now you can use the multiband compressor without fear

Audio enthusiasts use compression and learn all there is to know about it before they start wondering about the multiband compressor, the flexible member of the compression family. 

There has always been that multiband compressor sitting in their audio software and they've never quite known how to use it. If you are one of those that open up these compressors and swiftly close them again due to the supposed complexity of it, don't worry. It's actually not that complicated.

Compression is one of the fundamentals of audio production and is a very powerful tool in the right hands. Multiband compression is equally powerful, if not more so.

What is a multiband compressor?

Multiband compressors are actually just a few compressors linked together. They divide the frequency spectrum down into a few areas, depending on how many bands the compressor has. The norm is to have the frequency spectrum divided into four categories; the lows, low mids, high mids and highs. 

You can switch a specific frequency spectrum off and on and you can also determine the frequency range of a specific band.

For instance, if you want to compress the bass, squash the low mids, ride the high mids and leave the highest frequencies uncompressed it's easy! And all with only one compressor.

See the screenshot here below where I've done just that on our imaginary signal.

• I've set the frequency of the lowest band at 100Hz

• The low mids are being squashed down quite a bit from 100 – 690Hz

• The high mids are being gently compressed from 700Hz – 5Khz

• And the highest frequency band is turned off, not doing anything.

I wouldn't recommend using these settings particularly since they are a bit drastic. But it is a good way to show how we can have it working the same signal, but at different frequencies with different setting. Pretty simple when it comes down to it, and by using the bypass and solo button on every frequency band we can listen to exactly what we are doing to a mix or instrument.

However, if you want to know all the specifics on what presets you should use and how you should approach the multiband compressor in mixing or mastering, check out Mastering the Multiband Compressor here.

It's very nice to use when you need to compress certain frequency ranges more than others, without resorting to equalization. You won't see multiband compression working every channel of a mixing engineer's mix but it can come in handy in certain applications. 

Master compression

Multiband compression is used much more in mastering than mixing. Because we are dealing with such a diverse blend of sources on a master track, some mastering engineers use multiband compression to control certain aspects of a mix, like only tightening up the low end for a punchier bass sound.

As said before, we are essentially just working with 4 frequency dependent compressors in a row. Use it when you want to compress a signal but also want to leave a certain aspect of it untreated, or if you are mastering your tracks together. It is a very useful and powerful tool to use and shouldn't be overlooked just because it looks complicated to the untrained eye.

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Go back to the mixing page

Need to know the regular compressor before dealing with the multiband compressor? Click here!

Use buss compression for a tighter drum sound!

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