Drum Sounds....

[adz]

I'm wanting to know what are those drum sounds that you chase after.. For example i've always liked the way the drums sound on Toto's "Seventh One" and Jellyfish's "Bellybutton"

What are the tracks that you use as a reference for great drum sounds??
And have you ever got very close to that sound that you're after? If so explain how you did it....

I know that quite a lot of you like the sound of the drums on Flaming Lips' albums. I quite like these but 9 times out of 10 they don't really apply to stuff i'm recording...

adz

[Wiggy Neve Slut]

'Black Crowes' Amorica...... Neve/Focusrite recorded mixed by JJP

Ditto... N.E.R.D

Ditto...Flaming Lips... E-Cue... doesnt Dave Fridman use a lot of 1176/spectrasonics for that insane compression? Also he has stax of broadcast limiters from radio fm/am stations that i think are a bit part of his sound that often are not mentioned too much.

RHCP... Blood Sugar Sex Magik.... Brendan Obrien kiked MFA (major ****ing Ass) on this job.... i am not too sure but i heard the drums were done with 57's on drums with 414's for OH's.... how true this is i dont know.. but it makes for great folklore!! slammin grooves.. but i spose Chad Smith didnt harm it either!

Nigel Godrich..... any!

U2... Achtung Baby.... how they could reinvent themselves in such a cool and unique way is still beyond me!

The Verve... Urban Hymnns.. Clean, spatial and precise drum tones and mixes in general.

Soundgarden... Superunknown!!

XTC..Skylarking, drums and wires... long live gated reverb!

Air ..Virgin suicides

Weezer.. Pinkerton

The Posies...Frosting on the Beater... David bianco.. hes great! do u know him E-Cue? hes an LA type!

the following are local Aussie albums.

Somthing for Kate...Elsewhere For 8 Minutes

Ides Of Space... First Translated in 1965

Sandpit.. On Second Thought

Snout.. Circle High and Wide

Wikid...

PEACE
Wiggy

[Jules]

I just kind of do my alt rock / garage band punky / raw thing.

The sound is established with the whole band running through...

[alphajerk]

Originally posted by e-cue


I just read somewhere about Dave Fridman doing 5.1 by printing to CD-rs and hitting play on 6 cd players at the same time or something...

are you talking about flaming lips Zareeika album? thats 4 CDs that you must play on 4 stereo systems and hit play at the same time, in 8.0 surround sound.

[Tim L]

I don't think I consciously chase anything in particular other than what's happening at the time... unless asked to of course. I've always been real impressed with the drum sounds (and over all sounds in general) on the Temple of The Dog record. Very cool 'drum room' sound.

[plexi]

I really love the drum sounds on Faith Hill "Breathe" album, tracked mostly by Julian King.

Jessica Andrews "Who I am" also sounds killer,Julian King again...

Train "Drops of Jupiter" has also some amazing sounds too.

Please don`t kill me for liking those Nashville girls, I can`t help it.....

[Jules]

"Train "Drops of Jupiter" has also some amazing sounds too."

I agree



They also wrote the Best Black Crowes song they never wrote...

Guess they were getting stoned and 'missed' it.

[Ol' Betsey]

Fridmann has produced the last two records of some friends of mine and supposedly he uses Radar much more than expected. Just goes to show that in the hands of the talented, "digital" doesn't need to sound bad. And can sound GREAT!

Have you heard Verbena's "Souls For Sale" that DF did? God the guitars sound lovely.

And RHCP Blood Sugar... How ****in' on was that? Everytime I hear that record I imagine a 25K PA rig blasting out those drums into an empty hall in some LA mansion with a coupla mics at the other end.

In fact, I think I went out and bought Ol' Betsey Satan (my 1st 8trk.) after hearing that record. Still looking for the mansion... Give me a couple more years!

OT - ie. not specifially about drums and not recorded in the highest fidelity (not really to my taste anyway) but who friggin' cares - But can I say that I think the new Coldplay album is absolutely brilliant? Such sentiment. I haven't dug a record this much in a long long time. Something pretty personal in this record.

