Best drum sounds you've ever heard

Definitely the sweet modern drum sound on Metallica st. Anger. Never tired of that snare sound.

 

Santana "Para Los Rumberos"

 

Ghost In The Machine

 

Lots of great jazz drum recordings, but sticking with rock:

Recording: Steely Dan, Aja. No matter who is playing on any particular track, miking is nearly perfect. Sounds incredible on a $10K + system, but also great on a $500 rig.
Live: Michael Jerome, backing Richard Thompson. Miking and mixing by RT's brilliant sound man Simon Tassano.

 

Everything on that record is perfect. I'm not sure how any one team could have come up with this collection of amazing songs, amazing performances, amazing production, and amazing instrument sounds. I listen to the hi-def version of this record often. It blows my mind. This is the "Aja" for my generation (with better songs...sorry Steely Dan fans...Wildflowers smokes...).

 

Drums are so important in rock music! I love hundreds of takes of drum kits. Some of them are:

• Lars Ulrich kit on "Enter Sandman" (Metallica)
• Phil Collins kit on "Fading Lights" (Genesis)
• John Bonham "downstairs" kit on "When the Levee Breaks" (Led Zeppelin)
• Rod Morgesten kit on "The Jelly Jam" (Jelly Jam)
• Jerry Gaskill kit on "Cigarettes" (King's X)
• Ian Paice kit on "Hey Cisco" (Deep Purple)
• Jeff Porcaro kit on "Home of the Brave" (Toto)

... but the best drum kit takes I found are those from Aristocrats, a trio fusion with Marco Minneman on drums. Astounding, terrific, you are in front of him and in a perfect ambient.

 

I always like how the drums drive this song, especially the intro.

 

"When The Levee Breaks" - gets all the acclaim, but it's actually a tiny thin drum sound
"D'Yer Maker" - hardly anyone ever mentions it in these conversations, but HUGE drum sound!

 

Subjective of course:

Nirvana - In Utero
AIC - No Excuses
Jimmy Chamberlin Complex - Streetcrawler
*actual captured sound

 

Wire - "I Should Have Known Better"

Joy Division - "New Dawn Fades"

The Cure - "Fascination Street"

Echo and The Bunnymen - "With a Hip"

The Jesus and Mary Chain - "In a Hole"

Minutemen - "God Bows to Math"

Ride - "Decay"

Slowdive - "Alison"

XTC - "Summer's Cauldron"

The Flaming Lips - "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton"

 

Last week - Randy Peterson from 5 feet away

 

I always thought Nick Mason's kit sounds divine on Pink Floyd's Obscured by Clouds. The track "Mudmen" in particular, always comes to mind as such an ideal sound, especially with the way he plays. The kick and crash sounds like water bursting out of my speakers

 

The snare on S&G's The Boxer.

 

Peart on A Farewell To Kings, Bonham on LZ IV especially Levee, Michael Giles on first two King Crimson albums, Al Jackson Jr's velvety touch/sound with Al Green, Matt Cameron on Soundgarden's Pretty Noose come immediately to mind (apologies if these have been mentioned).

 

Great example

 

Wow--those drums sound impressive even through my laptop speakers!

 

The vinyl, the OJC or the original, sounds even better. This album is one of the most realistic drum sound ever recorded.

 

Simon Phillips most recently with Protocol has some excellent drum sounds (rich tom tones).

 

A Steve Albini job.

 

The time I got to sit 20 feet away from Bill Bruford during an Earthworks performance.

 

Just this morning I was struck by the wonderful palpability of the drum sound on the Impex LP reissue of Monk's Dream.