Tom Compression?

[53Crëw]

Do you guys find it's better to compress toms individually, or just compress the toms bus?

Thanks.

 

[AllanD]

Individually. I find that the attack time varies on which tom you're hitting.

 

[Tommy Evans]

What he said ^

Then I personally send then to a master buss with another comp.

 

[jackbraglia]

yea I second that as well. but lately i find myself using drumagog on toms especially. theres almost always cymbals leaking into those mics, so i like to just use samples and avoid that entirely.

 

[Ermz]

I do both.

 

[crillemannen]

I usually use a SSL style compressor on the tom buss, shaving off about 5-8db's just to ensure they're not poping out to much from the rest of the mix.

 

[Trevoire520]

I've found I sometimes prefer to not compress the toms at all, and just automate them instead.

 

[Derykus]

I've found I sometimes prefer to not compress the toms at all, and just automate them instead.

I also often prefer to not compress toms. Try it.

 

[Ermz]

Automating them is a great idea, especially if you're keeping them natural. That way you can just use a tiny bit of compression and maybe transient design just for the envelope of the hits. Compression is not a great way to keep toms consistent.

 

[53Crëw]

Thanks for the comments, guys.

 

[gabriel g.]

Real toms are one of the things where you need a good musician for.
Compression them to even them out sounds like shit, automating every hit is like a über pain in the ass.
The fucking drummer needs to play them right

 

[Uros]

Automating (I prefer slicing hit by hit, and raising/lowering their levels manually over automation tho), plus compression (for manipulating envelope, so you can also use some transient designer plugins such as TransX, T.Monster, T.Designer, etc.) is the way to go.

Real toms are one of the things where you need a good musician for.

Haha, this is so true. I can't even count how many times I've had a chance to work with 'rumble', instead of properly hit fast tom rolls.

 

[if6was9]

Automating (I prefer slicing hit by hit, and raising/lowering their levels manually over automation tho), plus compression (for manipulating envelope, so you can also use some transient designer plugins such as TransX, T.Monster, T.Designer, etc.) is the way to go.


Haha, this is so true. I can't even count how many times I've had a chance to work with 'rumble', instead of properly hit fast tom rolls.

Oh god yeah. There is no attack cause they didn't hit it, they rubbed off it!

I prefer to go with individual channel treatment but I feel toms to be the hardest to get right sometimes on a kit in the mix since they aren't in use all the time. Cutting the space for them in the guitar EQ when a certain tom might only be hit a couple of times a song. i especially strugglw with getting floor toms to pop out in a mix.

 

[burst]

Actually, I'm so tired of fucking drummers pussy-hitting their toms AND my lack of ability to properly tune them that I've ordered roland triggers, just to get some decent sounds without spending fucking days at it.

 

[Vinny]

I must be one of the very few who think that real toms are the easiest part of the kit to work with.
Individual toms- Subtract EQ -> Compress -> Additive EQ (and some other extra stuff)
Then I bus them together and do a general EQ and Compression to get them to gel

 

[Heabow]

^ this + a buss for reverb (eq'd) then I adjust the amount for each tom and I'm done.

 

[kaomao]

I admit most of the times I totally replace them so I don't need compression.
Most drummers are pussies (not always! fortunately working with one at the moment that is really good) and they hit it so softly that compression or not won't help you that much!

 

[fooman]

Often it's a combo of lack of hit strength/definition and badly tuned drums.
If you hit a tom in a dense track well, but the drum has a ton of low-end, then you definitely will be sculpting in the mix moreso than if the drum were a little higher-pitched.

I often sample toms in metal. If not, I always go in and manually cut out parts between hits. Then EQ, then compress, and adding some verb usually to make the silence-removal not so obvious.

 

[Heabow]

I agree. Drum tuning is def the key! Pretty difficult to me to do it myself tho...

 

[fatalforce]

Often it's a combo of lack of hit strength/definition and badly tuned drums.
If you hit a tom in a dense track well, but the drum has a ton of low-end, then you definitely will be sculpting in the mix moreso than if the drum were a little higher-pitched.

I often sample toms in metal. If not, I always go in and manually cut out parts between hits. Then EQ, then compress, and adding some verb usually to make the silence-removal not so obvious.

I do the same. The main issue I have is any cymbal crashes between or at the beginning of the tom attack. It's just too close to the actual hit to cut and it makes the cymbal come out sounding harsh.