Just because a sound comes from a sample pack doesn’t mean you can put your track together like Legos. Every sound (samples, synths, drums, anything) needs some processing during mixing and mastering. Each element needs its own space in the mix so it comes through clearly and sounds its best.

Compress & saturate

Layering

Eq

Compression

Saturation

Reverb

Gating

Transient design

However, not all of this is needed. It depends on what the drums lack and what track needs

All about the mix. Start with the drums, make sure they’re the loudest alongside the vocal. Then mix guitars / bass / synths etc around the drums. A common mistake is people put drums and vocals quieter and all the mid frequency instruments way to loud.

It's all about the producer's experience.

Sounds selection and arrangement are the most important things in production.

Much more important than mix and master.

I would recommend "andi vax tal drum" mix ready samples/kits. Just find the proper kit and use in your production.

If you want to do your own kits from the raw samples, I would recommend DRUMS OVERKILL library. It is raw samples from all possible analog/digital drum machines.

For "live" kits it is a good idea to get a Superior Drummer + libraries but it is NOT cheap ))

Rays of love from Ukraine 💛💙

Start With your highs

consider stop looking for "the right kits". yes its important and nice to have good samples but imo all the magic comes in mixing. adding compression ,eqing out resonant freqs, adding fxs and saturation, thats where u can really make a kit sound however u want.

layer your drums if they're not as beefy as you think they should be.

Or look for better samples. r/drumkits is a great place for good sounds and they're all free

Which songs have the drums you want it to sound like? Maybe I could guide you to download sites, or give advice about how to make it sound like them (usually related to processing)

Do you remember where you got the drum sample packs?

Try some different EQ techniques. If you want the snare to pop out more, turn up the midsand highs . If you want the kick to have more punch, turn up the mid bass. As mentioned before, set the drums higher in the overall mix. You should also try combining 2 or 3 sounds together. I will often combine acoustic sounding drums with electronic drums to get more punch and clarity. I recently started using ugritone drums, and they actually sound pretty good, though it took me some time to get used to the program. I mainly use the FPC in flstudio and take time to put sounds together. I also enjoy using the 707, 909, and many of the stock kits available. You'll get better sounding drums by putting more focus and time into developing them.

Process them all together. EQ, saturate, clip, compress, reverb

All this is great or take a short cut and buy Orion then you won’t have to learn anything since that’s the vibe lately. I’m not advertising for them it’s the best plug in for drums all around.it does everything everyone talked about in the comments

Side chain also helps.

1 word.

Odeholm.

the no 1 thing is find the right samples - once you have good ones you really dont have to do much to it - they are done right - you just put them into order and make a good pattern

Layering is a band aid on a bullet hole. Mixing is essentially physics, there is only so much available on the freq spectrum. I find the best approach is to identify what the track needs and go from there. I.E. If your track is bass heavy sculpt the kick and mix the rest of the kit around that. If your mixing a reggae track start with the snare. If your mixing a rock track make sure your high hats/cymbals cut and fill in the rest. I firmly believe less is more. Once you have your tracks where you like them use your buss to blend and feel more cohesive. Explore parallel compression with the bass if the track requires. There is no formula of eq this and compress that…you learn as you go, but start with sparse. I also have found it bennificial to mix the same tracks multiple times and start over. Try different things and find what serves your ears.

Can start with Plugins air transient ,air enhancer

khemics drum kits are the goat..i only use them ..very unique

Sounds like mixing and mastering May be an area to focus in. Not saying this I definitely the issue, however over time, using a similar template in the DAW, performing similar techniques with mixing and mastering, and even producing in the same genre have the potential to lead to less than ideal mixing and mastering. Just a thought but this may be an area to consider as levels play a big role in sound clarity.

What type off music are we talking about? Drum mixing change drastically from genre to genre. Would be impossible to give you a good answer without knowing what you are after, just saying ✌️

That is exactly what happened to me around my 6th or 7th year. I have been producing for over 10 years now and looking back at that phase, i have realised that it was more about choosing the right sample to start with and then it's more about focusing on the basics, equing and compressing the kick sound until it sits right with the drum bus and then with the mix. It is more about the right sounds fitting in your drum kit in accordance to the mix and whole song. And then you have to make sure you use multiband compressor in the master bus and make your bass sit well with the kick to make it punchy or smooth as required in the mix. I know these are just stuff to throw around until you actually keep repeating the same things and one day it hits you, what you really want. It's all about consistency and training your ears along the way. Also it is very important to break the rules here and there just so you can understand why are the rules even implemented!

2 overhead mics and try the SSL drum strip.

And sometimes the kit is just weak.