[zulusound]

I have used (and own) drumagog, mostly when the drummer is so incredibly in-articulate and inconsistant that the song just dies. It's mostly a weak foot or snare that varies 10-20 db that just can't be compressed into a pocket.

But, I'm very sick of generic sounding, triggered sounding drums. Get a good performance, know when it's as good as it can be, and then move on. It's really up to the drummer.

Shitty drum sounds are more unique than something that sounds like a triggered drum machine. But then again, it needs to be well - played shitty drum sounds. Does Shitty= character? I think of some early Elvis Costello albums having a shitty, yet awesome drum sound. Black Sabbath drum sounds (early) are shitty, yet very cool. A lot of David Bowie albums are really shitty sounding on the drums, but they always sound unique and work great. I'm just rambling here, but I like the sound of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs first album drum sounds- they sound real and have lots of character and do not sound triggered.

I'll tell you what I hate, and lot's of people will flame me for this, but I'll say it now:

I HATE THE SOUND OF DW DRUMS.

No character, and about the most generic sounding drums in this current time. The best sounding drums in my opinion are OLD, and if possible, CALF HEADS. Sometimes tuned really high or really low, out of the normal "sweet" range of the drum. Also, wood hooped drums sound killer.

Spend an extra hour or two per song and get a good performance. Then if you need to, put in a 80/20 percent ratio of real to triggered.

And, get as good a monitor mix as you can for a drummer, with good quality headphones. This will help performance and consistency.

Evan