Do you go for that 70´s drum sound ?

[Kiwiburger]

The Ringo trick ...

[chrisso]

Been doing that a lot..........although not always to that extreme (teatowels etc).
Having been an alt/rock power player for years I had a turn around after working with a producer who did most of his best work in the 70's, early 80's.
He kept asking me to play the drums and cymbals a lot softer. We experimented with lower tunings and some occasional damping.
I was amazed at the result; big sounding, very warm drums.
You do lose some energy. Therefore the approach has worked best on songwriter type material and or retro influenced genres like trip-hop and urban.

[Roadster]

Great! The world could use a reincarnation of Bernard Purdie! Keep practising!

[Jeff16years]

all i try to do is sound like this:

J.H.B.

[NathanEldred]

Originally Posted by Jeff16years

J.H.B.

R.I.P.

[allencollins]

Don't all hard rock drums sounds these days sound like cardboard 70's drums??

I want early 80's drums to come back in style. I really kin to those

[vernier]

Bonham (and Page) got it right.

[u b k]

Originally Posted by allencollins

Don't all hard rock drums sounds these days sound like cardboard 70's drums??

no, they sound like cardboard 90's drums.


gregoire
del ubik

[recky]

I'm a great fan of classic 70s songwriting and the albums that came with it, including Lennon, Nilsson, Chapin, etc. and have always wanted to be able to create the drum sounds of the era for my own singer-songwriter productions.

Two weeks ago a dream came true: I bought an original 70s maple Tama Superstar with concert toms (i.e. no resonator heads) for peanuts that had been sitting in someone's garage for a long time - it still had the original factory-fitted black-dot Tama-labelled heads on every single drum!
I've been cleaning and restoring it since I got it, and yesterday was the first opportunity to set it up, put new heads on and test-record it. I had a ball!!!

I put Evans Hydraulic heads on the toms - these are 2-ply skins filled with oil, originally invented in the 70s to replace the tissues and duct tape. I still had to muffle them a bit, because they give a loooong ring. No overtones, just attack and boom. It sounds very uninspiring in the room, but once you stick a mic up a tom's shell you get THAT sound! Of course, the 24"x14" bass drum doesn't have a resonator head on, either, and my Ludwig Supra Sonic snare is muffled by means of a packet of Lucky Strikes!

Now I know why most drummers don't like "dead" drums: While you're hearing your drums "live", everything just goes "blat blat", but wait until you've heard it recorded! Spectacular (if you like 70s drum sounds, that is...)!!! Instant Bob Marley, Carpenters, Lou Reed, even early Elvis Costello.

I'm not really a drummer by trade and tend to play quite soft, which seems to give me exactly the sound I've been lusting for for years. Excellent!!!

Now I really want to get my studio construction finished....

Cheers,

Recky

[sedohr]

Originally Posted by recky

Two weeks ago a dream came true: I bought an original 70s maple Tama Superstar with concert toms (i.e. no resonator heads) for peanuts that had been sitting in someone's garage for a long time - it still had the original factory-fitted black-dot Tama-labelled heads on every single drum!
I've been cleaning and restoring it since I got it, and yesterday was the first opportunity to set it up, put new heads on and test-record it. I had a ball!!!
.......... SNIP .........

I'm not really a drummer by trade and tend to play quite soft, which seems to give me exactly the sound I've been lusting for for years. Excellent!!!

Now I really want to get my studio construction finished....

Cheers,

Recky

Contgraz with your newfound tresure, I envy you, my friend thumbsup

A drummer here in Iceland and a fellow Steve Gadd fan told me that mr. Gadd played very soft, that´s a part of his sound. So you´re apparently a natural!

Kalli

[absrec]

Man... I wanna' do it! I'm tired of the big John Bonham drums. Don't get me wrong, those drums tones are amazing, but they somtimes require a lot of attention from the listener. The 70's "flap, flap" drums tone is really cool and really pleasing to my ear. That's it! Next project that comes in, I don't care what the style is or what the artist wants, that's what we're doing! [LOL!]

Aaron

[recky]

Originally Posted by absrec

Man... I wanna' do it! I'm tired of the big John Bonham drums. Don't get me wrong, those drums tones are amazing, but they somtimes require a lot of attention from the listener. The 70's "flap, flap" drums tone is really cool and really pleasing to my ear. That's it! Next project that comes in, I don't care what the style is or what the artist wants, that's what we're doing! [LOL!]

Aaron

And the best thing is: my drummer friend has told me that it doesn't matter what drum kit you use if you want to achieve 70s drum sounds! Any cheap old shit will do, apparently. He hates that sound, of course! :-)

Recky

[Cojo]

Wow, I thought I was alone diggin' 70'ies drums!

I'm not a drummer nor any one that has recorded a real drumkit but I'm still interested in this subject. I'm programming and recording drummachines and in one project of mine my aim is that warm 70'ies early 80'ies drum recordings.

My favorite is the ABBA sound and as recky mentioned; Bob Marley! It would be nice to hear how you guys treat your recordings (ie. comp settings, reverbs etc.).



