Compression is one of the hardest parts of mixing to understand.

You know you're supposed to use it but you can't really tell what it's doing.

And to be fair, you can't use compression in a hundred different ways.

But if you don't know how to hear what it's doing you may misuse it because you simply don't know what you're doing.

Today I wanted to give you three ways compression will really move the needle on your mixes (pun very much intended).

If you haven't used compression like this before, I swear that this will instantly level up your mixes.

Mix Bus Compression

First up, mix bus compression will glue your mix together and make it sound tighter. 

It will instantly give you a more "radio-ready" sound because it squeezes the instruments together and makes them sound like a whole.

Any transparent compressor will do. Just put the ratio to 2:1, the attack and release to medium, and add about 2 dBs of gain reduction overall.

Now this won't magically mix your song for you, but it's a solid starting point.

Group Compression

Next up, compressing your groups together.

When you compress individual groups you can be a little more selective about the compression style you want to use. 

Popular choices include:

• FET for drums
• LA3A on guitars
• Opto or VCA on vocals (I love the RVox)

From there you can tweak the ratio, attack/release, and gain reduction to suit the group you're compressing to bring out the character of those instruments.

Using groups, in general, will make your mixes easier because you've simplified the elements, and compressing the groups will help you glue each of those elements together better.

Parallel Group Compression

Finally, this is an underutilized ninja compression trick from the pros and something that is guaranteed to blow your mind.

You've probably heard about adding parallel compression to the drums, and if you've tried it you'll know how much it can help.

But if you have a dedicated parallel compression bus for the groups as well, you'll add an extra layer of thickness, power, and punch - not to mention overall loudness to your mix.

Here's what you do:

• Set up two aux tracks that are routed to the mix bus.
• Insert an opto compressor on one and a FET compressor on the other.
• Use a 2:1 ratio, a slow attack, and a fast-ish release
• Send your instrument groups to both compressors to taste, making sure to only lightly tickle the compressors throughout the song
• Blend them underneath the mix for added thickness and power

Compression Can Make or Break Your Mix

These three techniques, if used appropriately, will instantly make your mix sound better.

However, if you don't know what you're doing it can have the opposite effect.

Inside Mix Finisher Formula I spend a lot of time helping you understand how to hear compression so you know exactly what you're doing when you're tweaking their settings.

Here are a few things you'll learn about compression when you become a student:

• How to use every button on your compressor to effectively add punch and power to your mix.
• How to use the ratio to squeeze your drums and make them thicker, punchier, and more powerful
• ​How to use two different compressors in series to get the best of both worlds that are better than the sum of their parts. This is an incredible trick for big, in-your-face vocals
• ​The easy way to use parallel compression as an insert instead of a send to make your punchy parallel compression even easier
• ​How to create a compression system to make every compression decision easier on every mix.
• ​How to use parallel compression and multi-band compression to add punch, thickness, and weight to your mixes
• ​Exactly what all the crazy settings on your reverbs do and how you can use them to add space and depth to your tracks
• The two most important knobs on your compressor and how they affect the entire sound of your tracks. Working these knobs wrong will make your instruments sound dull and lifeless
• The sneaky way to use presets to speed up your mixing (while still tweaking them for the best results)
• ​How to know which compressor style and emulation to use on each instrument. If you've wondered about the difference between VCA, FET, or OPTO you'll know EXACTLY how each one sounds after this video
• ​How to apply compression to your tracks, your submixes, your master bus, and in parallel for the best results.
• ​How to rebalance your EQ after compression to keep everything going smoothly.

And that's only the compression part of the puzzle.

When you enroll, you'll also get access to the rest of the five modules where you'll learn how to prep your mix, make a mix template to save time, approach your mix more effectively, as well as finish your mix, and make it translate to every speaker.

In addition, you'll also get bonuses on setting up your studio, finding time to make music, and recording great tracks at the source.

It's my one-stop program to help you make great music by yourself in your home studio, even if you don't have fancy plug-ins and expensive gear.

So if you liked this article about compression and want to know more about my Mix Finisher Formula, hit this link to enroll:

www.MixFinisherFormula.com

The course closes on Friday so you have until then to join us.

Looking forward to seeing you on the inside!

Björgvin