![izotope neutron with hard rock izotope neutron with hard rock](https://img.audiofanzine.com/images/u/product/thumb3/izotope-neutron-advanced-255590.jpg)
Too fast an attack will make the drum sound less punchy, regardless of what the gain reduction meter shows you. On a digital compressor, like the Avid DynamicsIII, an attack between 11ms and 25ms usually seems natural. Now slow the attack until you bring back the initial attack of the drum. Slowly increase the attack time until you start losing the impact of the transient and the drum starts feeling less bright or punchy. Try starting with 100ms attack and release. The easiest way to set up your attack time and release time is to start with a slow attack and medium release time. The attack and release times of the compressor will be very forgiving when you’re working with such small gain reduction amounts. When compressing a well-played and well-recorded drum sound you might only need 1 or 2dB of gain reduction and a low ratio. As an aside, sometimes the easiest way to increase or decrease the attack and sustain of your tracks is to use a transient designer, which is not a compressor and therefore will not be discussed here. Don’t discard Opto or Tube compressors, though, as their tone and frequency sensitivity can sometimes be just the right thing for your drums.
![izotope neutron with hard rock izotope neutron with hard rock](https://www.amazona.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/izotope-neutron-3-big-730x482.png)
Both compressor types can be set to have very fast attack and release, and they can color the sound in pleasant ways if driven hard. The most often used types of compressors when it comes to processing drums are VCAs and FETs. Logic X’s built-in compressor allows two levels of auto gain to allow easy comparison of the before and after signals.
![izotope neutron with hard rock izotope neutron with hard rock](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tiSNxps-Xe0/maxresdefault.jpg)
Izotope neutron with hard rock free#
Plugins that have auto-gain options (such as the free MeldaProductions MCompressor or the Izotope Neutron 3 compressor module) spare you the headache of having to set up the make-up gain yourself. Without the correct makeup gain, you can be fooled into thinking that the louder signal (usually the uncompressed one) sounds better. This allows you to hear exactly what your settings are doing to the sound. It’s very important to occasionally bypass the plugin (after setting the make-up gain correctly) to compare the original sound to the processed sound. This control provides a way to maintain a consistent volume when comparing processed to unprocessed signals. Important Note: Whenever setting up compression, make use of the make-up gain knob on your processor. The mighty compressor is one of our best tools for making up for a sloppy drummer’s lack of technique and also for making a solid drummer’s performance feel razor-sharp. This can make the pulse of the track feel inconsistent, eating at your groove and making the drums less solid. Many drummers aren’t consistent in the way they hit the skins and their intensity and how and where they strike the drums changes from beat to beat. It helps to start with a great drummer, great drums, a great-sounding room, and great recording techniques. Getting the sound right at the source, though, is paramount to achieving your goal. Most modern mixes are aching for a punchy drum sound and this goal can be achieved with the right kind of compression. I’ll assume you mainly mix in the box, and that’s also my preferred way of working. Let’s get some compression going to really get your drums grooving. Despite all that EQing, the drums are still not moving you. You’re carving away to create some of your best signature sounds. You’ve tamed the cymbal ringing by dipping the hi-mids. You’ve removed the boxiness from your drums by cutting the mids just right. If you’re at all unclear on the basics of compression, you may want to review our previously published article on the fundamentals of compression. This one covers drum compression, while a previous article covered Drum EQ Tips.
Izotope neutron with hard rock series#
This is the second article in a series on mixing drums.