How To Listen: Multiband Compression

In this Puremix Exclusive, Fab Dupont returns to the How To Listen series. This time, it's the Multi-band Compression Edition.

A multi-band compressor splits your signal into several frequency bands, compresses each one on its own and sums them back together. That gives you control that no EQ or single-band compressor can match. It also means the compressor can do a lot of things behind your back.

Using the Waves C4, FabFilter Pro-MB and Pro-C 3, and McDSP MC404, over the course of this 36-minute tutorial Fab will show you how to:

• Understand crossovers, bands and the key controls: threshold, ratio, attack, release, range and ganged controls
• Hear the difference between multi-band and single-band compression with the same algorithm and matched levels
• Lift a band in a controlled way, for example the sub, instead of boosting everything with an EQ
• Hear the trade-offs between linear phase and dynamic phase filters
• Compare the sound of different multi-band compressors on the mix bus
• Tame resonances and harsh transients on a finished mix, then on a lead vocal
• Set up a multi-band compressor on the mix bus as a starting point for loud, controlled mixes
   

Fab also shares the rules he follows to stay out of trouble: keep it to two or three purposeful bands, aim for 2–3 dB of gain reduction per band at most, and A/B all the time so you don't kill the life of your track.

Learn how to hear, use and control multi-band compression in mixing and mastering, from Fab Dupont.