I like to hear the drums in the music. So I tend to have them a bit louder and brighter in the mix.

In bands, one of which was a 3 piece band, the drums were a very important part of the sound.... so that has carried over to my studio work. Rock bands tend to have the drums up fairly loud..... this has been standard practice in country for some time now and especially with certain artists.

I don't obsess over the drums but as a guitar guy, I had to find some way to do reasonably believable drum tracks and that came ultimately in the form of BB and RB tracks. Unfortunately, they are all mixed together but by using a decent EQ and multiband FX, it's possible to get them sounding fairly good without a whole lot of work.

What I look for in a track is a good solid sounding drum sound... crisp high end and a full fat low end that thumps you in the chest. And some nice chops in the playing.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.