You favorite drum sound

[tks95747]

I am not a drummer (guitar), but to me, at least, the dynamics of Neil's kick and snare are quite disparate from album to album. On some of their offerings, I can barely hear the kick and/or the snare sounds like he's hitting a trash can lid. On other albums, the kick punches through so forcefully and/or the snare is like a small cannon or is super tight.

 

IMHO, Counterparts has the best of both worlds~ A nice clear and forceful kick and a perfectly balanced snare.

 

I'm interested to know which album has your favorite drum sound?

[bootruss]

Signals.. Loved that Tama sound.. Very natural sounding superbly recorded.

[lifeson90]

Obvs a lot to choose from, you can go back to permanent waves for sheer perfection, his work on signals really stands out too and his all-round performance on S&A was probably his most powerful but yeah if Counterparts your fav i would probably go with that too, everything just beefed up on that album,rich & exotic my fav rush sound in general, including Neil

[tks95747]

Signals.. Loved that Tama sound.. Very natural sounding superbly recorded.

Like you and Superconductor mentioned, Signals and PW are other albums where the kick and snare present very favorably. It seems to me that as they progressed from 2112, and most especially after Signals, the drum dynamics began to deteriorate. I think they recaptured the raw power of Neil's drums on CP.

[tks95747]

Obvs a lot to choose from, you can go back to permanent waves for sheer perfection, his work on signals really stands out too and his all-round performance on S&A was probably his most powerful but yeah if Counterparts your fav i would probably go with that too, everything just beefed up on that album,rich & exotic my fav rush sound in general, including Neil

I absolutely love the kick on S&A, although I'm less fond of the snare on that album. I often wonder if Neil was intimately involved in the mix-down of the drums on each of their albums or if he let others handle that...

[condemned2bfree]

Counterparts and Permanent Waves. :Neil:

[vaportrailer]

Moving Pictures has a nice crispness and depth to it, drum-wise. Great sounding drums, and a nice room sound.

 

The debut also has a good drum sound. Love Rutsey's snare. Kinda reminds me of Stewart Copeland's early snare sound.

(Clockwork Angels has a boring snare sound - it bores into my ears. Monochromatic and overcooked. Almost sounds like a sample.)

 

I also quite like the sound of Neil's Ludwig kit on "Show of Hands".

 

"I am quite deaf from all this malarkey."

[tks95747]

Moving Pictures has a nice crispness and depth to it, drum-wise. Great sounding drums, and a nice room sound.

 

The debut also has a good drum sound. Love Rutsey's snare. Kinda reminds me of Stewart Copeland's early snare sound.

(Clockwork Angels has a boring snare sound - it bores into my ears. Monochromatic and overcooked. Almost sounds like a sample.)

 

I also quite like the sound of Neil's Ludwig kit on "Show of Hands".

 

"I am quite deaf from all this malarkey."

Totally agree on Clockwork Angels :boo hiss:

[HemiBeers]

Pointing out the fact that the albums many of you are choosing were recorded at LeStudio. So is it the kit or the room that made the difference?

[JARG]

Pointing out the fact that the albums many of you are choosing were recorded at LeStudio. So is it the kit or the room that made the difference?

Or the engineer? Or the era?

[tks95747]

Pointing out the fact that the albums many of you are choosing were recorded at LeStudio. So is it the kit or the room that made the difference?

It wasn't the kit or the studio I was trying to pin down, just the sound of the kick and the snare. You make a excellent point though. Perhaps it was the kit or the studio as you point out. Or might it have been the microphones that the producer and sound engineer were partial to using or the particular drum sound they were accustomed to achieving with other bands they had worked with? Maybe it was in the mastering that the ultimate sound was reached. I'd like to know.. I think it is somewhat strange that Neil would have permitted some of the wimpy drum mixes that appear on some of their records, unless he just didn't have a say or didn't care, neither of which I can believe is true.

[tks95747]

Pointing out the fact that the albums many of you are choosing were recorded at LeStudio. So is it the kit or the room that made the difference?

Or the engineer? Or the era?

Funny... I was typing as you posted this... Precisely!

[New World Kid]

Counterparts. The sound is crisp, the integration of electronic percussion is there, tasteful, but not over-whelming or cheesy.

[tks95747]

Counterparts. The sound is crisp, the integration of electronic percussion is there, tasteful, but not over-whelming or cheesy.

I feel exactly the same way....

[goose]

I'll throw in Presto as another album with great drum sound. The snappy picolo snare sound is fantastic on tracks like Available Light.

[greyfriar]

...and the things that we fear are a weapon to be held against us... :syrinx:

Japanese LP version.

[tks95747]

...and the things that we fear are a weapon to be held against us... :syrinx:

Japanese LP version.

It's kinda hard to fear drums :rush:

[Sonatine]

I am no drum merchant, and I have always adored the work of Neil over the decades, especially YYZ. But - and this sounds totally crazy in the great scheme of things - but there's a very short beat from Neil on the "Available Light" track (Presto), that totally stuns me- it's 3m09s in, and lasts less than a couple of seconds. It's so simplistic, yet it has lived in my memory for over 20 odd years, and always sends a shiver down my spine.

 

Guess I'm just weird, lol

[tks95747]

Just listened to it again... Not being a drummer I've never listened to it that closely. It is sooooo Neil.

[Pound of Obscure]

_{The Red Tama era was his best drum sound. I would think the newer drums would sound better but in the early 2000s the band inexplicably lost their ability to record themselves with any instrumental clarity. His high toms sounding like Campbell's soup cans and his other toms muddy, dull tree stumps. His snare generally lost in the mix. Same thing live.}

[vaportrailer]

_{The Red Tama era was his best drum sound. I would think the newer drums would sound better but in the early 2000s the band inexplicably lost their ability to record themselves with any instrumental clarity. His high toms sounding like Campbell's soup cans and his other toms muddy, dull tree stumps. His snare generally lost in the mix. Same thing live.}

 

Maybe partly due to the bland yet expensive sound of the DWs?

 

 

"Boy, do I have a 'Wood-Whisperer' story for you!"

[bootruss]

Problem with the later records is that each player wants that big sound, Alex wants a huge guitar that occupies so much of the soundscape, Ged demands his fat bass sound with a little fuzz that also fights against frequencies that the guitar stomps over. Never been a fan of the DW drum sound that Neil raves about, really feel sorry for any producer trying to get the mix right, and then get vocals on there too!

[tks95747]

Problem with the later records is that each player wants that big sound, Alex wants a huge guitar that occupies so much of the soundscape, Ged demands his fat bass sound with a little fuzz that also fights against frequencies that the guitar stomps over. Never been a fan of the DW drum sound that Neil raves about, really feel sorry for any producer trying to get the mix right, and then get vocals on there too!

When you say "later", where is your demarcation point... If you're speaking of T4E >>> CA, I could not agree more... If your subdivision includes CP, I would have to respectfully decline to fully agree~

[bootruss]

After test for echo for me, when maybe the producer gave the band too much say in how they wanted it to sound, if you get my drift.

[tks95747]

After test for echo for me, when maybe the producer gave the band too much say in how they wanted it to sound, if you get my drift.

No argument here... I understood that they consciously chose to produce VT on their own, so I guess they only have themselves to blame...