Why even have a clean blend on a compressor?

I guess you could adjust attack(slower) and release to get the same effect, but parallel compression is just a faster solution for most of us. I only work part time as an audio engineer for mixing bands and records, but I think it's what most of us go to, for sounds that need sustain by raising the lowest sounds while keeping the transient attack. It's an easy and fast solution. I'd venture to bet most pro vocals have it applied for many decades now. It's my answer. It's quick and easy.
 
jwin615 said:
Parallel compression can also be a crux for lazy/bad engineers or people that generally don't understand compression or select the correct compressor for the material and use it to hide the pumping and breathing. I know you worked with GM some. I've heard him speak several times at AES meetings here in Nashville. Nice guy. I remember he gave a talk on compression once and touched on that, albeit treading a little easier.
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I know it's not exactly what you meant, but I do take offense at "well the thing you do accomplishes the same thing quickly, but I think you're just lazy because you don't spend enough time picking the correct compressor, learning how exactly all the controls function and dialing it in just right".

If those are the options, one takes a lot of learning, choosing the correct compressor and dialing in all the settings correctly...

...and the other option is that you dial it so that it's in the ballpark and drop the mix a little so it sounds just right...

...why would I go the extra mile?

I get it from the artisan "it's always better to know your tools in-depth" or "love your art" kind of a POV, but I am a flawed human with limited amounts of time and especially energy, so why would I not just use the path of least resistance that gets me the results I like?

That's also why I think I would like a clean blend in a pedal, sure I could dial the ratio down a little, lower the treble a little, and mess with attack/release just right... or I could just turn the clean blend down a little and be done with it. You can think of it as a workflow thing if you wish. Less time fiddling with small details, more time "in the zone", which IMO most audio engineers would agree leads to a better outcome.
 
I feel like the clean blend is the equivalent of automatic transmission for cars, sorta? Yeah you can get the same and even better result with manual transmission (I love it) but a large portion of drivers prefers automatic because it’s less work and fewer things to learn and worry about. If we are looking at guitar pedals, there is definitely an immediacy in using the blend rather than learning to use all the settings in a compressor - which by the way most pedals do not have! I’m sure it makes a lot more sense to a professional sound engineer to finely dial the compressor in instead, just like I prefer driving manual (not that I am a professional driver, but I learned it when I was young so it comes naturally).
 
JTEX said:
I was just thinking about that. What I've been saying probably mostly applies to clean compressors close to an ideal "pure gain controller" . If it's a very "colorful" compressor, then you might indeed want to mix it with the unprocessed signal to control the color. But then it's arguably not just a straight gain controller, but an effect, as in, it changes the timbre of the sound. Indeed, George likes transparent things. I swear, you can bypass/unbypass his EQ and you have no idea which is which. It just sounds like the source has always had more bass or less treble or whatever you dialed in.
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That's the answer to me. I use parallel compression where I want to impart character. Fast attack and release times, low threshold and high ratio will introduce distortion in many compressors. I actually want to bring out this behavior, so I'll use those exaggerated settings to get some grit, character, whatever you want to call it, and blend the clean signal back in until it sounds right. It's just another tool in the bag, not always the right choice but when it works (drum bus!), it works.
For more clinical uses of compression, where you really just want to transparently shape the transients or gently even out the levels of your signal, I don't think there is any benefit. And I doubt in a blind test, with moderate settings and overall levels matched, you'd be able to tell the difference between a compressed signal with a lower ratio vs a higher ratio with the clean signal blended back in, if all other settings remain the same.
That being said, I came across the following article which suggests the transfer curve is actually different between regular compression and parallel compression: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/parallel-compression There may be some truth to that as I'm having trouble getting two compressed signals - one low ratio, the other higher ratio but clean signal blended in - to null completely. I find it very hard to really hear the difference though.
 
JTEX said:
Can someone explain to me what is the point of having a clean blend on a compressor? It seems to me that the same effect can be achieved by properly adjusting the compressor controls, without any blend. You want more clean and less compressed? Just dial in less compression. Play with the threshold and ratio to taste.

It just seems to me that a clean compressor blend is as useless as a wet/dry blend in an EQ. You want a 3dB treble cut? Cut it by 6dB and mix in some dry, until on average it's just a 3dB treble cut 🙄.

Thoughts? What am I missing here?
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the one compressor I think actually benefits from clean blend is the orange squeezer just because of the lack of any other control.
 
giovanni said:
I feel like the clean blend is the equivalent of automatic transmission for cars, sorta? Yeah you can get the same and even better result with manual transmission (I love it) but a large portion of drivers prefers automatic because it’s less work and fewer things to learn and worry about. If we are looking at guitar pedals, there is definitely an immediacy in using the blend rather than learning to use all the settings in a compressor - which by the way most pedals do not have! I’m sure it makes a lot more sense to a professional sound engineer to finely dial the compressor in instead, just like I prefer driving manual (not that I am a professional driver, but I learned it when I was young so it comes naturally).
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I remember my Dad shopping for a new car for my Mom, and he told the salesperson the desired specs and who it was for;
after the third car with an automatic, Dad said to the guy something like

Dad: "Weren't you listening? I said something with a stick".

Sales-guy sputtering: "I thought you said you wanted something for your wife!"

Dad: "I did, and she wants a standard!"


My grandfather (Mom's dad) never did see the point in spending extra to get an automatic, so never did.
Maybe it runs in the family.





And here I was all prepared to just eat my popcorn and watch the thread go by without posting in it...

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I'm still trying to find a single well-regarded studio compressor that has a blend knob. Are there any??
 
JTEX said:
I'm still trying to find a single well-regarded studio compressor that has a blend knob. Are there any??
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No, but that’s largely because there’s absolutely zero need for one on a studio compressor unit since putting it on an AUX send and controlling the mix from the console would make an onboard blend knob superfluous.
There are plenty of well regarded producers who utilize this trick to the point that it’s known as New York Compression due to some of the top producers in NY in the 70s and 80s abusing the technique almost as frequently as cocaine.
 
Almost every compressor plugin I've seen has had a mix control, if that counts. I can't confidently say they all have one, because there might be some old ones I'm forgetting, but every modern plugin for sure.
 
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