Route all of the drum signals to one stereo mix bus. If you are mixing on a console, route the drums to a physical bus on the mixing board. If you are mixing on a computer, route the drums to an auxiliary bus. Doing so enables you to combine and process the entire drum set at once.
Insert a compressor onto the drum bus. If you are using a mixing board or console, use a hardware compressor for this task. If you are mixing on a computer, use a software compressor for this task.
Set the threshold of the compressor to determine when you want it to turn on. A lower threshold causes the compressor to turn on at lower drum volume levels, delivering a more compressed and processed drum sound. A higher threshold causes the compressor to turn on only when the drum set reaches higher volumes, delivering a more natural and less compressed sound.
Set the ratio of the compressor to determine how aggressively you want to compress the drum bus. A lower ratio of 2:1 or 4:1 delivers a more natural sounding result. A higher ratio of 8:1 or 10:1 creates a more heavily compressed drum sound. For instance, a ratio of 2:1 allows the volume of the drums to increase one decibel for every two decibels the volume goes above the threshold. A ratio of 10:1 allows the volume of the drums to increase one decibel for every 10 decibels the volume goes above the threshold.
Set a fast attack on the compressor if you want it to quickly grab onto the transients each time the drum set is hit. The more you compress the transients of the drum set, the closer in volume they become to the sustain, or ring-out, of the drums. This delivers a fuller drum sound with more body.
Set a slow attack on the compressor if you want to allow some of the attack through the compressor before it grabs onto the drum signal. This delivers a drum sound with more attack because it leaves the transients more intact.
Set a fast release time if you want the compressor to quickly let go of the drum signal after compressing the transients. This prevents it from compressing the drums as they ring out, which makes them sound less full. Set a slow release time if you want the compressor to hold onto the drum signal longer, delivering a more compressed and processed drum sound.
Increase the makeup gain of the bus compressor to make up for the volume lost by compressing the drums. If you gently compress the drum set one to two decibels at its loudest playing level, increase the output gain of the compressor one to two decibels. If you heavily compress the drum set six to 10 decibels, increase the output gain of the compressor six to 10 decibels.