Best drum sound...

E

Elton Bear

Unregistered Abuser
I have heard for a long while - Ray Charles' Live album. Any ideas how it sounds so good when it was recorded live in the 50s & early 60s would be greatly appreciated.

The bass drum especially sends shivers up my spine!
 
Having real analog equipment from the 50's would help. Maybe try out a coated bass drum batter head. I think the drummer on that albumn is Leroy Williams. I am not sure his kit specks, but you might be able to find them somewhere.
 
Probably some 4 piece Gretsch or Ludwig, maybe a Slingerland or Rogers. There was virtually nothing else on the market, except Premiers, but those weren't popular in the states at the time.
 
I have a 60s Ludwig so it shouldn't be difficult to get the sound. I think I've seen him use Gretsch in pictures, but I was wondering about the miking/mixing that might be going on.

Sorry I don't have any audio, but it's a pretty famous record :P
 
Probably a good player.
I've been seriously digging the drums/drumming on the "Dap Dippin with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings" album. It blows my mind.
 
Ah, without doubt that makes the recording - I recorded a jam in a really well treated studio the other week with 1 mic, and it sounded great because I was thinking a lot more about the volume differences with my kit.
 
Newport Jazz Festival 1958

:cool:
There are some videos in You Tube form the Newport Jazz Festival 1958, with Louis Armstrong, Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Dinah Washington, Anita O'day etc. Although they rarely show the full drumset, you can see that there's always one microphone out in front of the drumset, a large diaphragm condenser, about 1m away from the bass drum and 2m high. I don't know which microphone it is, but it seems to be the same type used for drums, vocals, piano, bass, and trombone. Probably a Neumann. And probably this was the same set up everybody in the festival used. In Louis Armstrong's video there's a close up of the mic.

With your drumset and a similar mic, you'll be able to get that sound, with a ressonant bass drum head without a hole in it.
 
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