2112 - Oracle - why was bass drum removed?

[currygoat11]

I have noticed this for many years... partially into Oracle: The Dream (~15:26), the bass drum is removed for a few bars. But if you listen to the isolated drums track, he definitely hits the bass drum. I guess either it's a mistake or Terry just wanted to mask out the bass drum for some reason.... always sounded odd to me..  I wonder why??

 

 

 

 

 

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Maybe he just wanted it to have a lighter feel in that section so turned the bass drum way down. It's a very difficult figure to get grooving, and the really heavy bass drum  might have made it feel like it was dragging, so dropping it out for those few bars could help keep the sense of momentum. It also doesn't take any musical content away so to speak since Neil is playing the same hits on the bass as he is the other drums and the cymbals, so it's not filling the gaps in-between at all. That's my best guess. It could also be a mistake I suppose. Despite how incredible the recording of 2112 is, and how incredible Rush and Terry Brown were together, they didn't have everything totally perfected just yet. I could see a bass drum mic going out on them mid take and not noticing till later or something like that.

[JARG]

It's possible (but unlikely) that Neil flubbed the kick during that section, but the rest of the performances (his included) were considered "keepers" and so they just chose to mute the kick mic during mixing to hide the flub.

Edited October 13, 2022 by JARG