Compression on drums question

[mR. MonroE]

Going to be recording acoustic drums. Mics going from drums to a Mackie 24 then into a Alesis hd24 and back to a Mackie 1604 for monitoring (just drums). Going to be doing all final mixing in Sonar 4.
My question is, Should I use compression before the sound board, after, pre/post, or go without any? And do the compressing in sonar?
Hard hitter, good dynamics. Playing alternative rock/heavy rock.

And also, what comperssers do you recomend?
Alesis 3630
dbx 266xl
Behringer composer, multicom, autocom?????

Mic selection,
AKG D112 - bass drum
Sennheiser e604 - toms
Shure sm87 - snare
Shure sm 81 - cymbals (hopefully)
Shure pg 81 - hi hat

 

[PhilGood]

I add compression to the kick and snare on the inserts of the board before it's sent to HD. About a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio depending on what sound I'm looking for, using a somewhat slowed attack and release. I don't remember the threshhold off the top of my head, but experiment. If you don't add too much, just enough to bring out the presence, you can squeeze it a little more on mixdown.

The dbx is a great compressor. Used the composer once along time ago. Couldn't figure out what it did to the sound.

 

[remo_marbleblue]

I made the mistake of starting out with a few Behringer compressors. They had the same problem my Behringer board does...the controls suck so it's tough to tune. I'm now using dbx and am happy with them. I think 266 is the same model I have. I'd recommend it.

I add compression via the inserts on the board so it sounds descent in my headphones. It's up to you I guess, but if you want some extra attack I'd do it.
I like alot of attack so I'm using 4:1 ratio at just below zero for threshold, and fast attack and release. In my case I'm not doing mix downs so this is my only chance to compress.

 

[alvinthedrummer]

I add compression to the kick and snare on the inserts of the board before it's sent to HD. About a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio depending on what sound I'm looking for, using a somewhat slowed attack and release. I don't remember the threshhold off the top of my head, but experiment. If you don't add too much, just enough to bring out the presence, you can squeeze it a little more on mixdown.

The dbx is a great compressor. Used the composer once along time ago. Couldn't figure out what it did to the sound.

Hi I'm new to compressing and have a question with regards to your post. You said to compress the drums a little to bring out the presence, but I thought compressing is used to bring down the loud bits and bring up the soft bits, so how does that add presence? Also, your reply was for a question with rock drumming, so I would imagine compression to be used to bring down the gain no? Please advice, thanks!

 

[PhilGood]

Hi I'm new to compressing and have a question with regards to your post. You said to compress the drums a little to bring out the presence, but I thought compressing is used to bring down the loud bits and bring up the soft bits, so how does that add presence? Also, your reply was for a question with rock drumming, so I would imagine compression to be used to bring down the gain no? Please advice, thanks!

Compressors can do all kinds of things. They smooth out the sound but they can thicken it as well.

By presence I mean the sustain and fundamental tone of the drum. If you think of the dynamics of hitting a drum, our ears hear the attack and the brain compensates to bring it down and then we hear the tone in the sustain. Mics don't hear the same way, so we use compressors. Your right, the compressor squeezes the signal so the louds are softer and likewise the reverse. Think about it. You've squeezed the sound to bring the levels closer together. Now if you RAISE the output of the compressor, bringing the attack to it's original power, the soft sounds become louder and closer in volume to the attack. Hence the body of the drum sounds thicker. You can even slow the attack and release of the compressor to subdue the attack even more. This can make a soft hit sound like someone is hitting the drum as hard as they can.