Pink Floyd drum sound

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2001 1:22 pm

Hi all, I'm wondering if you can tell me how to obtain a drumsound simular to dark side of the moon, in particular the snare sound. I realize that the drums them self and the tuning are important to the sound, I would appresiate any advice in this department too. Its difficult for me to describe the sounds I hear without using words like "punchy" and warm which seems to be despised by proffesionals like you, but I'm guessing most of you are familiular with this album anyway... Conserning the snare, how would you mic it? Maybe a mic underneath with compression and a mild distortion effect blended a little with the overheads? Thats my closest guess anyway....Do you think room mics were used besides the OH's? Should I closemic the toms? etc etc.. The mics, pre's, compressors, effect units etc.. If you know what they used I'd be glad to know, othervise just tell me what you'd use and how to set the parameters to get the sound. BTW before you ask what equipment I have, let me just clarify that I'm not going to actually do this floyd-drum thing (well not today atleast). I'm just interested in the subject and trying to educate myself. I hope thats ok with you. Offcourse as soon as I get oppertunity to experiment with your suggestions I'll do that. Thanks for any help you can offer //Peter

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2001 3:01 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by litenmupp: Hi all, I'm wondering if you can tell me how to obtain a drumsound simular to dark side of the moon, in particular the snare sound. //Peter<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Here's my guess. Two microphones situated in and around the drummers head or in back or to the side and a kick drum mic. I don't hear any room sound, so I'm guessing that they baffled the drums to cut down on the ambience. The rest is drum selection, tuning and the guy playing.

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2001 12:39 am

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah it sounds like they have dampen the snare to me too (was that what you meant?)as it doesn't have a ring. What do you usually use to dampen the snare? That rubber goo stuff or a wallet perhaps?

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2001 10:05 am

If you watch the Pink Floyd in Pompeii video, they have some good panning shots of the recording room at Abbey Road where they did Dark Side of the Moon. I haven't confirmed this, but you might be able to get some information about the drum mic techniques that way...Just a suggestion... Crimean

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2001 7:07 pm

I am no drummer, and this tip is originally for dampening toms, but it might work for snare: Put cotton balls in the drum, that way you get more natural kind of dampening, instead of totally deadening the tone of the drum. More balls for more damping.Juergen

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2001 1:37 pm

Nice tips guys! I also got a direct reply from Rick to my email that was right on. He suggested that hitting the snare pretty soft would give that sound. I tried it and he was right... Perfect example of how the player is more important than the gear. Wink

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2001 2:31 pm

I once heard that they wrapped the snare with a towel to get that damp sound..like a think cloth as not to make it too thick. I heard this when I was attending Berklee College of Music in the Engineering classes. Just thought I'd throw in my $.02 worth Peace Opus

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2001 4:28 am

Ringo also frequently towelled his snare - whenever I am going for that "White Album"-type sound (think "Savoy Truffle") I use this technique...Bruce

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2001 6:02 am

That's something I need to try... You mean towell as you use after the shower? (though I like to sun-dry Smile

) Do you just let it hang off the edges or do you wrap it round tight? And also, how do you usually mic the snare and the rest of the drums for that ringo sound? Thanks!

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2001 8:53 pm

The term I always heard was "tea towel" which I believe is thin linen like a cloth napkin.I also seem to remember reading that the entire album was recorded using a single KM-84.

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2001 7:28 am

One KM-84 for the drums or for all the instruments??

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2001 3:04 pm

Everything.

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2001 8:47 am

Alan Parson (who engineered DSOTM) said in his column at artistpro.com that they used an 86 (neumann?) on the guitars. So there's one exception, but maybe they used the km-84 for a lot of things. There was a nice interview at that site with you there as well Bob! It's nice beeing able to chat like this with highly experienced people like yourself. I'm surprised not more people take advantage of this forum. Regards, Peter

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2001 1:44 pm

Maybe it was a single 86 which would make a lot more sense!An 86 is two 84 capsules mounted back to back with a switch to select just the front one for cardioid or both either in or out of polarity for omni or figure 8 respectively. I always suspected 86s had a bit more low-end than 84s but never had both available to use at the same time.

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2001 3:04 pm

The 3/98 issue of Mojo magazine had a story on the making of Dark Side- it includes copies of track sheets for each of the songs, all of which include:2- b/d (bass drum I assume, considering what's next) 3 & 4- drums 5- snareNo photos of the drum setup, I'm afraid.

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