Thickening single guitar track

[Erkan]

im curious as to how many people parallel compress guitars? (sorry to derail)

I generally dont, but have before, and it sounds bitchin!

This is something I haven't experimented with much yet. But I still don't understand the idea behind it, and I guess that's why I haven't tried it yet.

How much are you supposed to compress the blended-in signal? Is it supposed to be totally crushed and smashed with extreme settings, and then blended in gently, or is it supposed to be compressed just lightly and blended in more instead? What's the point?

Or maybe a better question to help me understand para comp on guitars... what is supposed to happen to the sound?

I understand the concept on drums, it brings more meat to the sound because the "body" "stays" longer after the initial hit of the drum, but those are easy to understand because drums are very transient, but for guitars that are much more "constant" or "flowing", I don't see what para comp is supposed to do to the sound. I really would like to know though! I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one around here who doesn't grasp what para comp "should" do to guitars... many have probably used it just because others say it's good, but I won't use it until I understand it

 

[-Noodles-]

Parallel compression can be used many, many ways - and with different affecting (and resulting) tones. In my view, it's not that far off the same as drum parallel compression.

I personally put an aux, and send 0dB signal (pre fader) to give me the maximum signal that I can, essentially mimicking the original. I then crush the shit out of this aux.
Bring up that fader, and it will bolster the sound - while retaining the dynamics of the original guitar track..
I have on occasion used it to act as a second guitar (panned L / R) and just lightly compressed it. This really thickens out the stereo image of the guitar.

It's really what you want to do with the signal, and what you want to achieve with it that makes it. I personally prefer a mixture of both the above descriptions (using two busses; a crushed guitar bus, and a parallel "right" guitar).

Try it out, and see what works. There's no real and single answer of this type of application.

 

[beyond dead]

I dont crush it to all hell like drums, I just compress a bit for a fuller sound. adds a bit of punchiness that can make the tone thicker. I wouldnt recommend it for super heavily distorted guitars, but it sounds nice for heavily distorted guitars. sounds good for cleans and mid gain tones too.
I usually just use a low ratio, and fairly quick attack and release times. Then blend a bit in with the clean signal.