Anyone using the "New York Compression Trick" on-stage?

[Junius]

In my never ending quest for a better drum kit sound while playing live, I ran across this interesting little technique used to get a better drum kit sound in recordings. I was just wondering if it was possible to sweeten up a live kit using the same or similar technique.

Heavily paraphrased, the New York Compression trick is mixing a little of selected drum sounds (dry) with a produced kit of the same drums. I am defining a produced drum kit here as a drum kit in which drums have been mixed for balance, with compression, reverb, ambiance, etc added.

If so, do you use a separate mixer or can you achieve the effect by routing the direct outs to the Mix In?

[Alan VEX]

LOL You've been reading my manuals, haven't you?

I did use it for a long time with a corp band I played with a few years ago. Mid way through though, I got lazy and just went plug n' play. There definitely was a somewhat better quality when I did use the mix though.

The reason I stopped was exactly what you asked. I got rid of the board I used separately for it. I was running the "plug n' play" L/R directly to the main console and routing a secondary mix of the seps from an additional board. Using a dbx drive rack truly helped in the overall mix. It's also helped keep the drums manageable.

[Junius]

You've been reading my manuals, haven't you?

No way!
I can't get extra points if I read the manual
Besides, it's a sign of weakness isn't it?
O.K. I'm busted!

I had heard of the technique before but had never thought to apply it to a "live" setting. My big concern was figuring out how much tweeking of the secondary mixer was required when you changed kits and could it be accomplished from the drummer's stool. We don't use a sound man.

I have heard some really good things about the dbx drive rack from some trusted sources. We were considering getting one but found out that much of what the drive rack does happens automatically in the Bose L1s that we are using.