I remember back in early '97 when I quite got into all that new R&B that seemed like it exploded on the scene, the likes of Erykah Badu, Laurnea, Des'ree, The Tony Rich Project, D'Angelo, Chante Moore, Angie Stone, Omar, Anne Nesby and even the stuff Curtis Mayfield was coming out with after his accident. Because the "drums" in much of that music was a serious kick on from the crummy drum machine sounds of the 70s and 80s, it actually wasn't so noticeable at first but I noted that every one of the albums I had said "drum programming by...." on the credits. So I listened very closely and as time went on, even though I could hear that the artists weren't using acoustic drums, I did like the sounds of the "drums" they were using. I just treated them as a different instrument, drums yes, but too perfect to be drums as I'd known them. Kicks, rims, sticking and high hats just never sounded like that, let alone the snares. Not even where there was much experimentation in the studio.
When I first recorded digitally, I got a Zoom MRS1266 which has an on board drum machine. The only piece I ever recorded on it, I put all the drum parts together myself and it actually isn't bad. It's not great but it's passable. I sold the Zoom because of there being no varispeed facility and I nearly threw away the piece {called "Greed"}. In fact, I thought I had chucked it and about 13 years after recording it, found it on an unmarked CD. I was going to record over it but listened to it just out of curiosity. I'm glad I did. Around the same time, I was trying to come up with a drum piece for a song a friend of mine had written that we'd recorded about 5 years earlier and I put together the drum parts from many of the kits on Sampletank 2. In the end about 9 years later, I wiped it and a friend drummed on it which is the final version. But between those two pieces, I learned one thing about myself ~ though I've got good timing and a decent rhythmic sense, though I like certain VSTis and can use them relatively convincingly, when it comes to virtual/sampled drums I'm a no hoper. I have neither the patience, the invention nor the skills required to put together anything other than the most rudimentary pattern. It could work once, maybe even twice but I know my limitations in that arena. And the truth is, I don't really want to learn that skill at this stage of the game. Put real congas, bongos, timbales or other myriad percussion in front of me and I can be your man. But anything from the drumkit, whether real or sampled and I'm like a TV remote with flat batteries.
That's what ultimately did it for me. The cymbals. Everything else, I think I could have just about lived with, even if initially reluctantly. I could have worked a way around the pad hits coming out in the cymbal mics. I bought a 'brain' {the TD10, I think it was} that had 8 outputs so I probably could have gotten around the tom sounds. I bought a mesh head snare that was meant to be able to do rimshots. But the hi hat and cymbals never sounded good no matter what I did. I did ponder on whether I could just record real cymbals but in the end I noted that that often, where others paddled, I dived deep, even to my own detriment at times. So it was back to a whole kit.
It's interesting that you mention perfect drum sounds. I just don't know what a perfect drum sound is. I guess I'm a bit of a Philistine in that regard. I have long listened to a wide range of music and there have been so many different drum sounds. As long as it sounds like drums to me, I'm up and running. I don't ever recall not liking a particular drum sound. Or for that matter, liking one. I do like particular snare sounds and even some bass drum sounds but not any overall drum sound. I'd always tend to be moved firstly by the song, then what the drummer was doing. The sonics only came into it in an offhand way. And they all sound so different. Recently I've been listening to those deconstructions of Beatle songs on YouTube where you hear what's on an individual track. On some, the drums on their own sound great but not necessarily in the song. And some of the ones that don't sound all that on their own feel wonderful in the songs. But I realize that it's because I love the songs first and foremost.
but right from when I first started recording mine and my drummer mate's jams back in '82, starting from trial and error, I've got to that point where I'm happy with what I get. No one else might be but I am !
That's what ultimately did it for me. The cymbals. Everything else, I think I could have just about lived with, even if initially reluctantly. I could have worked a way around the pad hits coming out in the cymbal mics. I bought a 'brain' {the TD10, I think it was} that had 8 outputs so I probably could have gotten around the tom sounds. I bought a mesh head snare that was meant to be able to do rimshots. But the hi hat and cymbals never sounded good no matter what I did. I did ponder on whether I could just record real cymbals but in the end I noted that that often, where others paddled, I dived deep, even to my own detriment at times. So it was back to a whole kit.
The funny thing is, I love the idea of an electric drumkit. It falls in line with everything I believe in about the freedom and experimentation that has so often reared its head in the recording of music. Also ironically, even when I went back to an acoustic kit, sometimes I use an electric kick. That was because there was a time when I found that I was getting so much bleed through the kick mic when one drummer in particular played. I was also experimenting with a suitcase as a kick.
It's interesting that you mention perfect drum sounds. I just don't know what a perfect drum sound is. I guess I'm a bit of a Philistine in that regard. I have long listened to a wide range of music and there have been so many different drum sounds. As long as it sounds like drums to me, I'm up and running. I don't ever recall not liking a particular drum sound. Or for that matter, liking one. I do like particular snare sounds and even some bass drum sounds but not any overall drum sound. I'd always tend to be moved firstly by the song, then what the drummer was doing. The sonics only came into it in an offhand way. And they all sound so different. Recently I've been listening to those deconstructions of Beatle songs on YouTube where you hear what's on an individual track. On some, the drums on their own sound great but not necessarily in the song. And some of the ones that don't sound all that on their own feel wonderful in the songs. But I realize that it's because I love the songs first and foremost.
It's arguable whether I do know how to record a kit
UPDATED: . My wife and I bought a house last year and I can now bring my MILESTONE drums out of 20 year storage and start playing them again!!! Here they are:
