compression on toms during recording

[fretless]

hi fellas,

later this year i´ll (hopefully) be able to record live drums in my own studio which i have to build yet, but that´s another story ... ;-)

since i´m not really experienced in recording "da drums" there´ll be some experimenting anyway, but i know how i´m gonna get started: what i know quite sure is that i will gate & compress (though not overly) kick and snare directly at recording stage. i guess i´m not completely alone with this approach, but what about toms? the drum recordings i did until now went without any separate tom mics, just overheads - btw. mostly those new akg c430 which i think are fine oh mics for the price. but that´s what i´ll be changing in future since the toms now don´t come through as pronounced as i wish they would. so 1 mic for every tom will be my future setup.

bla bla bla - here´s my question: do you think it would be necessary to compress separately miced toms also? how do you guys/girls do it? is it drum production overkill i´m talking here? if it really needs to be done i´d also do the comp´ing right at recording stage and would therefore need some more 19"youknowwhat ... ;-)

am i generally moving in the right direction? or would some of you just suggest to get some other overhead mics? could this solve my problem? my guess is not, because this leaves lack of control for the single components of the drum kit. tell me your thoughts!

btw.: i record mainly rock music.

thanks for any input!

fretless

 

[Downside Studio]

I don't agree with the gating and comping during recording. If you're able to do it during recording, you're also able to do it during mixdown. Better save than sorry is my approach. While recording you'll never know what the the drummer is going to do. If he hits the batter less hard then usual it might not trigger the gate. During mixdown you'll notice this, reset the gate and play the part over. During recording the kick will be lost.

Compression on the toms. it depends on the way your drummer hits them, and their function in the music. If you have a good drummer, he will hit them most time with the same force. Compression will be less important. If you have a drummer who is not that constant, compression might be the key to your problem. remember that wit hadding compression, the noise leakage is increased too, so you will have to noise-gate the mics as well.

just put the drumfaders up, close your eyes, and ride the faders untill you have the feeling the drummer is playing right in front of your nose. Works for me!