Toms

Role in the mix

Toms play rarely (fills, tribal grooves, intros, "tom grooves" à la Phil Collins or Tool) but when they do they must be big, tuned and not boomy. Their problem is the opposite: for 90% of the track the tom mics pick up only bleed from kick, snare and cymbals, and resonate sympathetically (especially the floor tom when the kick hits). Each tom has a fundamental (rack 10–12": ~120–250 Hz; floor 14–16": ~60–120 Hz), a stick attack (3–6 kHz) and a long tail. In electronic drums (808, 909, tom samples) the toms are melodic and often tuned to the track's chords.

Recording and sound selection

• Dynamic mics (Sennheiser MD421, e604, Shure Beta 98) or condensers 3–5 cm from the head, angled at 30–45° toward the center.
• Tuning: a badly tuned tom has a "wah" tail that droops in pitch; better to solve it at recording. The intervals between toms (thirds, fourths) matter: they sound better if they don't clash with the key.
• Samples: reinforcement with triggered samples in modern genres (metal, pop rock). Nail The Mix describes the technique of splitting the tom into two tracks, "attack" and "body", to control them separately.

Gain staging and editing (the most important part)

• Manual editing instead of the gate: cut the sections without hits in the playlist, leaving a small pre-roll (5–10 ms) before the hit and a fade on the tail (200–800 ms depending on the tom and the tempo). It is more reliable than any gate and doesn't "eat" weak hits.
• Alternatively a gate/expander: Fruity Limiter (NOISE GATE section: GAIN, THRESH, REL) or FabFilter Pro-G with a filtered sidechain (HP at 80 Hz and LP at 1–2 kHz on the detector so it doesn't open with the kick), attack 0.1–1 ms, hold 50–150 ms, release 150–500 ms, range −10/−20 dB (an expander is more natural than a gate at −∞). Sound On Sound has specific guides on gating toms.
• Peaks −10/−6 dBFS after editing.

Corrective EQ

• HP: rack 60–80 Hz, floor 30–50 Hz (don't cut the fundamental!).
• Box/mud 300–600 Hz: cut 3–6 dB Q 1.5–2; it is the most characteristic cut of modern toms (the "scooped" toms of '80s rock and metal).
• Prolonged ring: narrow notch on the unwanted note or dynamic EQ on the tail.
• Cymbal bleed: low-pass at 8–10 kHz if the tom is full of cymbals.

Creative EQ

• Fundamental: +2/+4 dB Q 1.5 on the note (find it with boost-and-sweep: 100–150 Hz on racks, 60–100 Hz on floors).
• Attack: +2/+4 dB at 3–5 kHz (rack) and 2–4 kHz (floor).
• Air: rarely; better from the overheads.

Compression

• Serial: VCA or FET, ratio 4:1, attack 10–30 ms (punch), release 100–200 ms (the tail breathes), 3–6 dB GR.
• Parallel: toms benefit greatly from parallel compression of the drum bus (10–15 dB of GR, fast attack) which lengthens their tail.
• Opto for soft "jazz" toms.

Transient shaper

Attack + for the fill in a dense mix; Release − to shorten boomy toms (an alternative to editing in fast mixes); Release + for big tribal toms. Transient Processor with a low Split (80–120 Hz) to work on the body.

Saturation and distortion

• Light tape/tube for body and cohesion with the kit.
• In metal: light saturation on the tom bus; the samples carry the definition.
• Electronic toms (808): saturation to make them read on small speakers; they can become bass lines.

Delay

Rare. Transition effects: dotted 1/8 delay on a tom fill in an intro (psychedelic rock, dub).

Reverb

• Natural room (from the ambient mics) + plate or hall (1.5–2.5 s) on a send from the tom close mics for big rock and ballad fills.
• HP 150 Hz and LP 6–8 kHz on the return.
• Gated reverb on the toms ('80s) as on the snare.

Modulation

None; historical exception: flanger or phaser on electronic toms (Simmons) for '80s sounds.

Stereo and panning

Panning consistent with the overheads and the chosen perspective (drummer: rack tom from left to center-right, floor tom on the right; audience: mirrored). Example with 3 toms in drummer perspective: rack 1 at −30/−40, rack 2 at +10/+20, floor at +50/+70. No hard-panning: the toms follow their position in the overheads.

Sidechain

• Gate with a filtered detector (see above).
• Rarely, a light ducking of the pads during a fill.

Automation

• Fill volume: raise the toms by 1–2 dB in important fills instead of compressing more.
• Automated reverb send on the last hit of a fill.

Differences by genre

Common mistakes

• Gate that cuts weak or ghost hits: better to edit by hand.
• HP above the floor tom's fundamental: it loses weight.
• Leaving the tom mics open for the whole track: resonances and mud at 100–300 Hz across the whole mix.
• Panning that contradicts the overheads: the fill "jumps" in space.