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I'll be brief.

What's the difference?

They are what they sound like.
Multi splits the signal into multiple bands and lets you control each individually
parallel is just running the signal in parallel, compressing one and blending the two.

multiband splits the signal and compresses each band (low, mid, high), parallel is when you have to copies of the same exact audio, leave one dry and squash (compress) the shit out of the other one, then mix the two together. I like parallel cause it adds punch that wasnt there to begin with.

Oh cool! Would you primarily do this with drums?
Also, wouldn't multiband compression require frequency splitting? Or is it an effect rather than a procedure, and it does it for you?

Yes parallel works well with drums

Yes, hence the splitting the signal into multiple bands part.

So multiband compression is a process rather than a plugin?

Sonika wrote:So multiband compression is a process rather than a plugin?

depends on your tools. If you have a multiband compressor, it will split freqs for you. If you don't, you can do it manually and compress with standard compressors.

Thanks. I think logic has an au multiband compressor, I'll play around with that

There's not much need to when writing/mixing tunes unless you're trying to get a specific sound out of a sample or something.
It's more of a mastering tool used to fix things that would've been better fixed in the mix.

Ghost of Muttley wrote:There's not much need to when writing/mixing tunes unless you're trying to get a specific sound out of a sample or something.
It's more of a mastering tool used to fix things that would've been better fixed in the mix.

Humbug. Its a mixing tool if used properly.. Can be selective about what your dynamically reducing, accent good harmonics, ect.

You need to learn how compression works before you start playing with compressors though, OP.

Thanks, Basic A, but I do understand the basic workings of compressors, and I use compression a lot, but generally either on single tracks or on groups of tracks (sent to a bus).
I haven't toyed with these other methods yet.

Basic A wrote:

Ghost of Muttley wrote:There's not much need to when writing/mixing tunes unless you're trying to get a specific sound out of a sample or something.
It's more of a mastering tool used to fix things that would've been better fixed in the mix.

Humbug. Its a mixing tool if used properly.. Can be selective about what your dynamically reducing, accent good harmonics, ect.

I have to agree with basic A, it can be a great mixing tool.

Parallel comp is great for adding density and is useful for lots of stuff- vocals, drums, mastering... In a mix setting Multi band anything is generally a problem solving tool, more to fix than create.

Word. ^^

Volatile Psycle wrote:

Basic A wrote:

Ghost of Muttley wrote:There's not much need to when writing/mixing tunes unless you're trying to get a specific sound out of a sample or something.
It's more of a mastering tool used to fix things that would've been better fixed in the mix.

Humbug. Its a mixing tool if used properly.. Can be selective about what your dynamically reducing, accent good harmonics, ect.

I have to agree with basic A, it can be a great mixing tool.

Well a paper cup and the right mic placement can be great mixing tools as well, that's not really what i meant.

There's not much you can do with it that can't be accomplished earlier on in the process.

If you want to use it for a specific creative effect of some kind then that's different.

Don't think anyone mentioned, with parallel compression, you don't have to reproduce the audio track twice if you don't want to - set up a send channel with your compressor on with the aggressive compression settings. Now using the send amount you can control how much is applied to each channel you want to parallel compress.

Agree with a lot of the statements above - I generally get the mix sitting nicely dry before applying any final shine goodness, like parallel compression. Having said that, you don't have to, whatever works for you dude!

i find MB comps to be most useful when bypassing most of the bands. maybe u don't wanna squash a sound but its high end needs to be reigned in. So you bypass all the bands except the highest and apply compression on the high band.

or the low, or the mid, etc. but its not as though you'll often need to apply different compression settings to 3 or 4 bands on one sound. If you are, then ur prob. better off just compressing it standardly, or if its on the mix bus, your mix needs work.

I agree with much of the above, however parallel compression and multi band compression can both be used as a mixing technique as well as a sound design technique.

i usually prefer pultec style EQ's tho

for attenuating one band or another

but yes. audio plugins are useful on sounds.

Yeah I use EQ for everything, I need to expand my horizons and start playing around with this sort of stuff too

Sonika wrote:Thanks, Basic A, but I do understand the basic workings of compressors, and I use compression a lot, but generally either on single tracks or on groups of tracks (sent to a bus).
I haven't toyed with these other methods yet.

A wise man once said:

"He who understands compressors, doesn't use them a lot"