Alternatives tolimiting
In mastering, compressors and limiters can be incredibly powerful when it comes to shaping the transient envelopes of percussive sounds, but there is an alternative. Rather than requiring you to set ratios, thresholds and attack and release times in order to squeeze the sounds into place, transient designers offer you control of the amount of attack and sustain. It can be a much easier way of achieving similar results, allowing the effect to do the hard work.