Svenska Grammofonstudion - Gothenburg

How do you get that warm beautiful analogue indie sound in a digital drum production software? You go proper old school:

First, you take it to Svenska Grammofon Studion's warm, organic 120m2 live room, with 10m high walls covered in old fashioned oak tiles, giving the room the kind of short, rich decay that's perfect for drums.

Second, you enlist the help of their impressive collection of vintage gear, and if you want old school, Svenska Grammofon has a lot. From the outboard, and microphones to old Steinway uprights and rare Fender amps to Fairchild compressors and Pultec EQ's, every piece of equipment you normally only see emulated in a plugin, is there in real life.

Third, you run it through a beautiful old desk, and they don't come much more majestic than "The Queen", a Neve 8048 console with 1081, 1064 and 1073 preamps, that was once owned by Queen themselves, and which has been used by rock royalty like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones.

Finally, you capture the beautiful sounds distilled through this process on a Studer A80 2" Tape Machine.

Is it really worth all that effort? If you want vibrant, organic, punchy and warm with just the right amount of grit. Yes, it is. Drums on tape just sound better.

Custom kit - ICE Custom Shop

This hand made ICE Custom Shop modern vintage rock kit, with its fresh "old school" shells and vintage Slingerland hardware didn't really need the blue sparkle paint job for you to know it was a cool character, you can hear it right away in the sound. We introduced it to a Premier Keith Moon signature snare "The Spirit of Lily", part of the rare 8 piece signature kit, and they got along just fine. After a lot of experiments, we found the Paiste 2002 and Signature series, and a vintage Zildjian K 15" hi-hat made the perfect companions. But there's more to this ADpak than a really cool drum kit, the real magic happened when we warmed it up in the studio by running it through analogue tape.

Kick:

• ICE Custom Shop Blue Sparkle 26x14"

Snare:

• Premier Spirit of Lily 14x6"

Toms: 

• ICE Custom Shop Blue Sparkle Hi 13x10"
• ICE Custom Shop Blue Sparkle Lo 13x10"
• ICE Custom Shop Blue Sparkle 16x16"
• ICE Custom Shop Blue Sparkle 18x16"

Hi-Hats & Cymbals: 

• Zildjian K 15"
• Paiste 2002 Red 19"
• Paiste Signature Full 18"
• Paiste 2002 Red 16"
• Paiste 2002 Red 22"

Extra:

• Rhythm Tech Tamb

Decibel Studios - Stockholm

XLN Audio wanted to make sure that with just a few clicks, users could add world-class drums to their productions, and have full control over them, almost as if they'd been at the recording session themselves. To begin with, XLN carefully hand-selected each kit, piece by piece, to get just the right sound. Then they found just the right space to record each kit. A studio with the right mix of acoustics, gear, drummer and engineers to coax the best out of it, make it sing, and capture its essence.

Every kit was meticulously recorded with a variety of strokes sampled for each piece. Snares were recorded from above, and below. Kicks from the front, and from the rear near the beater. The sound coming back from the live room was recorded separately on stereo mics. All these signals are combined in the software to give you amazingly real live-sounding drums. If you want to hear these drums at their very best, the ADpak comes with a host of presets configured for specific drum sounds, or you can take full control and control every aspect of the individual drums. Dial-up the room noise for some stadium rock epicness. Tune the toms to vibe with your keys. Turn up the overheads, add distortion, or reverb, change the attack...the possibilities are literally endless.

Custom Kit - DW Collector's Series

When you're working on progressive rock, or experimental music with complex rhythms, and intricate playing, you need a high-end kit capable of capturing both subtle nuance and powerful punchiness. XLN went to the flagship line from DW, the Collector's Series. It's like the Rolls Royce of drum kits. The shells are cold-pressed for extra stiffness and extra resonance, and intense attention is paid to every detail in the construction process. Each shell is tapped in the factory to test its natural frequency, which is then stamped on the inside, so it can be tuned up to the precise note it was born to sing.

A high-end sound that's raw but controlled, rich but gritty, everything in perfect balance. A kit that can deliver the goods, no matter how hard you push it.

Kick:

• Leedy & Ludwig 22x14"

Snares:

• Ludwig Nickel Over Brass 14x7"
• Trump 14x5"

Toms:

• Leedy & Ludwig (Hi) 13x9"
• Leedy & Ludwig (Lo) 13x9"
• Leedy & Ludwig (Hi) 16x16"
• Leedy & Ludwig (Lo) 16x16"

Hi-Hats & Cymbals:

• Zildjian Vintage K 14"
• United Pop Thin 20"
• United Pop Dark 20"
• United Pop Heavy 20"
• United Pop 21"
• United Pop 26"

Extra:

• Claves / Castanets
• Blocks - Wood & Plastic
• Tambourine / Vibraslap