds, print it and then get rid of the original plugged-in track [either by muting or deleting]. Your processor will appreciate this.
I suppose you can run two tracks out and back in to a stereo track simply by creating a stereo track and asigning that stereo track's inputs accordingly. I'm not sure what the difference would be sonically but at this point you're no longer in the box anyway.
I hope this helps.
-Matt

cleantone · Post by **cleantone** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:40 am

I've been messing with parallel compression lately on dp4. I'm on a 4 year old G4 laptop on I've had a bit of a problem running several plug-ins at once.
One way to do it is to copy the track and paste on a new track. Then, compress the new track as desired. Next, bounce that compressed track to disk and use the "add to sequence" mono option. Now get rid of the original pasted track. No more plug-in usage.
If you really want a stereo track mix of the compressed and uncompressed tracks, then you can highlight both tracks and bounce to disk again using the "add to sequence" option and then mute or get rid of the original tracks. I usually don't take it this far. I like being able to change my mind about the blend between the two tracks.
The point is that after you're happy with how the plugged-in track sounds, print it and then get rid of the original plugged-in track [either by muting or deleting]. Your processor will appreciate this.

Thanks. This is what I have done before for the same reason as you. I was mixing on an 800mhz PPC g4 machine and needed to free up processing. It's not as much of an issue right now and I would like to be able to tweak the compressor on the fly to hear the effect and play with attack and release to get what I want. I'm sure there is a way. I'm interested in hearing more input from folks.

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:04 pm

I guess I am in a diferent world entirely over here in PC land but what I usualy do is record two tracks (not stereo 2 mono) of the same signal. One direct, one from the hardware compressor. Other times I simply copy a track and compress/limit the new track. I use Sonar 6.2.1 which is pretty well delay compensated, though not gapless. I havent had any phase/delay issues with multiple track instances of the same source material.
The TC powercore 24/7c works pretty good on this, especially on guitar and bass. not loving it on drums.
But never had an issue of track count or plug ins.

bniesz · Post by **bniesz** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 8:39 am

1. in DP4, you should be able to asign your tracks or sends to STEREO busses (ie "bus 9/10"). Your aux input should be set to the same. If you don't see any stereo busses from the list, you'll have to choose "add new stereo bus" from the drop-down menu you find when you select input/output/sends in the mix window.

2. there's no need to copy and paste, process, and insert in DP4 to free up CPU anymore. there's a feature called "freeze track" that automates it for you. it bounces your selected tracks to disc on discreet busses, adds them to the sequence, and turns the voice off of your previous track.

cleantone · Post by **cleantone** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:19 am

Thanks. I guess I assumed what I was shooting for was more obvious than perhaps it is. I definitely know how and do often use an aux bus in stereo. I know about but haven't tried to use the freeze tracks options. I also want to state that I often record and mix live concerts. So when I am talking about using parallel compression on a drum track I mean on that is TWO HOURS long.

I guess bouncing an effected 2 track might be my option as of now. Suppose I have a drumkit.

kick
snare
floor
rack
hat
overhead l
overhead r

I want to have tracks 1-7 play out their own outputs whether that be the main bus or a subgroup shouldn't matter. At the same time I want to have a second (parallel) routing that goes to it's own 2bus. This parallel track can then be compressed to taste and reverb or whatever. This new parallel fader can be taken down all of the way while the normal origional drum tracks still play to their bus. Then I can bring in as much or as little as I want to this parallel effected track into the mix to the master bus. This can be done with a bounced track but with a 1 or 2 hour track it would not only be time consuming but I wouldn't be able to change that mix or effects on it during mixdown. So I would be limited to what had already been done on that 2 track. Does this make sense? I got this to work as I thought it would using the track sends into an aux track. I just cannot get it is stereo. It would only allow me to do it in mono. I haven't tried since I made this post.

bniesz · Post by **bniesz** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:39 am

you should be able to use a stereo bus on your track sends as well...
i know this is possible in DP4.5, and i think it is in DP4 as well.

cleantone · Post by **cleantone** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:46 am

If you could post a quickie tutorial I would be stoked. I can only get it to work in mono. I know I could finagle it to stereo but there should be a better way than dual mono using two sends on each channel.

cleantone · Post by **cleantone** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:01 am

stumped?

cleantone · Post by **cleantone** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 9:54 am

I have decided there is not way to do this without phase issues anyway. I guess I will have to dedicate stuff by bouncing to 2 track and use that.

vapour trail · Post by **vapour trail** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:11 am

what i would do, considering stereo sends on the tracks aren't working:

1/switch all the track outputs of your drums to a stereo bus, say 1-2.

2/ create 2 stereo aux returns, both taking the same input from bus 1-2

3/ compress one of those aux returns, and leave the other one as a "clean" master.

so there is no need to bounce anything, and if your afraid of phase issues: DP should compensate for the plug-latency, but if it doesn't you can also put the same plugin on the other aux track with a 1:1 setting.

kakumei47 · Post by **kakumei47** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:57 am

in 4.6 you can do a stereo aux via busses (set it up in the mix window in the space between the plug inserts and the panpot.

if you're worried about phase though, be careful with freezes. At least the way my performer is set up, it does latency comp for tracks but not correctly with the auxes. Not much of a prob for me as my computer is pretty fast, but this may be a pain in doing drum parallel comp.

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Parallel compression (inthebox) best methods? [DP4]

Parallel compression (inthebox) best methods? [DP4]

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