I use Sm 57 mics on my snare and toms and I don't know if I'm recording at too high a level, but I don't like the sound I get. What I get thru the overheads sounds like the actual drums. How close to the actual sound of the snare and tom does the 57 get? Or are you just trying to move some air with the Sm 57 track. Sm 57 colors the sound of my amp and when I've used it on a saxaphone. I've got to be doing something wrong (i just started recording drums), but I keep turning the trim down on those mics but my meters aren't registering distortion-granted they probably can't react fast enough. Any ball park figures on where the trim should be and what peaks my meters should read on my HD-24. I do compress, but sparingly.