Ho long is a bass drum hit?

[LeeRosario]

Well you know, it's not nessesarily how long the hit is, just how you hear it and exactly how the specific compressor you use behaves.


Generally the old trick I use is this: I calculate my song BPM and then divide it by 60000, to be additionally divided by either 5, 4, 3, 2 to give me my release times.


So if I have a BPM of say 120, then 60000 / 120 gives me 500ms. For a quicker release time, I can divide that by 4 or 2 for the standard time signature (4/4). This is sets everything in tempo for me neatly.


Afterwards, you can just tweak your attack times to what sounds good to your ear.

On kick, I usually just go enough to round it off but not competely smash it's quality. Same process with snares, perhaps a little more smashed depending on the music.

A longer attack time means a thicker shape to your kick, while a shorter attack time does the converse. Longer attack will help your thump while short attack will help your thud.

Jazz, probably not any. Rock, might be more over the top. Of course, the eyes are just suppose to confirm what the ears are hearing.

Use that relationship wisely.

 

[TexRoadkill]

A lot depends on why you are compressing the drum. If you are trying to beef up the sound then a longer attack makes sense because you are trying to bring up the level of the decay and body of the tom without losing the impact of the attack.

If on the other hand you are trying to even out some really sloppy dynamics and want to tame the attack then you need a faster attack setting.