Miniseries ep. 4: Drums compression - VCA or FET?

Compressing your drums - that's what I get asked about a few times a month.

I want to you understand and also hear the difference between VCA and FET type drum bus compression. Both are useful, but sound slightly different.
A drumloop makes for a great example here.
Sometimes when you look for a transient tool emphasis for punch, this compression may be all you need for a more natural punchy result as opposed to often misused transient tools.

This is not DAW-specific or genre-specific at all.
This will benefit you if you're producing or mixing house, DNB, hip hop, and similar styles.

❗️NOTE: Do not rely on compression only for your levels.
I've covered relative levels for drumsounds HERE and HERE.

For video on slow compression (e.g., in mastering context), see HERE.

See the other episodes of this miniseries with shorter, snappier videos HERE.

I'll prob add all these recent mini episodes in my usual mixing/mastering collection in the end that already boasts 100+ posts so make sure to learn from those to improve your audio game.

So in a nutshell:

VCA = more utilitarian, doesn't try to add vibe. Most DAW stock compressors are VCA. Your number one dynamic reduction buddy for any material.
FET = has the clear punch-improving nature. The most classic example is the old DBX 160.

To keep punch of drums, do not go for shorter than 10ms attack.
But if you want to parallel compress (could prob do a dedicated video of that), smash the living heck out of your drums and mix in the aggressive part.