down is one way to make the transition a bit
less abrupt and more natural sounding.
“A NEW YORK MINUTE...”
Parallel (or sometimes called ‘New York’)
compression is a great way to make sure your
broadcast vocals are front and center and don’t
get lost when the full band is in full swing. While
many times compression is used to bring down
peaks to shrink the overall dynamic range of
a source, parallel compression brings up the
quietest elements. Parallel compression is
achieved by combining the uncompressed
Auratone monitor speakers. Familiarity beats fancy.
source signal with the highly compressed
instance of the same signal. “WHEN IN ROME…” Parallel compression isn’t necessarily rare The last tip is a simple one: check your mix I think they do an ok job at approximating the
on the devices your listeners will be using average car stereo or home theater soundbar
to experience the live feed. I’ve found a big experience these days.
in studio or in live sound mixing, but in live
broadcast the effect is likely to be applied to
different instruments and in an even more
compressed approach than you are used to.
Try out applying parallel compression to bass
guitar, piano and keys to maintain audio stream
energy. I’m a fan of parallel compression in
drum buses when in the studio, but I’ve not
had as much success (to my ears) with this
approach in live feeds. Your mileage may vary.
monitors like Auratone and even the good ol’
Alesis Monitor One are a workable go-to and
difference over the last few iPhone hardware
versions, especially on the low-end response. There are many great resources (and an equal
13” MacBookPro laptop speakers are a good amount of friendly debates) out there about
average I’ve found for approximating what studio monitors, I would just add that in most
PC and Mac folks will be getting on their end web broadcast audio cases ‘good’ is better
laptop-wise. Don’t forget to check on AirPods than ‘best’. Certainly, this is a personal thing,
and Beats-style consumer headphones if you but I’d rather have a set of monitors that I’m
have them handy. I’m a fan of ‘real world' studio very familiar with and more closely replicate
95% of the listening audience than the $5,000
reference studio monitors. If the audio is being
recorded and mixed down and refined later for
release on-demand, then you would certainly
want to consider an additional set of monitors
above and beyond what you’d readily reference
in the live broadcast mix.
Have fun refining your live broadcast mix and
hopefully you’ve picked up an idea or two you’d
like to apply the next time the “we’re live!” go
cue comes over your headset.
Parallel compression enabled on an Allen & Heath SQ digital mixer
November 2019
Jeff Hawley
Jeff Hawley currently heads up the marketing for
Allen & Heath USA. He has produced or mixed
dozens of diverse live broadcast events ranging
from worship conferences, Dixieland bands at
Disneyland, avant-garde ballet and the Newport
Music Festival.
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