The Pro Audio Files

Learn to Mix Drums with Compression

Level up your skills with tips, tricks and techniques for mixing drums with compression. From foundational techniques to advanced creative approaches for manipulating shape, tone and dynamics — Matthew Weiss reveals his best kept secrets for using compression so you can apply them to your own mixes and take your music to the next level.

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Techniques

Learn Matthew's best and most effective never before revealed techniques for compressing acoustic and electronic drums in a variety of contexts.

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Ear Training

You'll not only learn compression tips, tricks and techniques, but also how to conceptualize a plan, critically listen, and get the sonic results you're after.

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Inspiration

The creative sound-shaping techniques you'll learn will have you opening your DAW before the course is finished. Just don't forget to come back to it.

Watch the course overview

  • Shape Sound

    Compression isn't just about dynamics. We'll teach you how to shape the sound of your drums: punchy, exciting, intense, smooth and everything in between.

  • Manipulate Tone

    Learn how to shape the tone of your drums, whether it's accentuating the existing characteristics, or adding additional life to a sample that needs it.

  • Enhance Dynamics

    Drums can make or break your mix. Learn how to use compression to get ideal dynamics, whether it's loud, gritty and in your face — or tame with a softer vibe.

  • Level Up Your Mix

    The techniques we teach you are demonstrated on acoustic and electronic drums, but the concepts will carry over to various aspects of your entire mix.

  • Shape acoustic and electronic drums using various compression techniques
  • Understand the characteristics and applications of various compression plugins
  • Set the perfect attack and release times depending on your goal
  • Manipulate the ambience and subtleties of your drums with compression
  • Use compression to add transparent thickness and power to your drum mix
  • Manipulate transients for punch, sustain, softness and everything in between
  • Use compression to exaggerate an aggressive, thick, gritty drum texture
  • Add excitement, energy and intensity to any type of drum mix
  • Understand sidechain EQ for additional flexibility when compressing drums
  • Learn what to listen for when fine-tuning your attack and release times
  • Control the perceived distance and impact of the drums in your mix
  • Automate multiple compressors for a special moment in your song
  • Creatively use gates, limiters, transient designers and more to shape a sound
  • Train your ears with a ton of A/B examples demonstrated in the course

  • About Matthew Weiss

    Matthew Weiss is a Grammy-nominated and Spellemann Award-winning audio engineer from Philadelphia.

    Matthew has mixed a lot of records, including songs for Snoop, Sonny Digital, Ronnie Spector, Gorilla Zoe, J-Son, Uri Caine, Dizzee Rascal, Arrested Development, 9th Wonder, !llmind & more.

    Matthew has also been a featured guest speaker at Cornell University, SUNY Fredonia, SXSW and more.

    We’re excited to share the mixing techniques Matthew has developed over the years, and our goal is to help you elevate the quality of all your mixes and productions no matter what circumstances or gear you're working with.

    In addition to these courses, Matthew also contributes articles and videos on The Pro Audio Files and we encourage you to check those out.

    Don't forget, your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed and please don't hesitate to shoot us an email if you have any questions or concerns.

What customers are saying:

Ready to take your mixes to the next level?

This course holds nothing back. You’ll walk away with practical and advanced creative techniques for manipulating the shape, tone and dynamics of drums using compression, and gain a deeper knowledge of how to better use dynamics processing to take your mixes to the next level.

Get the Course — $67 More Courses

We hope you enjoy the course!

If you have any questions or concerns, please send us an email.