Thanks for sure Mike. Yes I believe it is very a matter of taste and art form going on here. You can have a clear view of the drums and a slightly tight sound as a result or a more roomy distant view of the drums and that can be a very exciting sound as well. I like to play around with using both.
Compression can be very effective over a drum buss too. Ratios of 3:1 are still pretty high for me and I have enjoyed what using very low ratios sounds like and even at 1.3:1 or 1.5:1 you can still really hear how a compressor is effecting the sound of your drum buss. I like to slow attacks down to 10ms and over to let initial attack transient slip through keeping things sounding snappy. 2 or 3 dB of gain reduction can often be audible too before long.
Your hats levels sound like they are driving things along nicely and that is a good place to have them. I like to crisp them up a little but pull them back even further to keep them out of the way but still present. I have been using an AKG C418 on hats. It is a tiny little microphone with a very small diaphragm. I get in quite close to where the stick meets the top high hat cymbal. It is very good at rejecting everything else for obvious reasons I think. I use nylon tips sometimes which changes everything as well for your high hat sounds. My son does not like nylon tips and prefers wood tips and that has a softer sound as a result.
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