Supercreep said:
Good question. I don't gate the snare because I like the sound of it just as it is. I don't feel like I want to isolate a particular sound since my kit is meant to be heard as one instrument. I gate my toms because they are close miked and we hardly use the close miked signal at all... OH mics do the heavy lifting and snare and kick just add a little presence to the mix. Bleed in the other mics isn't a problem as I see it, as long as the mix sounds natural in the end.
I am of the opinion that in rock music the snare is the single most important voice. I mix it louder than any other instrument - it's crucial to the song. For an example of this check out Ghost in the Machine. A gated snare dosen't sound natural to me. It could be because I'm a horses' ass though - I don't claim any skill in microphone placement or anything.
Supercreep and I have barely used our newer outboard compressors (Joemeek twinQ and RNC). But with new mics and pres we're getting a significantly better drum sound straightway. Not that much tweeking required, really.
However, I both agree and disagree with Supercreep on this issue.
I suppose we both like what I have come to understand as the 'L.A. style' mixing. Which is to capture the sound you want in the first place, thus needing little, to no processing afterward.
But I have also found, like others have stated earlier in this thread, that compression can make things 'sit' a little better in the mix or bring out some details in individual instruments. And I like that.
Unless I am sadly mistaken, Supercreep more or less believes that the original sound is impeded upon too much when compression (or a gate) is used. I think that the good that comes from compression, at least half the time, outweighs the negative effect on the sound.
But I also believe that many things are over-compressed these days.
But in addition to that, I believe that it depends on the style of music, as has been said earlier.
It should be noted--to any who may care--that the Little Purple Circles music currently posted at nowhereradio was NOT mixed in the way Supercreep described in the quote above. (Exception: Everything you Read is virtually unprocessed.) We gated, compressed, reverbed the snare, gated and eq'ed the kick, compressed the OH's, etc. variously on each song.
Oh, yeah. One more thing: I sure as shit am not an expert. We're learning; and I want to learn, through experience, how best to use our compressors (along with everything else!) for what we're doing.