Compression on Drum Bus ?

[typhy]

I've heard many ppl talk about putting compressor on the drum bus to glue the whole drum kit (whether they're samples or not) together to give the drums a feeling of unity. I was just wondering what kind of settings you would use for this purpose, surely not a heavy ratio or threshold, right?

Are there any specific compressor for this purpose? I have Sonnox Dynamics and RComp from Waves, would these be okay? I usually put the Decapitator (Soundtoys) on the drum bus to give it that edge and punch.

I was wondering if a compressor would benefit it even more.

 

[laurend]

The settings depend of your sound. No magical numbers...
If you insert a compressor on your drum buss, and if you want to keep your drums alive, don't have a gain reduction greater than 6 dB.
If you use a parallel compression scheme, then you can have a much greater gain reduction even using the stock plug-ins of your DAW.

 

[CharltonChars]

I had a little bit of a mess with it and was just hoping for some tips on it.

1. Limiter or Compression? Whats Kinds of Settings

2. Pre or Post Fader Aux Sends

3. Less or More feed into the bus on any Particular Drums/Cymbals, or should I Mirror the main Drum Mix into the bus (Post fader, 0 db - Aux sends)

4. What am i listening for?
- What can i Expect to hear if done correctly, and How do i go about blending it with the original signal.


I know it sounds pretty vauge but i am just interested in how other people utilize it in their mix and what effect it has on the mix.

 

[nakedelvis2nite]

You should check this video I bought about drum bus compression, very very good tips. there's a trailer and other free vids if you want to know what it might look like. Those guys are good!

 

[Emmapeel9]

Compressing the drum bus can be good. Depends what sound you want as to what settings. I agree with light compression if you are starting out. (-6gr as above is light.)

Choice of compressor is not a big issue here.

---------- Post added at 08:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:57 PM ----------

Not sure what you are doing there Charlton. Looks more like parallel compression. I thought the OP was talking about having a drum group to where all the drum tracks go, and then compressing the drum group.

 

[HakimCallier]

I was just wondering what kind of settings you would use for this purpose, surely not a heavy ratio or threshold, right?

Why don't you try it before you post about it.

If you already have the plugins... put three plugins on a aux and route appropriately. Then bypass 2 of the 3 and try it at light compression settings to heavy compression settings. Then play with the attack and release. Then change other parameters the comp might have.

The only way to know this stuff is to do it. If and when you've painted yourself into a corner... then its time to get a little help.

But for Pete's sake, try it and see if you can hear any differences. Twist those little GUI knobs until they fall off!