Can someone give a detailed explanation on- How the use of a compressor differs when applied to a bus track (say all rhythm guitars) as compared to a single track?

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K, so you're pretty much talking about compressing the individual track right on compared to 1. a compression to a set of doubled rhythms put to a bus? or 2. like Parallel compression (where you send it to a separate track, then do a mix of both the compressed version AND the uncompressed version. done right this could give a great amount of punch, especially in drums).

I could be wrong, but I'd say the only difference is that when using a bus track to compress all rhythm guitars you can't individually tweak each guitar's compression. If you were to have a single compressor on each rhythm guitar, then you could. Its my understanding that the benefit of multi-track compression is that it makes less of a strain on your CPU.

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well, yeah that's one thing its good for. But you can also do this analogue rather than using compression plugs, where it doesn't really affect your CPU. where it'd be based off of what sound you're going for or what exactly is going on in the mix. if you're say, doubling guitars to make it sound wider, yet it's the same tone for each of the double. Then it's just easier to give them the same compression, otherwise each side could sound uneven. But if it's like 2 rhythm guitars with different EQ's or amps/tones you may lose some of one and gain too much of another. you could also use a compressor when recording on the individual guitar, print it right into the recording (so no plugs) then do a very LIGHT master compression on guitars.

Mainly, I'd think it comes down to what sound you're going for and what will sound good for what you've recorded. I've done several types of things to get different sounds. I'd say try a few ways, listen to how it reacts and choose what you think helped the most. Experimenting is likely the best way to figure it out.

But that's just how i'd feel on the matter. if someone has a better reason, please correct me.