When putting a compress on your drum bus, it's important that you make sure you dial in the right settings.

A bus compressor can really add some magic, but if the wrong settings are dialed in, it can really ruin your drums & you can lose your punch & energy.

Slow Attack Time - Attack tells the compressor when to start the compression. This is going to be the setting that really determines if your transients can cut through or not. With drums we want the transients to cut through.

Using a slow attack time will allow the transients to pass through first before the compression begins.

Medium Release Time - Release tells the compressor when to stop compressing.

Setting the release too fast can cause the compressor to pump. When it's set too slow, the compression can last too long. Usually a medium release time is perfect for the job.

2:1 Ratio - The ratio sets the amount of gain going into the compressor vs the amount of gain that is coming out of the compressor. A 2:1 ratio will help keep the original balance in place.

Threshold Set To Give A Gain Reduction Of 2-3dB - The threshold determines the level that the gain reduction begins. For things like busses & sums, we don't want to do too much gain reduction. We're just looking to "glue" things together at this point.