Compressor killing your drum punch? Set a slower attack

Your attack is too fast. The attack sets how quickly the compressor clamps down after a sound goes over the threshold. With a very fast attack it squashes the first few milliseconds, which is exactly where a drum's punch is. Set it slower, around 10 to 30 ms, and the hit gets through before the compressor turns it down.

How to do it

1. Put a compressor on the drum bus or a single drum, ratio about 4:1.
2. Lower the threshold until you get 3 to 6 dB of gain reduction on the hits.
3. Start with the fastest attack and listen: the hits go flat and soft.
4. Turn the attack up slowly until the front of each hit snaps through again, usually 10 to 30 ms.
5. Set the release so the meter recovers before the next hit, then match the output level and compare.

Why it works

The punch of a drum is its transient: the first few milliseconds. A slow attack lets that through and only turns down the body after it, so the hit actually sounds sharper than before.