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My quick list:
"When the Levee Breaks" Led Zeppelin.
"Synchronicity", "Ghost in the Machine" (entire albums) The Police.
"Roseland NYC" Portishead.
"Drive" REM.
"Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" Paul Simon.

8)
David

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Comments

anonymous Wed, 11/29/2006 - 11:31

Okay this is my ideal drum setup..

Kick sound of "Bullet for my Valentine"

hi-hat and Tom sounds from "Dreamtheatre"

Snare sound from a Stylus RMX groove i can't find anymore :( but it had a snare sound that really cut if i could get the real snare *slobber*

cymbals zildjan white 20" and another zildjan 20" cant remember model. although they both ring perfectly contra each other!

i'd have 2 small splashes

a hard ride

the thought of this kit is almost giving a stiffy!

anonymous Thu, 04/19/2007 - 11:00

Deftones, Digital Bath & Needles and Pins

Chili Peppers - Dani California

Of course, Zeppelin - When the Levee Breaks

ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin

A Perfect Circle - The Hollow

Metallica - Black Album, and even though I'll probably catch hell for it - St. Anger

Tool - Aenima Album

and Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf

anonymous Mon, 02/18/2008 - 21:11

All of these submissions are ones where I felt the drums, in context, had a combined value of a.) carrying a vibe strong enough so as to be particular to a given album, b.) having an approach that showed vision beyond a prototypical "good drum sound," and c.) evoking a raw, sensual appreciation in me.

Fairweather -- If They Move...Kill Them
Foo Fighters -- The Colour and the Shape
Live -- Secret Samadhi (and anything between Throwing Copper and The Distance to Here, for that matter)
Weezer -- Pinkerton
The Cardigans -- Long Gone Before Daylight
311 -- Transistor
Smashing Pumpkins -- Siamese Dream (and only SD!)
Silverchair -- Neon Ballroom
Fiona Apple -- When the Pawn...
Refused -- The Shape of Punk to Come...
Killswitch Engage -- The End of Heartache, As Daylight Dies
Boston -- Boston
Stone Temple Pilots -- Purple
Saosin -- Translating the Name
Our Lady Peace -- Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch, Gravity
Nirvana -- In Utero
Lisa Loeb -- Firecracker
Coheed and Cambria -- In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (I know, I know...)
Helmet -- Aftertaste
Hanson -- Underneath
Pearl Jam -- Vs
Deftones -- Adrenaline
Dave Matthews Band -- Crash
Soundgarden -- Down on the Upside

I was hesitant to participate in this because I KNEW I'd be forgetting something important, but this is a decent sample.

BrianaW Tue, 02/19/2008 - 18:05

Some that I can rattle off the top of my head are:

Toy Matinee - Self Titled (definitely one of the best recordings I've ever heard of all instruments.) Side project of Kevin Gilbert.

XTC - Mummer (for dry and earthy), and The Big Express (for lush and reverberated).

Fleetwood Mac - I know, I know, but something about that low tuned dead sound really grew on me over the years.

I also like the snare sound on Jawbreaker's "Dear You" record. And as someone mentioned earlier, The Cure's "Three Imaginary Boys" has a great live drum sound. There are so many!!

I tend to lean more toward the opposite of whatever recording style is being totally abused in the most current music. So in the 80's... I absolutely hated reverb, now I love it. So now that everyone is "smashing the sh*t out of everything" (to quote Slipperman), I'm liking the more unenhanced and less compressed sounding stuff.

sammyg Tue, 02/19/2008 - 22:44

from a keyboard players perspective! (So I gues my opinion wont count!)

Anything done by Brendan O'brian and his associates.

Rick Rubin and Audioslaves efforts on the 1st album, sorry I dont know who engineered it!

oh nearly forgot, this is funny, recently my brother (drummer) showed me a relatively new cinderella album and I must say the drums sounded huge, upon 1st listen it reminded me of the drum sound on Dream Theatres "awake". We looked it up later and apparantly the same guy worked on it! Sorry cant remember his name! And I think it may have been Kenny Aranoff on drums.

cheers,

SammyG

anonymous Wed, 04/09/2008 - 20:21

Coliseum-No salvation recorded by Kurt Ballou of Converge
Queens of the Stone Age-All albums
Morphine-I know it has been mentioned a million times already ,but still.
Neurosis-A sun that never sets
Botch-We are the Romans
Coheed & Cambria- Good Apollo Im Burning Star Fear Through the Eyes of Madness Volume 1
Converge-No Heroes
Dillinger Escape Plan-Calculating Infinity
Earth-Hex:Or Printing in the Infernal Method
Explosions in the Sky- All of the Sudden I Miss Everyone
Meshuggah-None & Chaosphere
Young Widows- Coliseum/Young Widows split and Settle Down City

MadMax Thu, 04/10/2008 - 20:29

OK, I'll play...

Zepplin/Bonham... pick one... any one.
Kansas - Song for America
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Visions of the Emerald Beyond and Lilas Dance
Billy Cobham - A Funky Thide of Sings
Gino Vanelli - Pauper In Paradise
Rush - Didats and Narpits
Beatles - Northern Song, Blue Jay Way, Sgt Pepper's Reprise
Zappa - Dirty Love
Who - Won't Get Fooled Again, Happy Jack
Pink Floyd - Time, Great Gig In The Sky, Pillow of Winds
Genesis - Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Blood Sweat & Tears - Spinning Wheel, You've Made Me So Very Happy
Blackmore's Rainbow - Stargazer
Moody Blues - Ride My See Saw, I'm Just A Singer, Late Lament
Doobie Brothers - China Grove
Dave Brubeck - Take 5
Jeff Beck - Blue Wind, Constipated Duck
Al DiMiola - ALL of Elegant Gypsy
Stanley Clarke - School Days and Hot Fun

The thing I like about so many of these kit sounds, is because the drums were mixed to be part of the song... not just drums and the rest of the music.

