How do I get my drums to sound realistic?

I've been trying all different kinds of things and sometimes I have good results sometimes I don't. Is there a key element in drum programming that makes your drums sound realistic? I want them to hit hard. Is it programming, layering, velocity, swing, filtering, effects, your drum patterns, running them through a compressor, sounds (sampled from vinyl vs. stock sound/drum kits)? Any one thing in particular? What do you guys do to get your drums thumping and sounding good?

Main thing is try to emulate the real drummer,and yeah try using all the methonds,like layering,velocity,moveing events.Also try not using the quantizing. Drummer's don't play to a quantize feel.

chopped breaks is the first and most important step

assign layer levels and choose each drum for how it should sound via qlink, not just its velocity. this way you can play out your pattern on only 3 or so pads (kick, hat, snare) and then go back and choose which kick, which hat, which snare you playing. should it be the hard kick or the soft kick? etc.

also, if you want realistic, it's very unlikely that anything will be landing on the 24 or 48 depending on whether or not you double your bpm

simult/layer

for kicks use like a bassy kick and a softy kick and play around with velocity/freqs/etc

same for snares and hats..

and make sure your rythm is banging.. we don't need that TC 1/8 50 % stuff