Sound & signal
Multiband compression
Multiband compression splits the signal into frequency bands and compresses each separately, so a loud bassline does not pull the whole track down with it. Club system processors use it; DJ mixers generally do not.
In practice
One band per frequency range, so the kick stops dragging the vocals down with it. That is the venue’s processor, not yours.
You will rarely meet this on a DJ mixer and should not go looking for it — it is a mastering and system-tuning tool. What is worth taking from it is the diagnosis: if a rig sounds like its top end pumps in time with the bass, the processing is struggling, and the useful response is to stop feeding it so hard rather than to compensate with EQ. Mention it to the engineer; they can change the bands and you cannot.
3–5
Typical band count
The rig
Where you meet it
Pull back
Your only real lever
Where these come from: How installed system processing typically works — conventional design, not catalog figures. For what we can measure, see the rig running it.
Why it matters
It solves the one real flaw in ordinary compression: a single processor watching the whole signal is dominated by whatever is loudest, and in club music that is always the low end. So every kick drags the vocals and hats down with it, which is audible as a track that ducks in time with its own bass.
Knowing the venue’s rig does this explains something you can otherwise misdiagnose. When a system sounds like the top end is breathing under the kick, that is the processor’s bands interacting rather than anything you did — and turning yourself down is the only lever you actually have.
Frequently asked
Do DJ mixers have multiband compression?+
Almost never. It is a mastering and system-tuning tool, and it lives in the venue’s processor rather than in the booth.
Why does the top end pump with the kick?+
A single-band processor is being dominated by the low end, so every kick pulls everything down. It is the rig struggling, and easing off is the only lever you have.
Should I use multiband on my master?+
Not from a booth. You would be adding a stage of processing in front of a system already doing it properly for its own speakers.
Related terms
Compressor
A compressor reduces the level of anything above a threshold, narrowing the gap between the loud and quiet parts. The result can then be turned up as a whole, which is how records get their density.
Crossover
A crossover splits a signal by frequency and sends each part to the speaker built for it — lows to the subs, everything else to the tops. Every club system has one, set for its own speakers.
Club sound system
A club sound system is the whole chain after the mixer: processor, amplifiers, subwoofers, main speakers and often delay or fill speakers, tuned together for one room by an engineer who is not in the booth.
Ratio
Ratio sets how hard a compressor reduces anything above the threshold. At 4:1, four decibels of input above the threshold become one of output. At 20:1 or beyond it stops being compression and becomes limiting.
Explore: Frequency detector · Club sound system · Compressor · All DJ terms