Famous examples of drum sounds that AREN'T compressed

[bobbydj]

Any nominations? I mean, I suppose ultimately there's likely to always be a little bit of compression that makes its way onto the kit, even if only as a consequence of big transients hitting tape. Or else some end-stage of proceedings when the whole mix is either put to the master tape with a bit of level, or whatever. But still, can anyone point to some examples of kit sounds where little compression is evident? Cheers.

[joel hamilton]

I love the way compression sounds on drums. Led Zepplin, The beatles, Motown....
etc.

Neil Youngs "harvest" record seems to have fairly "organic" non comp'd drums, and they sound boring to me. Just my opinion.

I dont automatically compress drums, but I always seem to wind up with some, or a lot, or a little...

Check the Jazz guys for this.

[mjau]

There's a Swedish band called Logh, and it seems like on some of their stuff, there is virtually no compression whatsoever (except the vocals and bass, maybe). The drums come through really dynamically, and the guitar sounds natural. Nicely recorded stuff...

[eeldip]

shellac

[OneZero]

No drum compression on the Shellac albums?

mmmm

[Bear]

I use little to no compression on recordings, and I'm famous as hell.

[Flight Feathers]

Neil Youngs "harvest" record seems to have fairly "organic" non comp'd drums, and they sound boring to me. Just my opinion.

that's funny, i think harvest has one of the coolest drum sounds ever recorded. not so much for how the drums sound on their own, but for what they do for the songs. simplicity at it's simplest. i love that album to death.

a lot of the old sea and cake albums have very natural open drum sounds. bonnie prince billy albums are usually very organic sounding too, but also simple. and great.



ayan

[joel hamilton]

I LOVE that album!!!!!!

The drums on their own it what I assumed was in question here. It is a great example of how "boring" drum sounds can be PERFECT for a song.

I simply think that I would have a band go," yeah, awesome drum sound joel. Now fix it"
if I presented them with something that sounds like that.

I love the way it works in the songs, though...

There are a lot of lies about using compression on records. Same with protools.
I know for a fact a couple of records that were edited heavily in protools, then dropped back to tape where they satrted, and the engineer is quoted as saying "I would NEVER use protools, blah,blah."

Same goes for compression, like someone saying "i only use a teeny tiny bit for..."

If a "teeny tiny bit " means pulling back 8 Db at 4:1 on an 1176, me too!

[Cellotron]

How about Tony Williams' drum sounds on "Miles Smiles"? That is some seriously great sounding stuff - he's panned all the way to the right - with the reverberation off the kit panned left where the bass & piano are sitting. The way that album is t's almost like a drum concerto sometimes (i.e. "Footprints").

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[keyboardman]

Hi

Wayne Shorter, "Speak No Evil".

Elvin Jones' fill to Wayne's solo on "Witch Hunt" is amongst the coolest recorded moment in history...to me, at least.

One of my "Desert Island Disks" (or are they "Desert Island mp3s" now?), for sure.

[NewYorkDave]

I love the way compression sounds on drums. Led Zepplin, The beatles, Motown....
etc.

Motown? I could have sworn Olhsson has said that Gordy prohibited compression on their tracks.

I don't mind some compression on drums, but I think it's generally overdone lately. It's as if everybody and his brother bought a Level-Loc.

Not like anyone should care what I do, but I only compress bass and vocals. And I don't use 2-buss compression. Well, not usually

I just picked up a Gates Levil-Devil for cheap, so I reserve the right to completely contradict myself down the road

[joel hamilton]

If there was no compression on Motown records going in, then there was a crapload in mastering!

Some of the soupy, pumpy drum sounds are insanely cool, and the way they work bass and drum wise are genius.

How about some of the stax stuff? early stax, like rufus thomas' "crown prince of dance" record. That record is amazing, and I really think the drums are printed pretty hot, but not compressed (by a compressor) too much if at all.

I have a particulair love for old stax records, which is how I wound up with an Auditronics console. Stax had #006, and I have #007.

[OM15.2]

Bob, have you heard the Edinburgh Military Tattoo?

[Bob Olhsson]

Compressing drums was pretty unusual in the '60s and '70s but lots of reverb on well-damped drum heads was SOP.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

the record i always mention...karate's 'bed is in the ocean' has totally uncompressed drums and they sound amazing...