What NY Parallel sets
Crimson is a clean VCA compressor behind a transformer-style input stage. NY Parallel uses the compressor hard and the transformer lightly. It is one of the 28 factory presets in the 1.4.0 suite, in the Drums group.
A fast attack and a heavy ratio clamp the transients on the compressed copy. That sounds like a mistake, but it is exactly why parallel works: the transients you want come from the dry copy, and the compressed copy fills in everything between them.
| Control | Setting | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold | −35 dB | Range −60 to 0 dBFS |
| Ratio | 10:1 | Range 1:1 to 20:1 |
| Attack | 3 ms | Range 0.1 to 100 ms |
| Release | 150 ms | Range 10 ms to 1 s |
| Makeup | +11 dB | Range −10 to +20 dB |
| Analog | Off | The air shelf is not added |
| Drive | 30% | Transformer colour, mostly second harmonic |
| Mix | 50% | Half compressed, half untouched |
| EXT KEY / SC HP | INT / Off | |
| Auto Gain / SUS | Off / Off |
How the Mix control behaves
Crimson delays the dry signal by the same amount as the compressed one (63 samples, which it reports to your DAW), so the two never comb against each other, however far you move Mix. At Mix 0% the output is a copy of the input, delayed by that latency.
The release also changes with what you play. After a short hit it recovers at the Release you set. After a couple of seconds of sustained compression the same setting recovers about two to two and a half times more slowly, so a busy chorus settles into the groove rather than fluttering.
Setting it by ear
Play a loud chorus on a loop and listen to the drums with Mix at 0%, then at 50%. You are listening for three things. The room and the tails of the cymbals should come up. The ghost notes on the snare should become easier to hear. And the kick and snare hits should keep the same snap they had. If the hits are softer, the blend is too high, or the dry copy is being swamped by makeup: lower Mix before you touch anything else.
Watch the gain-reduction meter and the PEAK hold. At −35 dB and 10:1 the compressor will be reducing by a large amount on a typical drum mix, which is correct here. If it only moves on the kick and snare, the threshold is too high for your level, so lower it until the cymbals and the room are compressed too.
When the kick pumps the whole kit
A loud kick can drive the detector, so the cymbals and room dip with every beat. SC HP is a high-pass on the detector only: the audio is not filtered. Clicking it steps through off, 60, 120 and 250 Hz. Drum Bus Punch uses 120 Hz, and Room Mic Smash uses 150 Hz. If NY Parallel pumps, try 120 Hz and listen again.
If the effect is too hissy or splashy, the cymbals are being compressed harder than you want. Lower Mix a little, or raise the threshold so the cymbals fall under it. Analog is off in this preset, so the air lift is not adding to it.
Other Crimson presets for the same job
Drum Bus Punch is the glue option, not the parallel option: −20 dB, 4:1, a 25 ms attack and 100 ms release, Drive 50%, Analog on, Mix 100% and SC HP 120 Hz. It lets each hit through and gently pulls the kit together. NY Parallel and Drum Bus Punch do different jobs, so choose by what the drums need: glue or density.
For more density, Parallel Iron Crush runs −40 dB, 20:1, a 0.5 ms attack and 100 ms release at full Drive with Analog on, and mixes at 35%. Room Mic Smash is for the room mics on their own: −35 dB, 10:1, 1 ms, 60 ms, Drive 60%, Mix 60% and SC HP 150 Hz.
The earlier guide to gated snare and a driven drum bus uses the 1.3.1 version of Drum Bus Punch. Crimson was rebuilt in 1.4.0, so its numbers are different.