Trying to get that upfront lead vocal sound? If so, then compression is your friend. But everyone knows (or as at least heard) that too much compression is a bad thing. But what does that mean and how do you avoid it?
Do More With Less
One helpful tip is to stack two or more compressors on your lead vocal track in sequence, each doing a little bit of compression rather than one compressor working it’s butt off. It sounds weird, and maybe in the end not much is different under the hood, but it sure works.
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
Cool. Never thought of this! Really helpful for more vocals.
Hey graham,
Do you still ride your faders even after a move like this? even when I’ve practiced a technique like this, I’ve had peaking issues without riding the fader.
Yes, I always do some volume automation at the end.
Hi Graham,
I’m from brazil and I love your tips and secrets about mixing, hope to soon buy their classes, thankx
Hi, I just came across this tips, they’re amazing..
I used this tip on my first home mixing… actually used 3 compressors on the vocal of my band!!
It’s glad to know I wasn’t dreaming “high” with that idea hahaha
I forgot, I used this back in 2008
Actually this is different under the hood. What you’re actually doing is creating staggered thresholds. Unless you have your thresholds lined up perfectly, really high levels will hit both compressors while some levels will only be compressed once. The more compressors you add, the more of a curve you get rather than an single elbow.
You could do the same thing with expanders.
Another reason to stack compressors (I do this a lot) is that every compressor has a different strength and sound. Sometimes a compressor will do a great job at apparent level boosting, but not offer the sonic coloration one wants. So one adds another compressor on top for the coloration (or whatever else you need from a compressor)
Great point!