When the kick drum hits the compressor will often kick in no pun intended aggressively and the entire drum group will dip noticeably in volume.
Waves kick drum compressor.
Depending on the genre kick drum recordings tend to contain unwanted mud and low end rumble below the 40 50 hz range.
Waves ssl e channel strip modeled after the original filter and eq strip on ssl s 4000 series recording consoles is great at removing excess drum bleed.
First things first while applying these tips make sure to pull up a copy a professionally mixed recording of drums in the style you re mixing in using a reference track along with these tips will certainly prove to be invaluable to you in getting you on the right track of attaining mastery of the art of drum mixing.
Reduction level is the amount your kick drum is being.
Applying eq compression dynamics processing and effects for drum mics can be a lot of work.
Sometimes this sounds cool.
For a limiter you can use the waves l1 as shown in the image below or download the free famous limiter known as gclip.
The waves audio renaissance compressor is a now classic compressor plugin that is still capable of producing great sounding tracks.
By using the plugin s noise gate we ve set slower attack times to allow the low end of the kick to pass through and fast release times to keep it tight and punchy.
If i have a very consistent drummer with great dynamics then i often will skip compressing the kick drum at all.
Many consider it highly effective at making drums stand out and be more present in the mix.
But often times it s not what you want.
Eq and compression techniques for note.
Thankfully seasoned mixers chris lord alge green day muse eddie kramer jimi hendrix led zeppelin jack joseph puig john mayer lady gaga and tony maserati beyoncé jay z have helped put together plugins featuring easy access to their tried and true.
It pumps and heaves with the best of them yet eases back into near transparency if necessary.
You may also want to apply a narrow cut around the 200 350 hz range.
When you re compressing the drums as a group sometimes the kick can trigger the compressor more than the rest of the drums do.
You can automate the kick drum volume or automate the eq between the different song parts.
Kick drum compression recipes.
Sometimes you need to bring up the sustain or level out an uneven performance or you might be looking for the ultra compressed modern sound.
