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1. Micing the drums. If you have an over-dependency on close mics, you may have already messed up. The old timers talk about how you can get amazing tones with just two or three mics (usually a kick drum and a few overheads). This is true. What they don't tell you is the modern mega huge drum sound takes this same setup and slowly blends in the close mics until the desired tone is achieved. In other words, there isn't THAT much difference between a kit that has 30 mics vs a mic that has 3.
   
   You have to realize that no one listens to drums with their ear 1” from the snare drum. It just doesn't happen in real life. Even deaf people would feel ear pain from sticking their face on a snare drum.
   
   However, when you get a nice natural blend of what the drum kit sounds like in the room and then slowly blend in the sound that comes from your ear being 1” from the snare drum, you can get something very cool. It's called the modern drum sound.
   
   Listen to your favorite records. Just about any rock, pop, or R&B snare sound will have an attack and then just a slight tail of reverb. Phil Collins in 1985 probably had more than “slight tail”...that's a “gated reverb” on the old Phil Collins drums. Sometimes this reverb sounds digital (and it very well may be). However, just about every great drum sound used the natural reverb in the room (which is usually about 10,000,000,000,000 more desirable than your average reverb plugin in your computer. If you can't hear this reverb, listen to the sound of a solo'd drum mic and then listen to your favorite records again. It'll clearly make sense.
   
   Also remember, that drums don't have to sound 1” from your face. This has been done for creative purposes in the past, but the standard drum sound sounds 10' or more behind the singer (in terms of distance....not in terms of timing).

2. Drum Quality – You wouldn't reach for an acoustic guitar for the distorted sounds on a Slayer record (although that may be awesome!). You would grab the proper tool for the job. The same applies to drums. Some drums have more a “wood” type of tone. Other's are quite a bit brighter and more aggressive. It's up to the producer / engineer / drummer to decide on drums that best compliment the recording. At worst, you need a drummer who has chosen his snare based on his tastes as a drummer in a X genre band.
   
   If you are trying to morph your drums into sounding like something they are not, you are in for a huge headache. There is no “morphing”. There is capturing a sound in the room. That's it. So make sure the drums do what you want them to.

3. Mic Placement – Every cardioid mic is going to boost the low end the closer you get to the instrument. Sometimes, we don't want this low end. Sometimes, it's best to pull the mics off the snare and the toms to let them get a more natural tone. Again, imagine that you have placed your ear 1” from a tom getting destroyed by a musclebound drummer. Now imagine you are 3” away. Now imagine you are 3' away. The difference is huge! I like to try keeping my mics off the drums as much as possible and then sort of go from there. If bleed from other instruments is causing problems, I may go closer.

4. Drum Tuning - In the big boy recording sessions I've attended, the drum heads have been replaced after every couple of songs. Why? Because the drum heads were no longer holding tune enough to get the tone that was desired from the drums. This illustrates a level of tolerance that most home recording guys are completely unaware of.
   
   The drums were tuned after every take or two in most cases as well...just like you would do with a guitar.
   
   So, if you are not an expert in drum tuning, you may not ever get tremendous major label sounding drums. Of course, you can define “expert” however you want to, but the bottom line is a lot of the tone comes from how you tune a drum just like it does on how you set the tone controls an electric guitar amp.

5. The Room – The room is a huge factor in drums sounds. While you can hear dry drums on Fleetwood Mac records (and other 70s records) this type of sound is certainly the exception. The norm is to put the drums in a big room (where the low end can breath) that can even make the close mics sound better but also adds the character of the room. It's hard to find a drum recording these days that doesn't have a great sounding natural ambiance to it, even if the natural ambiance doesn't hit you in the face with a shovel. Sometimes, it's easier to pick out the recordings that don't have any ambiance than it is to pick out the drums with a subtle amount. You can tell because, in my opinion, the dead drums sound.....well...DEAD!

6. The Drummer – I sometimes say that I don't record instruments or even music...I record people. The people you surround yourself are everything. Some drummers have total understanding of their instrument and can give you want you want for a particular song. Other drummers just like to hit round things. Surrounding yourself with the type of drummers who know the sound they want and do the work to eventually learn how to get it are going to make you, as an engineer, look very good.
   
   A drummer who just hits stuff will never be a real deal drummer. There is little room for error in the drum world. This is why so many drummers are replaced for a band's first major label recording.