Record Drums - A Beginner's Guide

Compressing drums is a highly subjective topic. It always depends on the style of the music. For example, the song we're using as our reference is an alternative-rock song. Heavily compressed drums fit well with the overall sound. If you're recording jazz, folk rock, or light country, you'll want to use less if any compression. The best advice I can give you is to experiment with these techniques, and decide, along with the drummer you're recording, what works out best.

That being said, let's talk about compression. Compression is using a software or hardware tool to reduce the sound level of a signal if it goes past a certain threshold level. This lets your drums fit in the mix with more punch and clarity. Much like a noise gate, it has seperate settings for attack (how fast it reduced the sound level) and release (how fast the reduction is backed away).

Let's look at a raw kick drum track. Notice how it's got a solid sound, but it's not very polished; in a mix, this kick wouldn't stand out in the mix enough. So let's gate it, then compress it using a 3:1 ratio (a compression ratio of 3:1 means that it takes a 3db increase in volume to allow the compressor to output 1db over the threshold), with an attack of 4ms and a release of 45ms. Can you hear the difference now? You'll notice more punch, less ambient noise, and better definition.

Compression, when used right, can make your drum tracks come alive. Now let's look at mixing the overall drum sound.