![]() ![]() Parallel processing uses two or more processors or CPUs simultaneously to handle various components of a single activity. Pictorial Representation of Parallel Processing and its Inner Workings Drums and vocals sound great, and sometimes people will even parallel process their entire mix.Parallel processing is a computing technique when multiple streams of calculations or data processing tasks co-occur through numerous central processing units (CPUs) working concurrently. From there, it’s up to you to decide how loud you want the processed versus unprocessed tracks to be.Įngineers will use parallel processing, especially compression, on mixes all the time. You’ll get the most out of it when you peg the heck out of the VU or drive well into the red. Parallel is sort of the opposite of serial processing in that it requires driving plugins super hard. You get to push everything too hard on one version of the track, and then just tuck it up underneath the “regular” channel to where it adds some aggression and some excitement without being overdone. The biggest benefit of using parallel processing is being able to hear the unprocessed and the overly-processed tracks playing at the same time (to make one blend). ![]() The benefits of using parallel processing You get to fine-tune the balance of the heavily processed and the original track. On one hand, you have the original track with basic effects on it, and then you have this other version that’s super compressed, maybe a bit of interesting EQ on it, saturation, or whatever else. Parallel processing gives you a sort of “best of both worlds” sound. Another option is using the wet/dry mix on a plugin to dial in really aggressive settings, but backing the mix way off to create parallel processing. You then put really aggressive processing on the aux or the duplicate and blend it in subtly with the main track. To set up parallel effects, you first need to create an aux and send the original track to that, or duplicate the original track. Unless “over-the-top” is a creative choice, of course! What is parallel processing? ![]() Whenever you want to use a lot of a certain effect, consider serial processing for a cleaner, more gentle application. Maybe each of those are on the instrument itself, and you have another compressor at the end of the whole chain on a bus. Follow that up with a slower compressor for a bit of glue, doing another few dB of gain reduction. A fast compressor at the top of the chain to catch the loudest peaks, doing a few dB of gain reduction on average. Instead, you can let a number of different compressors share the load. You’d hear it begin to pump or distort it’d be obvious you’re crushing the heck out of it. But if you let one compressor slam the track for 10 to 15 dB worth of gain reduction, that compressor would be working overtime. Sometimes a signal benefits from lots of gain reduction to sit properly in the mix. We talk about serial all the time in relation to compression, because that’s one effect that can get out of hand quickly. It lets you get away with using liberal amounts of the effect without it sounding heavy-handed. The main advantage of using more than one of the same effect type on a single instrument is that it keeps the processing subtle. Anytime you have multiple effects of the same type on a single track (EQ, compression, saturation, de-essing, etc.), we call it a serial chain. It doesn’t just apply to compression, and it doesn’t only qualify as a series when effects are cascading across buses. Finally, that rhythm guitar bus is routed to a main mix bus, and there’s another compressor on that. And then you’re sending those rhythm guitars to a guitar bus, and you have another compressor on the bus gluing them all together. Let’s say you have a group of rhythm guitars, and on each track you have an individual compressor. It’s just a clever way of saying you’re using more than one of the same processor/plugin on an instrument or a group of instruments. Serial processing is more than likely something you’re using already, even if you didn’t know the name for it. We’ll examine the differences between the two, and cover some basic scenarios where you’d want to employ one or the other. Serial processing and parallel processing are two common techniques mixers use everyday. ![]()
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