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Hey everybody, I'm running seven toms on my kit and am currently tracking them with dbx, DDP's and am pretty happy with the results I'm getting. I'm just curious. what kind kind of compressors are you using when you have seven(or more) toms to take care of? . .

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KurtFoster Fri, 10/29/2004 - 14:45

I never use compressors on toms. In fact, I almost never use dynamics on drums at all except for sometimes on the overheads if I am going for the "Beatles sound".

I am always fighting the battle of keeping cymbal spill out of tom tracks and compression only makes it worse.. I also like toms that are huge sounding and that reach out and grab the listener when they are hit. I have found that reducing the dynamics of any sound is a good way to make it sound smaller rather that bigger.

Guest Fri, 10/29/2004 - 19:21

toms

Kurt could not be more correct (As he generally is). I too have found that every time I used compression on the drums, it only squeezed the sound making it sound smaller.
I am with Kurt also on "the BIGGEST sound possible" with toms and the rest of the kit.
I like the kit "Dry and tight". With reverb typically being used on the overheads only, and maybe a little on the snare.
Since you are using so many toms, something to keep in mind that might work for you is to find the sweet spot on each indivual tom. By this I am merly suggesting that you sweep the freq. on each tom so that none of them are set at the same freq.
Sometimes this helps to get better seperation.
Just a thought :)

However if you are hell bent on getting something for all those toms, maybe try looking at the Presonus. They have alot of channels avail.

nandoph8 Sun, 10/31/2004 - 22:34

as far as mics, I like sennheiser 421's and the overheads will bring some nice highs out, too. Sometimes a 57 will sound really good on the smaller toms. No compression, sometimes gating or manually silencing the parts where the tom is not being played in your DAW. Make them loud, for me, I like them as loud as the kick and snare.

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