ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC
STUDIO DRUM MACHINES
The PA setup at Monnow Valley, March 2016
Electro-Acoustic was born from an idea to make a different studio drum instrument - not
an acoustic drum VSTi, with thousands of layers and mic channels, sounding totally
realistic, but something with a similar spec, focussed toward electronica, hip-hop and pop
production. Since vintage drum-machine sounds are still the main currency in those forms
of music, we wanted to see if it was possible to add an acoustic, organic edge to those
classic sounds and create something new.
The first stage was to extensively sample a selection of drum-machines at line level, using
a high-grade mastering AD convertor. In order to make this a comprehensive set, every
setting possible on each unit was sampled. For example, in the case of the TR-808, each
of the 11 marker positions around each knob was sampled, with every combination of
every other knobs 11 positions. This was an exhausting process, and one which results in
the 808 kick drum occupying 1GB of data by itself.
March 2016: a studio session was booked at Monnow Valley Studios in Wales, UK: a
studio with a rich rock heritage. The idea was to set up a club PA as a ‘drum-kit’ to project
the sound in a broadly similar way into the room, to capture the room ambience.
An Ampeg Bass cabinet with a valve-head was set up in the studio’s amp cupboard, and
driven very hard. Additionally, an single channel was taken through the studios
Thermionic Culture Rooster preamp - with some ‘attitude’ dialled in. A rattling window
was mic’d with a contact mic, and a stack of unused toms was placed at the far end of the
room and mic’d up to capture drum shell resonances.
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