Realistic Drums (virtual)?

[bashville]

Try this experiment. Turn everything down but the drums by about 5 db; each track that's not the drums. Crank up the overall. Now see what drums you might want softer. Just change the perspective. You're coming at it like "how do I get them to stand out?". Turn them f***ing UP. Forget layering. Also, unless there's some clear space in the arrangement to hear some cool drum ambience, don't worry about putting a lot of near room sounds on them. It just confuses what kind of track you're making.

Also the toms sound weinie because sometimes you're using hi-velocity hits when softer hits (more relative tone) should be there, but again with the overall volume louder. Bring the velocities down, then turn them up.

If you find the rest of the band is too small, now, inch them up BUT look out for lo-mid wars between the warmth of the rhythm instruments and the low tone of the drums. This is where you have to do the dance of how much 200-500 you can roll off each component without them getting thin, but helping to avoid murky buildup. 5 instruments that sound cool and big in solo can turn into muddy crap when you combine them. Always listen in context when EQ-ing, only solo-ing if there's a specific issue you need to focus on.

start with that