The Best Multiband Compressor Plugins

Multiband compression is a subset of compression which allows you to target specific frequency bands, compressing them to taste while leaving the rest of the frequency spectrum unaltered. This can yield more desirable and targeting, not to mention transparent results, so let’s take a look at at some of the best multiband compressor plugins (free and premium).

Best Multiband Compressor Plugins

Best Multiband Compressor Plugins

Let’s kick off this list of the best multiband compressor plugins with everyone’s favorite, the best FREE option!

Best Free Multiband Compressor Plugin

OTT by Xfer Records

OTT, short for Over the Top, is a relatively simplified multiband compressor from Xfer Records (arguably best known as the makers of the WaveTable synthesizer, Serum) with so many producers and musicians swearing by its audio (and interface) quality.

While you don’t have a visual spectrum analyzer or precise controls over the cutoff points for each band, the plugin generally does a good job of representing each band with natural transitions between them.

Each band has a gain dial on the right as well as the ability to custom adjust the compression degree of each band (ya know, like a multiband compressor).

The depth control is essentially the wet/dry controller, the time controls the attack and release simultaneously, and you have your input and output gain knobs.

The plugin also allows for upward compression in addition to the traditional and typical downward compression.

While it hasn’t been updated in quite a few years, it’s still all you need to introduce a little or a lot of control to the mids, highs, and lows of your track or even entire mix.

TDR Nova

Strictly speaking, TDR Nova is a dynamic EQ, but one which ultimately acts nearly identical to a multiband compressor (see dynamic EQ vs multiband compression for a comparison).

tdr nova dynamic eq

As you can see, it has the spectrum analyzer built in so you can see the frequencies you’re targeting.

You’ll also note that it has a ratio, attack, and release settings for each band.

The premium version of the plugin simply comes with more bands, but if you’re looking for a simple 3 or 4 band multiband compressor, TDR Nova works very well.

It also has sidechaining available for the specific bands, so you can specifically chain a certain frequency range to compress it based on the behavior of another track (like sidechain EQing your bass to kick).

You can check out more on this plugin as I put together a complete overview on TDR Nova, and check out my rundown on how to use dynamic EQ in your mix.

Best Premium Multiband Compressor Plugin

My personal goto when it comes to multiband compression is the FabFilter Pro-MB.

fabfilter pro mb

You can create six bands, each with their own threshold, ratio, knee, attack, release, and lookahead settings.

They also allow for both compression and expansion to suit either need on the band you’re targeting.

Aside from the sidechaining capability I mentioned earlier in the case of TDR Nova, Pro-MB features an additional stereo link section so you can target that frequency range exclusively in the mid section or sides of your track.

fabfilter pro mb expert

This is my goto multiband compressor in the audio mastering stage, yielding great results for gently controlling or favoring any frequency range on an entire mix.

Stock Multiband Compressor Plugin

Of course, let’s not discount the efficacy of the stock multiband compressor which comes with your DAW.

In my Ableton Live, its stock multiband compressor, “Multiband Dynamics” is simple yet effective for getting the aforementioned targeted control you’re typically looking for on a track:

ableton live multiband dynamics

Speaking of which, check out my complete overview on Ableton’s stock plugins for a brief overview on how to use literally every plugin which comes standard with the DAW in your mix.

Incidentally, the first and above mentioned OTT multiband compressor’s design was based on a popular preset from Ableton’s Multiband Dynamics (one which still exists in Ableton Live to this day).

As you can see, it looks very similar to the OTT, albeit with greater specificity on the attack and release settings and band split points.

The threshold and ratio can be adjusted via the slider bars on the display for each band so you can dial in just the right amount of compression for each band.

You can also turn off the bands you don’t want to be compressed in case you just want to target one, then you can click the arrow and sidechain its behavior to another track.

Once again and once you’ve got your multiband compressor of choice, refer to my tutorials on multiband compression to get the most out of this form of targeted dynamics processing in your next mix.

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