[Jules]

"can I say that I think the new Coldplay album is absolutely brilliant? Such sentiment. I haven't dug a record this much in a long long time. Something pretty personal in this record."

A chum of mine is a cameraman, he was filming interviews with them this week and got to film a soundcheck for a big gig they were doing here in London, he was onstage with them when they kicked into his favorite song - he said it was an amazing feeling!

Sorry - carry on!

[Gone Fission]

Loved how fat, huge, present and grooving the drums are on Chris Whitley's "In Terra Incognita". Dougie Bowne kicks major ass.

I gotta speak up for the Spinanes "Strand" album. Some damned cool drumming from Scott, still filling up a bunch of space, even though they were overdubbing guitars, bass and keys relative to the guitar and drums thing of the previous "Manos". What's really killer is the kick sound on "Punchline Looser." I had that tape in my car a while ago and my fiance borrowed it to go to the store one night, and she thought it was thunder at first.

Not to start any flame war or anything, but I flipped the car radio through the classic rock station today and they were playing "Free Will" by Rush, and I was struck by how groveless the drumming was. It wasn't even just dead on time or close, it just wasn't there. I used to be a huge Rush fan, but I just don't get why people think Neil Peart is such a great drummer. I'd prefer Ringo in his prime any day ("Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey"!). And I'm not that big on the Beatles.

Bear

[XHipHop]

For a pop/punk/alternative record, the drums on Elastica's self titled album are pretty nice. I just had it on and i the snare is pretty in your face.

[Wiggy Neve Slut]

Ditto Elastica...

Its a great album to put on int he moring and jump around to... when u shoudl be doing more important stuff!

great punky songs and chix that rock it hard... the 2nd album blows harder than a ho, in comparison to the first!

PEACE
Wiggy

[8bit]

De La Soul - Art Official Intelligence

J-Lo - Play (single)

D'angelo - Voodoo

Slum Village - Fantastic Vol 2 (jay dee production nearly always)

Busta Rhymes - When Disaster Strikes

[mixer]

i like whatever drum sound works for the music best...even if they don't sound like drums...always let the song tell me what to do....my favorite sounds to listen to are the tight drums on 19 steely dan....anything with steve gadd on it....his drums just always tuned perfiect...just put up any mic and go. collective soul drums and drum samples work great ...

[agentthumb]

I have to put a vote in for Morphine "Like Swimming"

An amazing open and natural sound that I have been pained to replicate.

chris

[Gone Fission]

I have to put a vote in for Morphine "Like Swimming"
An amazing open and natural sound that I have been pained to replicate.

I like that one, too, but it generally has the unfair advantage of not having to fight with (distorted) guitars. Without that congestion, it's an easier time getting that open sound. Compare, say, "Siamese Dream" from Smashing Pumpkins, where the cymbals are almost completely washed out by quadruple tracked (or more) guitars, and the rest of the kit not doing much better at times.

Bear

[Jax]

Too bad the Pumpkins' original drummer had a big smack problem, because he (Jimmy Chamberlin) was one of the baddest mofo rock drummers out there. Their records sucked after he left IMO. He was too much a part of what made them good. Oh yeah, his best drumming is to be found on "Gish" btw.

My other favorite rock drummer is Matt Cameron of Soundgarden. Another big for Superunknown. The drums on Badmotorfinger are played very well and sound good, but they don't compare to the punch and tone of Superunknown.

I haven't heard any other rock drummers who could touch the above two in the last 12 years.

[jon]

There are so many different great drum sounds and players, it's hard to even begin without leaving so many out.

Matt Cameron and Jimmy Chamberlain were two of my favorites among many.

Chad Smith, of course. Dave Grohl did a great job on the Nirvana albums. I liked the drum parts on the first two Korn albums as well -- the drummer is no technician, but it really works. Those albums would have been so much worse if the imperfections had been edited out of them. Tool's Aenima album has drumming I like. I think the drummer of Limp Bizkit is underrated. POD's drummer is pretty solid in the studio but was really good live. And Slipknot's drummer is no slouch. His drum playing live is unbelievable, easily the best part of the show.

