So what ends up getting turned down is not this transient right at the beginning of the sound, but the rest of the drum sound. That’s what a fast attack time says. We don’t want it to jump in right away and turn it down immediately, we want it in this case to wait 15 milliseconds. So I have three different snare drum tracks here. That’s the initial punch and impact right on the beginning of that hit. So the effect is that we actually add more punch and impact to the sound by using a slow attack compressor. So all that thwack, that punch right on the beginning of the snare gets flattened out completely because the compressor’s turning down that transient right at the beginning of that drum hit. So we can use a compressor, but if we haven’t set it up with a slow attack time then we’re actually going to end up doing the opposite of what we want in this case. So you can see here 0.52 milliseconds. So that transient’s going to be above the threshold, which means when that compressor reacts, because it’s pulling down the sound right away, as soon as the sound exceeds the threshold, so right when that transient hits, the compressor’s going to jump in and say okay, now we need to turn down the sound. Click the link above or in the description below to download this free cheatsheet now. You listen to your favorite records, and the drums always sound super punchy and impactful. And if we’re trying to make our drums cut through the mix more, trying to add that punch and the impact that we’re looking for, compression is the way to do it. And for more mixing tips like this one, check out my YouTube channel, or visit my website BehindTheSpeakers.com. Hey, this is Jason from Behind The Speakers. So we turn the tail up back to its original level using this makeup gain, but the transient actually becomes louder, because the compressor didn’t actually touch that at all. So basically what this is telling the compressor to do is when the signal gets louder than the threshold, we want the compressor to wait a little bit before it turns down the sound. Bring … And you can see here I’ve set the attack knob to go as fast as possible. We’re making the transient louder. And so the result is that we actually turn down the punch and the impact. Reducing the snare in your overheads should have a minimal impact on the sound of the drum set on its own. Maybe the drums sound too punchy. Here is how I set the snare level in a mix: Put the mix in Mono and listen through one speaker using LEVELS. So we want the compressor to turn down the sound right after it exceeds the threshold, right away. It’s all about the attack time. We’ll start with the fast attack. It’s just a snare sample, so take a listen. The overheads make up a small piece of that puzzle, but that’s unlikely the main purpose of those mics. We’re turning down the punch and the impact. That’s the key to adding punch and impact to drums. So even though we’re using compression, because we’ve set it up with a fast attack time, it’s actually in this case doing the opposite of what we want. So I’m just going to flip back and forth, and I want you to listen to the punch and the impact. So attack time is the key here. So tell me if this sounds familiar. On the other hand, there are times when you want to remove punch from drums. It’s one of those things you need to … The attack time on a compressor will control whether the compressor adds punch to drums or takes punch away from drums. And the most important parameter that you absolutely need to get right if you’re trying to add punch and impact to your drums is the attack time. This is dry without any processing. And before we dive in, make sure you grab my free drum mixing cheatsheet, which is packed with more tips and tricks that will take your drums to the next level. If we’re trying to add punch and impact to drums, a fast attack time is going to take that away. We don’t want it to wait at all. Because the same compressor can actually add punch to drums, but it can also take it away depending on the settings you choose. I’m going to loop this so it’ll loop. So it’s not enough just to add compression to a drum track if you’re trying to make it punchier, you actually have to make sure that you know exactly what you’re doing when it comes to compression. So this one is just dry without any processing, and then I have a duplicate here, and I’ve added a compressor. And what that’s called is the transient. Click the link above or in the description below to download this free cheatsheet now. So see how all that punch and impact and that thwack right at the beginning of the snare drum hit comes back with that slow attack time? And I want you to notice how much more punch and impact we get on the snare drum sound with the slow attack versus the fast attack. And you can see here I have three different versions of this same snare track. So I want to compare this snare drum sound with a fast attack compression to the original. On the other hand, I have this same snare sound here on a third track, and I’ve set the compressor up with a slow attack time. So the tail of the drum sound actually gets turned down, but the transient gets left there. And notice with a fast attack compression how the punch and the impact right at the beginning of that snare drum actually goes away. We’re making the transient louder. In this case I’m using the Oxford Dynamics compressor, but you can use any compressor, doesn’t really matter. So here’s the big takeaway from this video. Now if we go back to the actual ProTools window here and I zoom in a little bit, you can see that if you look at the waveform, right at the beginning of that snare hit is a big spike right over here. So in this video I want to go into the attack time control in a little bit more detail, and show you exactly how you can use it to add more punch and impact to your drums. If you’re trying to add punch to drums, then you want to make sure that you get that parameter right. So you can use the compressor to turn down that punch to make the drums sound like they hit a little bit softer. If you want to add punch to drums, make sure that you’re using a slow attack time. How To Use Parallel Compression Like A Pro, Mixing Drums: 5 Powerful Tips You Need To Know, How To Compress Drums Like A Pro (6 Simple Tips). EQ out the boxiness. And in this case, you actually want to use a fast attack time. But here’s the thing about compression that makes it tricky. (Listening in mono helps me focus on the balance... Bring the snare channel all the way down and play the chorus or drop of the mix. Now if you enjoyed this video and you’re ready to dive deeper, make sure you also grab my free drum mixing cheatsheet, which is packed with more tips and tricks just like this one that will take your drums to the next level. Boxiness can make any drum sound awful. And so with a fast attack time, we’re basically telling the compressor to turn down that transient because that’s the loudest part of the sound. So basically what we’re telling the compressor to do when we use a fast attack time, is whenever the signal, whenever the sound gets louder than the threshold, that’s the number right here, whenever the sound gets louder than -30 dB, we want the compressor to clamp down and pull down that sound right away, almost immediately. Compression is one of those tools that we can actually use to shape and manipulate the punch and the impact of our drums. So we turn the tail up back to its original level using this makeup gain, but the transient actually becomes louder, because the compressor didn’t actually touch that at all. So the settings that you choose when you’re applying compression are absolutely crucial. I’d love to hear from you, so leave your answer in the comments section below. So take a listen. And so the result, zooming in again and looking at the waveform, is that the compressor actually waits. And so now when we turn up the sound after using makeup gain, what we’re actually turning up is the transient. Now if this sounds like you, if this is the problem that you’re struggling with, the solution is compression. So I want to take a listen now, and I want you to compare this snare drum with a slow attack compression, and we’ll compare it with the fast attack. Let’s take a listen. And it looks over this initial punch or impact, and waits a little bit before it grabs the sound and turns it down. So it’s almost as if we’ve boosted this transient right on the beginning of the snare drum hit. And then when you listen to your mixes, the drums sound soft and mushy, and they don’t really cut through the mix. And before you go, leave a comment below this video and let me know – what’s your go-to compressor plug-in for drums?