In this free video tutorial, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers demonstrates how Drum Leveler from Sound Radix can fix an issue which proved beyond the capabilities of conventional dynamics processors.

Uneven Kick Drum Hits

In the example track the drummer has never heard the track before and is playing hesitantly. This particular drummer gets very "feather-footed" when he's unsure about what he's playing, resulting in a big difference in level between kick drum hits.

In this example the idea is to try to generate a clean set of triggers for drum replacement processing.

This take wasn't good enough to use, but it makes an ideal example of how Drum Leveler can deal with the most difficult material. I tried this with a compressor, the results of which were awful, and using an expander/gate which made a better job of it still couldn't manage a clean set of hits without some intervention.