3 Drum Buss Compression Techniques For INSANE Drum Mixes!

When it comes to mixing drums, the way in which you treat your drum buss can have a massive impact on the vibe and character of your drums as a whole.

​Things can go very wrong....or very right (if you know what to look out for).

​People often ask about my approach to drum buss compression.

​You know me, I like to keep things as simple as possible and focus my energy exclusively on the BIG PICTURE moves that will make a real difference in the real world.

​As a matter of fact, I only have 3 dead-simple ways that I approach drum buss compression. I want to teach them to you so that you can stop the endless tweaking and get down to actual mixing.

​​Learn my 3 favorite drum Buss compression techniques for INSANE drum Mixes by watching this video.

[djoHn]

Psh I just found you by accident, how the hell do you not have more exposure? 😤

[firmans]

Thanks Bobby.
I almost never use drum bus compression on the insert.
I hate the sound of it.
Always go parallel now or without parallel, with exaggerated transient (slow attack fast release) and or less transient (fast attack and fast release).
Usually the parallel compression is added after the other track is mix to balance and make the drums cut through more

[aaronaustin]

Completely loved King Kelly and thank you for turning me on to them. Instant fan. Cheers !

[blakeattebury]

Quick question. I've never seen anyone use an SSL for parallel compression in heavier mixes. It seems that most people tend to use something like a distressor for this. I actually love the SSL for glue compression, but how do you feel about things like the Distressor in comparison to the SSL?

[leearmitage]

great video, personally I use a combination of all 3 depending on the song and sound I'm after

[C.E.Alekperoff]

Great video! Usually the way I mix drums depends on the overall style of the song/material but, in general, in the "nu metal/...core era" parallel compression was in ultimate demand then the hipster fashion brought it back to the "natural" sound (sometimes had to record with 2-4 mics only) and now it started to slowly crawl back to the parallel. But that's just my personal experience/luck...

[Vanes-NL]

I use parallel compression. When i solo that track, you can hardly hear it. But when i switch it on and off, you can really hear the difference. It's a great trick for when your kick, snare and toms are drowning in the mix

[JSchellergJ]

Such good video. Recently parallel compression helped me achieve the sound I was looking for, where the style of the song in my opinion demanded. The next songs probably will be good to use something different

[thet]

I am a beginner, but I picked up a tip from a metal mixer about a plugin called Drumforge from Drumflex. I use it on my drum bus and it adds a lot of punch and attack.

[Manalyth]

I send my shells and cymbals to parallel compression tracks before they hit the drum bus and put slight ssl compression and eq on the drum bus, i keep the rooms/reverbs and the parallel compression tracks outside of the drum bus too

[randomorbitalechoes]

Great video as always. Thank you for the tips.
BTW the bass in the second example has a perfect sound. How did you get that?

[BigBadMadden]

All very helpful!

You've probably covered this but got any tips for helping stop a snare poking way out of a mix? But while preserving the smack and weight of it?

I either get it too weak or its like 5 db louder than the rest of my mix 😂

[AleFerrari]

Great great video Bobby! I really love it! Great job! I record and mixing my own music (thrash metal/heavy metal) with a programmed drums. I usually use a compressor in my sub mix with a 2 db of compression and another one with 6 db of compression on my parallel compression. But "I not able" to have the nice compress sound I searching for... For you, what's wrong or what I can do?
Thanks for all Bobby!
Alessandro from Italy

[ajdejesus]

Yo this song slaps. I went throught your course and I can't find it anywhere. Where can I download the song?

[M.Holland]

So, do you use compression on the individual drums when using (parallel) bus compression ? Like toms, snare and kick?

[boobo]

So, are you using this drum bus compression in addition to master fader compression??

[largeuselessness]

those playing clip, must be spent some time on it :eyes:

[TheFakeNewsFrog]

Went to the description for the link, no link… Ight, I guess I’m not watching it then