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[RaGe]

Ross, I am delighted to have the opportunity to communicate with you. A year ago I bought the Dragonfly album and I must say the sound of this album is amazing, esp. the drums.
Would you care to touch on the drums recording/mixing process? (Oh that snare on "I Get Out" ... and the cymbals!)
It sounds like there's lot of room sound involved and I remember reading somewhere that Royer ribbons were largely used.
Thanks!!!

[Ross Hogarth]

Wow thanks ....  thanks letting me know that something I did touched someone ...I am very proud of this work on many levels ....
First I give Tahnks to Jah for letting me be so fortunate as to be able to contribute to Ziggy ... he is a beautiful person with the goal of spreading love on this earth .... Bob's son and his own man...... Yes mahn, cool runnings ....

I have for years always thought of the drum kit as the foundation that we must build our sonic house on. On Ziggy's record a firm and thoughtful decision was made on each song when it came to the choice of the kick and snare and hi hat and cymbals ... on  " I Get Out "  I wanted a that low dub styling kick with a modern higher tuned snare. I wanted the cymbals to swoosh and be warm. I recorded the drums in a small very tight room on an Neve console. the cymbals are recorded with Royer 122's on the overheads and Royer 121's on the room with Coles 4038 in the mono room spot.The compression is a chandler / emi compressor on the outside Royer mics with an 1176 on the mono coles. the kick is my blend of an Ev Nd 868 with a bit of the Shure Beta 52 for snap. In front of the kick is an old Ns 10 woofer used for the subs in low end. In mixing I sub mix in a blend of a hyper compressed drum buss (read my post on compression for more detail here)
When you have a good sounding tight room you can compress the piss out of it and blend that in for that wonderful natural ambiance instead of having to look through boxes for your reverb. I will say as I always do that I hate drum reverb in lieu of a great real room.  This is one of my ongoing "trademarks" if it were. Real sounds .... I strive for honesty in my recordings.
hopefully this is a helpful start

[RaGe]

Ross Hogarth wrote on Wed, 28 April 2004 02:41

Wow thanks ....  thanks letting me know that something I did touched someone ...I am very proud of this work on many levels ....

And you should be! The sound of the album I think represents the spirit in which it was recorded and the honesty of Ziggy's art. Major influence on me sonically (as a learning recordist), this kind of sound is what I want to be able to capture. Anyways, does anyone else on this board have this CD?

Quote:

First I give Tahnks to Jah for letting me be so fortunate as to be able to contribute to Ziggy ... he is a beautiful person with the goal of spreading love on this earth .... Bob's son and his own man...... Yes mahn, cool runnings ....

Can't wait for another collaboration between the both of you.

Quote:

In mixing I sub mix in a blend of a hyper compressed drum buss (read my post on compression for more detail here) When you have a good sounding tight room you can compress the piss out of it and blend that in for that wonderful natural ambiance instead of having to look through boxes for your reverb. I will say as I always do that I hate drum reverb in lieu of a great real room.  This is one of my ongoing "trademarks" if it were. Real sounds .... I strive for honesty in my recordings. hopefully this is a helpful start

Thanks for the mics/comp explanation, it is very helpful and I appreciate you taking the time. I still have one question: You said it depends on the context of the song to decide which elements of the drumkit to leave out of the squashed subgroup. I've been sending the whole kit to the subgroup and the results range from great to just OK (So I will experiment with your suggestion).
What benefits do you get by not sending the snare for instance?

(edit): i got the answer to my question in your last reply of the "compression" thread ... not hitting the buss compressor too hard so the rest of the kit remains more present.

Again, thanks for your reply!