Davedog Mon, 04/21/2008 - 18:25

As a bass player for a couple hunnerd years or so, its been my pleasure to have to stand next to the frikin drummer most nights.

So I DO have an opinion.

There have been mentions of different schools of thought about the role of the drums on individual songs. Some songs arent big enough within the structure to contain a great drum part and while the drums might be the only part of the song that really winds up making it, sometimes it overwhelms to the point of "whats the point?"

Then theres the school of 'exactly what I had in mind'................

There are drummers out there that sound perfect on everything they ever lay down. The sound is always stimulating enough to keep the interest in the song but not enough to blow it out....

This is the one thing that I have loved about Zep throughout the years, there are very few songs where you cannot sit down and actually listen to any one part you wish to focus on without any (or very little) interruption from the other parts.

Yes' music wouldnt be what it is without an incredible drummer. I loved Bruford but Allan White was my favorite.

Not one person has mentioned two of the greatest rock drummers ever......Roger Taylor with Queen and Simon Kirke with Bad Co. How about those guys sounds?

I have always been greatly impressed with the drum sounds on ANY Frank Zappa record. As well as the playing.

Two more of my personal favorite drummers with incredible sounds to their many many credits would be Frank Beard with ZZ Top and Richie Hayward with Little Feat.

There hasnt been a whole lot of crappy sounding drums on ANY Rush record.

I love the drum sounds on the Audioslave stuff.

Billy Cobham gets a very nice sound on his little four-piece kit......... :shock:

I could go on.....And I probably will................eventually.

MadMax Mon, 04/21/2008 - 21:18

Dayam DD... you're right.... I missed Frank's killer stuff with Rev Billy... My bad. Sometimes the drums were under mixed, sometimes over processed, but the tone and flavor generally always came through.

And Richie absolutely rules with Feet and their production... Always impeccable and sit in the mix just right. Well tuned, well recorded, well mixed...

I always felt like Bad Co's production was over the top and never quite capitalized on the real meat of the band's soul... might have just been too much compression.

Queen never tripped my trigger of sonic nirvana. Always a bit too weak in the strong stuff and too strong in the weak... I hope that don't end up as some sort of napalm on the barn, but they, along with so many bands of that era, were so heavily compressed, chopped, edited and just plain over produced that they all ended up sounding the same... sorry.

Not gonna get into the Bruford/White debate... it's pointless... both good drummers with tuning, performance and heart. Their stuff was generally always believable, with great dynamics and their engineers and producer's were carefull not to push the songs too far past the limit.

Davedog Tue, 04/22/2008 - 16:49

Max, as usual, has a valid point. I'm thinking that the production values of the times maybe are the reason for some of the Bad Co. stuff being a bit strident. My point being that the Dude himself aka Mr. Kirke was of the finest in understatement and sentiment towards the song. When the song moved up so did the drums.

Queen is an aquired taste for some, but the drums were always in the pocket. That was one of the tightest and most complete rhythm sections ever.

Heres a few more musings on my part about drum sounds found on popular recordings.

Jim Keltners' work on John Hiatt's records is superb. Some could point to the John Chelew production as the reason, but theres no doubt that Keltner has a bit of a different beat built in that sometimes defies explanation. The next couple of records with Goners drummer Ken Blevins was also outstanding soundwise as well as killer beats. With Glyn Johns producing, the drums always sound right up front and clean.

I'm a great big fan of William Whittman's work with the drums, He comes around here on occasion but mostly stays over at Gearslutz. The drums on Joan Osborne's Relish record are a great example of minimal production and great mic technique. Hell, that whole record blows me away soundwise.

I love the drum sounds on Shawn Colvin's 'A Few Small Repairs'. Shawn Pelton was the drummer. Mostly recorded at Sear Sound home of an incredible collection of 'All Things Old Recording Gear', A Jon Levanthal project and mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Okay, it has a chance to sound sorta good.

Pick Withers' drum sound on Dire Straits 'Making Movies' is superb. Rich and full....Emotional and tough...Shelly Yakus engineered. Hes always good.

One more for today.....

Springsteen's 'The Rising'........Lots of production, no doubt. But you cant hide the excitement brought by Mr. Happy Beat himself, Max Weinberg. And a heartfelt R.I.P. to Danny.

ddpaulbell Fri, 03/16/2012 - 10:57

Not In order of preference:
Fleetwood Mac-Rumors,
Beach Boys-Pet Sounds,
Toto IV,
Stryper-To Hell With The Devil,
Petra-Not Of This World,
Oscar Peterson-A Night At The Blue Note,
Krupa And Rich,
Pink Floyd-Dark Side Of The Moon,
Billy Joel- The Stranger,
Power Station-Some Like It Hot,
ELP- Fanfare For The Common Man,
Marty Stuart- Soul's Chapel,

anonymous Sat, 03/17/2012 - 16:09

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