The Control Room

Glue the machine into one instrument. Get the tracks balanced first — bus compression can't fix a bad kick/snare relationship.

1. 01

   Balance the five DrumBrute outs against each other first — kick/snare relationship especially. Bus processing glues a balance; it can't fix one.

   Everything below assumes the balance is already right. If the snare is buried, moving to the bus won't rescue it — it'll just glue the imbalance.

2. 02

   Select all five tracks → right-click → Create Track Stack → Summing Stack → name it DRUMS. Logic creates the bus and reroutes outputs automatically.

3. 03

   Insert Channel EQ on the stack: HPF 30–40 Hz (12 dB/oct), broad −2 to −3 dB cut somewhere in 300–500 Hz (sweep for the cardboard zone), optional gentle high shelf.

   EQ before the compressor: cutting mud first stops low-mids driving the detector, so the comp responds to transients instead of low-frequency energy.

4. 04

   Insert Compressor after the EQ, Studio VCA model: ratio 2:1, attack 10–30 ms (let transients through), release Auto or ~100 ms, threshold set for 1–3 dB gain reduction on the loudest hits. Engage the sidechain HPF around 80 Hz so the kick doesn't pump the whole bus.

   Slow attack: the transient is the drum; clamping it kills the machine's punch. 1–3 dB: bus compression is seasoning; 6 dB of glue is a sound, not a default.

5. 05

   A/B with the bypass. The win is cohesion, not loudness — level-match when comparing, otherwise the louder version always wins.

The Weinrobe move: restraint. A well-placed pair on a good piano barely needs the mix bus — settle dynamics, don't reshape the tone.

1. 01

   Pan the pair. Sum to mono and check phase first — this echoes the Piano Session checklist.

   Any phase issues will make every subsequent EQ or comp move sound worse. Fix the source first.

2. 02

   Select both tracks → Summing Stack → name it PIANO.

3. 03

   Channel EQ on the stack: HPF 40–60 Hz, small broad dip in 200–350 Hz if it's woolly, optional +1 dB air shelf above 10 kHz.

   The HPF cleans rumble; the 200–350 dip removes body build-up if two mics stacked it there; the air shelf is optional and rarely needed if the M201s are placed well.

4. 04

   Compressor: 1.5:1–2:1, slow attack (30 ms+), Auto release, 1–2 dB reduction max — settling dynamics, not shaping tone. Platinum Analog or Studio FET are fine here; the model matters less at this gain reduction.

   You're smoothing loud passages, not carving character. At 1–2 dB of reduction the model choice is inaudible; pick one and stop A/B-ing plugins.

5. 05

   For standalone piano bounces, a limiter on the stack catching 1 dB of peaks is the only 'mastering' this needs.

• ▸Restraint over processing. Get the sound at the source — placement before plugins.
• ▸Bus compression is glue, not an effect: 1–3 dB of reduction, slow attack, 2:1.
• ▸If a piano bus needs surgery, move the mics, not the EQ.
• ▸Logic stock plugins only (Compressor, Channel EQ) for compression and EQ. The move is what you do with them.
• ▸Bus = replace the sound (100% through processing). Send = add to the sound (parallel copy). Teach this distinction wherever it matters.

Informed by Philip Weinrobe's approach — see Field Notes for the primary sources.