In rap circles, Dre's productions often impress me sound-wise. Xzibit and Dre 2001 are two exemples.

There are many great studio players that no one ever hears about.

Bear, funny you mention it, the Beatles' "Monkey..." was a track I always enjoyed.

At the end of the day, I think the most important thing with drum sounds is to find a sound that works for the project at hand.

[Renie]

e-cue

I hope you don't mind me asking; what was your role on these records? are you a producer, programmer, mixer, engineer? All/some of these?

Thanks!

Renie

[8bit]

Yeah i agree most Dre production has great drum. Also a master of minimal funky groove and space within tracks.

I have been using dbx165 on kik and it is great too.

Nice work e-cue, what sort of compression/eq do you normally use for bass.

I use a lot of atc-1 for bass source.

[Renie]

Originally posted by e-cue
A lot of the Dre stuff is rolled off at 30htz but boosted anywhere from 60 to 200 htz giving it a tightness. It also kind of leaves room for the bass to take over the subby areas without bumping elbows with the kicks.

e-cue

Are you saying that the drums are rolled off at 30htz or is all the audio rolled off at that point?

So the sub bass comes in around the 30-60htz region..or lower if the whole track isn't rolled off at 30htz?

thanks

[jon]

Yes, great work, e-cue on the Rockwilder/Dre sounds. Looking forward to hearing more of it.

'Round here, rap doesn't get quite the budget it deserves from the majors, and no one has yet achieved that kind of sonic level to my knowledge, including acts signed to majors. OTOH, there is a lot of underground, self-pressed/distributed stuff...but the families and collectives are making a living doing it.

[jon]

I'm not an authority on record sales, but rap was very big here in the second half of the 90s, and is still very popular but not shifting units as well as it did. R&B has come up strongly in its place for the moment.

The budgets for rap are not nearly what they are here for variety and pop artists. That's a record company thang. I know lots of rap engineers working for $75 a day, or $75 per song mixed. Yes, there are decently-paid rap mix pros, but not many...say, a small handful.

[alphajerk]

Originally posted by Jax
I haven't heard any other rock drummers who could touch the above two in the last 12 years.

check out jean paul gaster from clutch... he makes bonham look/sound like a toddler.

[e-cue]

Originally posted by jon
I know lots of rap engineers working for $75 a day, or $75 per song mixed. Yes, there are decently-paid rap mix pros, but not many...say, a small handful.

$75?! That's not even my hourly rate.

[Faderjockey]

Drum Sounds:
My vote also goes out to Jellyfish and I'd say Owsley's cd also. I like the room sound on the drums. I always make sure I get a good room sound down when tracking. I have 20ft ceilings so I sometimes need to go for tighter kits but a lot of the times adding that room opens the whole mix up and makes the gtr's and vocals breathe better.

[Jax]

Originally posted by alphajerk


check out jean paul gaster from clutch... he makes bonham look/sound like a toddler.

The guy is damn good! His technique and ideas are excellent. The only thing I hear lacking compared to Bonzo is feel, although he's not weak in that category either.

[alphajerk]

Originally posted by Jax


The guy is damn good! His technique and ideas are excellent. The only thing I hear lacking compared to Bonzo is feel, although he's not weak in that category either.

feel? man, you should check out the video i shot of him... its just ********. the mofo can swing so far. i should post up some of the bakerton group stuff i recorded. great feel to it. do you have Jam Room? check out 'Swamp Boat Upside Down' for some feel. or even on elephant riders 'muchas veces'

bonham has got to be one of the most overrated drummers... i have seen him play so sloppily on so much shit i dont get the infatuation with him. if thats feel, i dont want feel.... i record shitloads of drummers with "feel"

plus, JP is an atomic clock.

[Kris]

I've always been really impressed with the drum sounds on Blues Traveler albums... Too bad they can't pick up a better harp player though:eek:

[Neve Sucks!]

e-que,

Who mixed X-ibit "Multiply" ??

KIIIIIIIIILLER TRACK/MIX !!!!!!