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Author Topic: Are natural-sounding drumsounds OUT OF FASHION?  (Read 1083 times)

Offline skunkyfunk

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Are natural-sounding drumsounds OUT OF FASHION?
« on: January 18, 2007, 02:09:55 PM »
When was the last time you heard organic and natural drum sounds like that of Led Zep's "Houses of the Holy", Queen's "A Night At The Opera"?

The way I hear things on radio now, it's either the drums sound way too separated, or the drums are mega-compressed.  Of course compression packs some good punch on the individual drums, but sometimes I think real drums shouldn't like that.  The huge drum sounds seem to be acquired taste, but then again it also depends on the context of the music.  I mean, you won't want Bonham drumsounds on a Killswitch Engage album right?

Anyway, I've seen some few bands trying to re-live the natural-drum sound trend like Bloc Party, The Darkness, Rage Against The Machine (in "Evil Empire"), and surprisingly, Incubus (in "Light Grenades" save for the squashed mastering).


Offline Chum

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Re: Are natural-sounding drumsounds OUT OF FASHION?
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2007, 02:34:41 PM »
In addition, on almost all "Acoustic" songs that I hear these days (even bossa nova), there's always the irritating sound of the KAHON....  Whatever happened to guys pounding on real life skins/drums?  bossa nova sounds better using brushes, don't you think? 

just my opinion, anyway....

Chum
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Offline abyssinianson

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Re: Are natural-sounding drumsounds OUT OF FASHION?
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2007, 03:28:21 PM »
I mean, you won't want Bonham drumsounds on a Killswitch Engage album right?

you answered your own question. contemporary music, and i think the same applies to most music, really, calls for specific sounds that may not necessarily sound right with loosely recorded drums. even live, loose sounding drums are a bane for recording engineers or drummers because they can wreck havoc with the mixdown because your frequencies are everywhere, and loosely recorded drums, instead of holding everything together, becomes a liability. as a drummer, this opnion is from personal experience as a performer and production person.

the "Cajon" is not annoying (this is opinion) but a method of giving a recording a different texture without being too overwhelming. acoustic drums with brushes, rutes, mallets or conventional sticks are not ALWAYS the best thing to turn to for all acoustic performances because you have to think about the ambience, the impact, and the composition of the song. you want to treat the resulting recording as a sum of its parts by asking the following questions: what elements would clash if I used these instruments? what choices may i opt for to make them sit better? what instruments can I use to blend everything into a a more cohesive composition? the use of skin dampening is a common practice to alleviate the pain of dealing with highly resonant drum heads live, and n the studio. personally, I prefer using a combined approach of powder coated skins (evans) with gel dampeners while my brother uses powder coated skins with rings depending on the venue because smaller clubs require a shorter decay and quicker attack than bigger places. the differences primarily came about as a result of our different playing styles so we each tried different ways to experiment and eventually settle on what worked best.

so, the take home message is: i don't think natural sounding drums are out of style, in fact, you see this is apparent between records recorded live or in the studio. mixing engineers look for what works with the playing style of the musicians, the context of the recording and the genre of the music material. Since you mentioned "Light Grenades" by Incubus we can use that as an example because with every recording that the band has put out, Mike (Einziger's) guitars have evolved to a more organic sound as he increasingly opts for more vintage pieces over the PRS guitars he has used a lot in the past. To complement this, Jose Pasillas' drums have to sound a bit more focused because it would anchor the playing a bit better. Rage Against the Machine's record 'Evil Empire"was literally recorded live (but tracked simultaneously) while they performed in the live room. Brad Wilk's dynamic drum sound is a great backdrop to Morello's razor sharp and syncopated guitar work. I know Brad uses Zildjian K cymbals live for his heavy cymbal sound which are much thicker than the A Custom's other rock bands use quite a lot.

Just my 2 cents.
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Offline skunkyfunk

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Re: Are natural-sounding drumsounds OUT OF FASHION?
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2007, 10:39:42 PM »
Rage Against the Machine's record 'Evil Empire"was literally recorded live (but tracked simultaneously) while they performed in the live room. Brad Wilk's dynamic drum sound is a great backdrop to Morello's razor sharp and syncopated guitar work. I know Brad uses Zildjian K cymbals live for his heavy cymbal sound which are much thicker than the A Custom's other rock bands use quite a lot.


Wow.  I guess the dark but huge cymbal choices create some Bonham-y effect.  I know Bonham likes hitting large but thin discs....  :mrgreen:


Offline abyssinianson

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Re: Are natural-sounding drumsounds OUT OF FASHION?
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2007, 11:40:39 PM »
@skunkyfunk: yeah, darker cymbals around the 20 inch size and up tend to have that tonality to them which is good live if you are trying to acheive a solid, long deacay sort of tone to fill a larger space or to complement a very tight - but minimalist - rhythm section. the smaller A custom cymbals have thinner make to them compared to the K and the Z series which makes their tone brighter and decay a tad bit shorter, perfect for making drums sound tighter and focused. right now, i am using cymbals from a German company called Meinl that has been in tthe cymbal business for a while now and are releasing some very nice cymbals. i like them because the A Custom compatible cymbals they put out are a notch bit darker than the A Custom's but carry a bit more weight so they don't crack with prolonged, heavy use like the A Custom's tend to do. I love the sound of A Custom 16 and 18 inch cymbals but I probably cracked 2 cymbals of each under a 3 year period.
ako si mimordz. 友だちからよろしくです!