While compression is an integral part of almost every mix you’ll ever do, it is still somewhat misunderstood by many. It stands to reason, that multiband compression is even more of a mystery, particularly to those that are just starting out mixing in home studios. Fortunately, the basics of this useful tool are pretty easy to understand.
As we explained in our article in our ‘ What is Compression? ’ article, compression is simply controlling the dynamic range of a track, which is the level difference between the quietest point on a track and the loudest spot. The goal of compression typically is to reduce the amount of that range while still allowing the track to retain enough volume differentiation to sound natural.
That goal requires something of a balancing act, often with minute adjustments of the main controls of a compressor: Threshold, Ratio, Attack and Release. Some tracks, however, require even more fine-tuning, which is where multiband compressors come in handy.
Multiband Compression: Providing More Control Over Your Compression
Multiband compressors allow you to control the dynamics of the track in the same way (and with the same controls) as a traditional compressor, but it allows you to use those controls on two or more separate frequency ranges within one track. A traditional compressor applies the same settings to the entire frequency range of a track.
Typically, a track will be divided into at least three different frequency ranges that you can apply separate compression settings to. Not only will you be able to control the bands individually, most compressors will give you a separate meter of the amount of compression for each frequency range, which provides a great way to monitor the track.
When to Use a Multiband Compressor
Multiband compressors are most often found in mastering studios, as mastering engineers use them to precisely add compression to master tracks, but they also can be great for individual tracks when you are the mixing stage. Often they are used as problem locators (and solvers) in the mixing process.
After you become comfortable using a compressor in your home studio, you’ll begin to be able to quickly hear when you have unnatural sounding compression. Sometimes, however, “fixing” the problem becomes difficult.
For example, say you have a vocal track that is sticking out in a final mix because it is overly compressed. The natural solution is to pull up the compressor and reduce the amount of compression. Often you will find, however, that lowering the amount of compression adversely affects the rest of the sound of the track. In a case like this it is easy to see how being able to fine-tune the compression of certain frequency ranges can be a great addition to your mixing arsenal. Multiband compression also is a great tool to use on drums or other times your recorded tracks have a large amount of bleed.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
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2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
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4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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