Stranded. _____ Let Them Sound Like They Sound.

If I were stranded on a desert island and had only one song with me, it would be "His eye is on the sparrow" by Marvin Gaye.



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I had an epiphony today about the drums, specifically drum sounds.

Nowadays with our recording and production skills we can capture the "perfect" sound of any instrument. For drums, this means that we can isolate each individual piece of the drum kit and eq it to "perfection" as a part, then put them together to create the whole range of the kit.

But here's the thing: nothing sounds quite like the drums on motown recordings. There's something about the snare that kicks into "Stubborn Kind of Fella" that expresses emotion - SOUL - like few drums can. Naturally, it has to do with Benny Benjemin playing on the track, but that's not all. The sound of the drum, though not in "ideal" conditions nor "perfectly eq'd," captures a rare quality that escapes most modern drum sounds. Or consider "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," the ticka-ticka-tic on the rim of the snare in the intro. If it were done today (and it has been), it would sound too polished to make the sense that it does on the original recording.
Two of my favorite artists, D'Angelo and Badu, do a rendition of "Your Precious Love," originally performed by Marvin and Tammy Terrell. The cover comes nowhere near the Gaye/Terrell version, and here's why I think it doesn't: the production "perfection" of the instruments and vocals. If they had recorded it in motown's infamous "Snake Pit" studio, no doubt in my mind it would be exponentially better.

Here's the thing about motown drums: the engineers allowed the drums to sound like drums naturally sound. They didn't put limiters, excessive eq on each part of the kit, or gates or filters or any of that jazz. They just let them be themselves, and by doing so created some of the most emotive drum sounds ever recorded. Who doesn't like the motown sound? Professionals today are still baffled by what those engineers achieved.

Or even consider Rudy Van Gedler and the blue note jazz recordings. He may have put two mics around the kit, total. Listen to how Tony and Elvin sound of those recordings! Or Blakey!

I think we need to reenter a sonic world like motown captured - one where each instrument was allowed to be itself.

Or we could go like the Beatles and get experimental with physical dampening effects instead of by tweaking knobs.

I said tweaking knobs.

Sorry.