Parallel compression: punchy and heavy drums

Parallel compression gets you punchy AND heavy drums. Make a copy of the drums, compress the copy really hard, and blend it quietly under the original. The original keeps the punch of the hits, and the squashed copy adds weight and sustain in between.

How to do it

1. Send the drums to a new bus (or duplicate the drum bus).
2. Compress that bus hard: high ratio, low threshold, 10 dB or more of gain reduction.
3. Use a fast attack and a release that pumps with the groove.
4. Turn the squashed bus all the way down, then bring it up until the drums get thicker.
5. Or use a compressor's Mix knob, which does the same in one plugin.

Why it works

Heavy compression kills transients but brings up the room and the tails. Blending both keeps the best of each, which is why it's also called New York compression.