Nasty, aggressive compression is the secret weapon behind a lot of great drum sounds. There’s something about heavy gain reduction - and all the un-subtle coloration that comes with it - that can really bring a drum part to life. These tricks shine in parallel, allowing us to get the best of both ugly and clean drum sounds. Think of it as a sonic mullet: business in front, party in the back.

The buzz and anxiety around generative artificial intelligence is big right now, so we sat down with several prominent people in audio technology to talk about AI, art, and the future of music.