A dynamics workflow example: drums

Do you ever wonder how a mixer is able to almost knock you over with the power…of a snare drum, or how about that clap on a hip-hop track that just slaps you…right in the phase?…You see, while acoustic instruments in vocals tend to be overly dynamic in over…the course of a group of notes or words, tend to have wild dynamic differences,…most percussive elements, especially electronic drums and percussion, tend to…have fairly controlled dynamic range, note for note.…But they may lack that extra punch on each note or hit that will allow it to…cut through a dense mix effectively.…

Why we compress drums is a little bit different than why we would compress vocals.…Again, typically the drums don't need much help with note-for-note dynamics.…That is to say, unless the drummer is really inconsistent, the differences…between each drum hit are, in my experience, pretty much even.…However, what I want to do with compression on drums is really use the…compression to envelope each note individually to draw out its attack, or bite, or…