/Cojo

[RadioMoo]

Originally Posted by allencollins

Don't all hard rock drums sounds these days sound like cardboard 70's drums??

Are you referring to the cardboard sounds of Led Zeppelin, Ringo Starr, ELP, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple/Rainbow, Styx, Robin Trower or maybe even Bad Company?

[Roger Starr]

I like 60's drums...

Regards,

Roger

[recky]

Originally Posted by Cojo

Wow, I thought I was alone diggin' 70'ies drums!

I'm not a drummer nor any one that has recorded a real drumkit but I'm still interested in this subject. I'm programming and recording drummachines and in one project of mine my aim is that warm 70'ies early 80'ies drum recordings.

My favorite is the ABBA sound and as recky mentioned; Bob Marley! It would be nice to hear how you guys treat your recordings (ie. comp settings, reverbs etc.).



/Cojo

And I thought I was the only person in the world secretly loving that sound! :-)

YES, I got my ABBA singles collection out the other day, before messing about with my drum kit. I really love early 70s recordings such as Bill Withers, John Lennon and such, and at the time, they still only had 8 or 16 tracks, so they certainly used only a limited number of mics, say, kick, snare, overheads (often mono). Sometimes they would mic the toms, as well. If there was any compression at all, there would probably be a single drum sub compressor. Reverb was courtesy of EMT plates or real reverb chambers. OR nothing - my preferred style! Warm and punchy is enough for me, don't need any reverb, me!

The thing is, as well, that back in the days they wouldn't mic as closely as is the norm now, which would yield more ambience (or boxiness in the small booths). The snare mic was often also a hihat mic and at least 25 cm out from the snare. The overhead(s) tended to be used as main mics, with spot mics on (in!) the drums for a bit more "thump".

Happy experimenting!

Cheers,

Recky

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by RadioMoo

Are you referring to the cardboard sounds of Led Zeppelin, Ringo Starr, ELP, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple/Rainbow, Styx, Robin Trower or maybe even Bad Company?

Well Zep didn't have cardboard Drums cuz Bonham new how to play em
But some of the others you mention I think had weak drum sounds. Though I must say I love all the bands you mentioned.

It's not there fault the engineers back then didn't focus enough on drums. they sure as hell had the right gear back then

[RadioMoo]

Originally Posted by allencollins

Well Zep didn't have cardboard Drums cuz Bonham new how to play em
But some of the others you mention I think had weak drum sounds. Though I must say I love all the bands you mentioned.

It's not there fault the engineers back then didn't focus enough on drums. they sure as hell had the right gear back then

One thing no one's mentioned is that studios in the seventies were d e a d (sonically - lots of padding). A lot of drums were tracked in "drum booths"; a lot of drum mixes were mixed dry. So some seventies drum sounds aren't very spacious, but they are "big" in their own way.

But - one thing a lot of engineers did do right was close mic everything. Now - take the kit out of the rubber room, close mic everything, use two OH's and blend to taste.

And sorry, but most of today's drum mixes are lame - too much room ambience, not enough impact.

[Devs1980]

I absolutely love the sound of in your face 70's drums. My favorite sound at teh moment is from Joy Division's "Transmission". I'd love to ge the same snare sound, great attack and great use of plate reverb too. Anyone else know/love this sound?

David

[Cojo]

Originally Posted by recky

And I thought I was the only person in the world secretly loving that sound! :-)

YES, I got my ABBA singles collection out the other day, before messing about with my drum kit. I really love early 70s recordings such as Bill Withers, John Lennon and such, and at the time, they still only had 8 or 16 tracks, so they certainly used only a limited number of mics, say, kick, snare, overheads (often mono). Sometimes they would mic the toms, as well. If there was any compression at all, there would probably be a single drum sub compressor. Reverb was courtesy of EMT plates or real reverb chambers. OR nothing - my preferred style! Warm and punchy is enough for me, don't need any reverb, me!

The thing is, as well, that back in the days they wouldn't mic as closely as is the norm now, which would yield more ambience (or boxiness in the small booths). The snare mic was often also a hihat mic and at least 25 cm out from the snare. The overhead(s) tended to be used as main mics, with spot mics on (in!) the drums for a bit more "thump".

Happy experimenting!

Cheers,

Recky

No, you're not alone diggin your ABBA collection!

I wonder; how much had Spektor to do with the sound of Lennons drums?

/Cojo

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by RadioMoo

And sorry, but most of today's drum mixes are lame - too much room ambience, not enough impact.

totally agree I hate most newer drum sounds too

[Jamstudio]

I love that drum sound. i always tried to persuit the drummers i work with, but most want's to much room/oh with d112 basebal kick and (to) high pitched picolo snare

Remco

[u b k]

Originally Posted by RadioMoo

One thing no one's mentioned is that studios in the seventies were d e a d (sonically - lots of padding). A lot of drums were tracked in "drum booths"; a lot of drum mixes were mixed dry. So some seventies drum sounds aren't very spacious, but they are "big" in their own way.

that's exactly how i mixed my latest track, and i got a lot of flack around here for the lack of 'depth', which as far as i could tell for most folks meant 'reverb'.

screw 'em... hand me the dishtowels and the duct tape!


gregoire
del ubik

[Alexi]

do you guys know jack whites new band?

