Thomas Juth shares his go-to plugin combo for making harsh drum room mics sound huge and explosive, without the sizzly cymbal wash that usually comes with heavy compression.
He runs the room mic on a parallel track and compresses it with the Waves EMI TG Channel Strip left on its default setting (fastest release on 1), getting a punchy, transient-rich character with zero tweaking.
That compression also exaggerates cymbals and hi-hats, so he stacks several instances of the Waves REDD tube console plugin on the same track to tame the top end.
Rather than cutting frequencies like a regular EQ, the tube saturation adds harmonics and warmth, smoothing harshness while keeping things musical.