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I'm with Lord Bunny on this one. With toms more than anything, a successful sound has depended on the drummer being competent. And the kit sounding good in the room, being tuned properly, and so forth. (And by "good" and "properly" I mean appropriate to the song, arrangement, and desired aesthetic.)
I've found success with the ubiquitous 421s and lately with the Audix series (D2, D4, D6); I've also liked D112 (which I really don't like on kick) and RE20 on floor tom. Also used TLM103, TLM49, and even a couple of UMT70S (with someone I knew well and trusted not to kill them).
Containing cymbal bleed is really about placement and the drummer's technique, isn't it? (And whether or not you want aforementioned bleed.)
I don't use hardware gates, but some software gates are useful (I like the Waves SSL stuff, actually), and I will also edit around the toms as necessary (though not always). Done properly, it doesn't have to sound unnatural.
No one has so far mentioned sample "augmentation" (please don't assault me). I don't like it, but if the producer wants a certain sound that would require it, well... that's what we do, right?
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