I was once working with a veteran American producer/engineer (y'know - the type who edit 2 inch masters for light relief and look positively uncomfortable when exposed to sunlight) and he used to swear by a crappy old MXR compressor pedal for getting really pumping drum tracks. He'd group the drums, split a feed off and shove it through the most horrible compression imaginable. Then he'd bring up the squished pumpy mix underneath the original to give it a bit of balls. Trouble is, he always used to forget his mojo pedal, so the beginning of every mix session was a nightmare - he'd scream "I JUS GOTTA HAVE THE SONOFABITCH PEDAL!!!" at the poor tape-op, who then had to run around all the music shops in town trying to find one of these things which are like hen's teeth - most sane people chucked them in the bin years ago cos they sounded like a strangled fart. Still - worked for him.

In a similar vein, another producer used to set up a PA with just the drum tracks blasting through it and mic that up. Picture the scene if you will; a handful of glum & shivering would-be-popstars turfed out of their nice warm residential bungalow, huddled round an impromptu campfire of burning cigarette packets and dodgy Betamax videos - whilst inside in the front lounge a jet-fighter-loud PA quite capable of scaring the shit out of the front 10 rows at a Motorhead gig is stripping off the wallpaper with a bass drum and snare. Great stuff!