The Ranconteurs......or something like that............they captured that sound
pretty well......i don't know the name of the single but there are 4038's in that video...pretty unusual to see those mics on MTV

cheers

[sedohr]

Originally Posted by Cojo

My favorite is the ABBA sound



/Cojo

Michael Tretow is a genius!!

[arpodthegreat]

Originally Posted by sedohr

I was wondering..It has been fashionable lately here in Iceland to tune the drums down, tape them and muffle up with "teatowels".

It is kinda fun to use that sound in the mix, it gives an instant vibe of cool.

Do you use these tricks yourself these days ??

Kalli

i think i know what you are referring to in iceland. i was there over new years (my 5th time there and had the time of my life... again!) i remember mugnusson (spelling?) being the "it" guy. the single was very cool, amplified, acoustic slide playing, really nasty. the drum sound is exactly what you described. how can i find this guys music? my friend forgot to give me a copy of his CD. the drums actually sounded A LOT like the songs for the deaf album by QOTSA.

[firby]

Originally Posted by recky

I'm a great fan of classic 70s songwriting and the albums that came with it, including Lennon, Nilsson, Chapin, etc. and have always wanted to be able to create the drum sounds of the era for my own singer-songwriter productions.

Two weeks ago a dream came true: I bought an original 70s maple Tama Superstar with concert toms (i.e. no resonator heads) for peanuts that had been sitting in someone's garage for a long time - it still had the original factory-fitted black-dot Tama-labelled heads on every single drum!
I've been cleaning and restoring it since I got it, and yesterday was the first opportunity to set it up, put new heads on and test-record it. I had a ball!!!

I put Evans Hydraulic heads on the toms - these are 2-ply skins filled with oil, originally invented in the 70s to replace the tissues and duct tape. I still had to muffle them a bit, because they give a loooong ring. No overtones, just attack and boom. It sounds very uninspiring in the room, but once you stick a mic up a tom's shell you get THAT sound! Of course, the 24"x14" bass drum doesn't have a resonator head on, either, and my Ludwig Supra Sonic snare is muffled by means of a packet of Lucky Strikes!

Now I know why most drummers don't like "dead" drums: While you're hearing your drums "live", everything just goes "blat blat", but wait until you've heard it recorded! Spectacular (if you like 70s drum sounds, that is...)!!! Instant Bob Marley, Carpenters, Lou Reed, even early Elvis Costello.

I'm not really a drummer by trade and tend to play quite soft, which seems to give me exactly the sound I've been lusting for for years. Excellent!!!

Now I really want to get my studio construction finished....

Cheers,

Recky

Wow.

Recky is apparently my anti-twin in bizzarro world. I appreciate greatly that he loves this sound. To me it reminds me of fleetwood mac Rumors album which has great drums recorded just this way. I personally despise single headed drums, Tama, dot heads, and especially hydraulic heads, those skinny sticks from the seventies, bass drums without the front head on all of that stuff. I don't think that Recky could be more antithetical to how I wish my drums to sound. It just makes me cringe. eeeeewwwwww.

I had better try it in a mix and maybe I will get it then. It's refreshing to have somebody challenge me to think about this.

eeeeeewwwwwww! more muffling on a hydraulic head ?

Its so absolutely square that he might be onto something.

[recky]

Originally Posted by Cojo

No, you're not alone diggin your ABBA collection!

I wonder; how much had Spektor to do with the sound of Lennons drums?

/Cojo

I have a feeling Phil Spector was only allowed to co-produce on John Lennon's 1970s solo recordings. This is the impression I get from the excellent "Gimme Some Truth" movie (is that the name?). If good old Phil had had his way, there would have been a lot more reverb, I reckon.....
John loved to drown his voice in ADT and delay, but the remaining tracks of the Phil Spector collaborations are all fairly dry.

This thread reminds me that I MUST get my hands on a CD version of John Lennon's Rock'n'Roll album. Great sounds on that one....

Cheers,

Recky

[sedohr]

Originally Posted by arpodthegreat

i think i know what you are referring to in iceland. i was there over new years (my 5th time there and had the time of my life... again!) i remember mugnusson (spelling?) being the "it" guy. the single was very cool, amplified, acoustic slide playing, really nasty. the drum sound is exactly what you described. how can i find this guys music? my friend forgot to give me a copy of his CD. the drums actually sounded A LOT like the songs for the deaf album by QOTSA.

Perhaps you are talking about Mugison. He has his own website: Mugison.com

Another guy introducing this sound is Barði from BangGang and Lady and Bird. He loves french 60´s music and uses every opportunity to tape and muffle drums.

I like the sound but it doesn´t always belong!!

Kalli