3. LAYER. Layer your drum sounds. IMO the key to successfully getting a good sound when layering goes beyond the scope of puting 2 or more sounds on one pad. Instead focus on how those sounds are interacting together. Are they crossing each other out through phase? Do they share the same frequencies too much? Is filtering needed? Do I want one sound to begin slightly later or earlier then the source sound I started layering others onto? Record several passes with different sounds on different tracks to get interesting overlaps.
word good advice. the problem is not alota producers know how to properly layer. they just throw sounds together for the sake of 'layering', making the drums sound cluttered and muffled.
4. In the end tho, even if your drum sounds are not mind blowing, its the way you play them more then anything else. Try to emulate a real drummer as much as possible.
true true. my advice on trying to make drums sound 'real' is throw some good hats/cymbals. keep in mind drummers use cymbals/crashes alot to accent certain parts of a beat.
i just try to find good quality sounds and eq/change pitch to fit a beat. if u don't already have real nice sounding drums that can stand on their own with no eq then u should go look for some.
i usually raise high end on snares/hats and sometimes drop the pitch on a kick or snare a bit to give it more punch in the low ends. if ur using reason, try to running the drum mixer through a scream filter. but minimize the effect a bit cuz that shit gets noisy sometimes.