Review: New Online Drum Lesson Course

Compression and Limiting.

Your snare doesn't seem violent enough and your bass drum doesn't cause nuclear terror. This problem is common among drummers who don't buy a drum/drumset because "insert the greatest drummer ever here" plays them.

The records you love and the songs that inspire you to work at your skill and drive you to be the best drummer ever, have been recorded by the best engineers, produced by the greatest producers, and mastered by some of the most respected people. In addition to the people there is gear, gear that sings when in the hands of the aforementioned professionals.

"Man, 'wickedassmaniacrockstardrummer' drums are killer! so punchy! so warm! so in your face! I bought the same kit.... but I can't get it to sound like 'rockdrummers'.?!?!?"

You won't. When you go to record your band in a studio you can work on this sound. Bring your favorite records and tell the engineer what you like about the sound.

Reaper and stolen "vintage equipment" plugins WILL NOT get you the sound you want... because you don't know what you are doing.

Popular compressor/limiters that are in just about every reputable studio:
1176 (UA)
Fairchild 670/660... you can't afford one(670) $30,000, trust me I already called about one for sale
Gates Sta-level
176 (UA)
33609/2254 (Neve)
3630(Alesis... yes believe it or not many a dance drum groove is processed such a piece)
Pro-VLA (ART).... cheap but big wigs use it on the master bus =]
Chandler has some popular stuff
Vari-mu(Manley)... a similar design to a Fairchild but uses 5670 triodes as the gain change element. Sorry had to geek it out for a minute.
SSL master buss compressor (aka the Good Button) on the famous hit making console
There are a hundred variations on a theme for these... lots of people claim their version is better, it's not, but that doesn't mean you won't like it.

So remember you favorite drum sounds are processed, layered, effected, resampled, and treated by professionals who were interested in making music not being rock stars.

Happy limiting!
compression= 1.5:1 ~ somewhere around 7:1
limiting 8:1 all the way to 30:1 (and infinity:1)
brick wall has to do with the highest ratio set to squash the signal at around 0db(threshold setting)

__________________
Obsessed with the wisdom that the break beats posses.
-dirt

Could you give us a hint on the processing used for the 'facehugger' drum sound? If the name isn't familiar, it's the huge drum sound they got back in the '80's. It was on about a million hits back then and it's still pretty immense, although not as common as it was back in the day.

I know it was originally done by accident. Phil Collins was recording some parts and trying out several different mics on his kit, trying to get the sound he wanted and not being satisfied with any of them. Then on one particular take, the engineer forgot to turn off the talkback mic that Phil was using. So that time around they mixed all the individually mic'd and EQ'd drums with one collective mic above the drummers head. The sound was HUGE.

Go listen to 'In The Air Tonight'. That drum break in the middle, right after he sings "It's all been a pack of lies." ? THAT'S the sound, the facehugger. The sound was so aggressive and unavoidable that it got named after the alien creature that jumps on your head and attaches itself to you in the Aliens movies.

I want to know a reliable way to get that sound.