70s Prog Drumming to Modern Ears

King Only wrote: On many modern productions you are not hearing the actual sounds of the drum kit. You are hearing samples that are placed there by the studio engineer, using digital audio software (for example Pro Tools). All the original drum sounds are removed and replaced with 'perfect' samples to create 'consistency'. The engineer will often also 'correct' slight timing errors. Sometimes these things are done without the knowledge of the drummer or the band. I sometimes work in recording studios and I have seen engineers do this, sometimes they have replaced EVERY SINGLE SOUND, i.e absolutely none of the original recording of the drums were used in the finished recording. If you want technical details, check the link below from Sound On Sound magazine (a magazine for professional sound engineers): http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar11/articles/cutting-edge-drums.htm

A very interesting article, thanks for posting it, and eye-opening for those frequent discussions regarding the soul-less, sterile feel of many modern albums. Modern music release is much like professional photography, everything is photoshopped to some extent.

Gerinski wrote: ... He may not be the subtlest of drummers and improvisation was never his strong point, he always liked having everything precisely calculated, but what he lacks there he compensates in other areas. In my book he deserves definitely as much credit as those more jazzy drummers mentioned by Pedro.

Weird ... only robert Wyatt and Pierre Moerlin, could be considered having anything to do with jazz, and Pierre, was not a jazz drummer ... he had his degree in music and was a master musician ... and this is probably what got him bored in GONG and everywhere else ... he was not interested in being the "drummer", or the time keeper! Robert, specially if you read his book, liked jazz, but to say that he was a jazz drummer is very weird, when he will tell you that the only thing that could handle the fact that he couldn't drum, was some kind of jazz stuff ... he says on his book that he always had a problem with thinking that he was not a good musician, but no one said a whole lot about the fact that he was one of the best at experimenting and going off the left field somewhere, and help create something else totally different, which worked in the early days, but was almost diametrically opposed to his love for pop music! (all from the book!!!!!!!!)

The others, are pure rock drummers. Coughlan with Caravan with a magnificent touch, just pick up "For Girls Who ... " and "Better by Far" ... and that is not jazz drumming ... that is pure "attention" to the song itself and highlighting the words and feelings! Had nothing to do with "timing, as it were.

Mani is the odd one out, and he has said that he does not play rhythm, and if you check out his early stuff, specially, he is soloing with the guitarist and on his own, and NEVER with the bass player, which even the BASS magazines tell you is the wrong thing to do! Mani could be said to be an instrument, and the drums were incidental ... but a very important part of the whole thing, but not as "drums" ... but in helping create its totality. This he learnt from his early days of free forming things, which got the description of "krautrock", instead of "kozmiche music" which Guru Guru ... might not have been considered ... except as a very trippy, far out, power rock band. I would say that if there was a drummer that helped him, it would have been the one behind Jimi, when it counted (early days), which helped give Jimi the freedom to fly ... and the flight, is what Guru Guru was all about in their first 5 albums! ... Ax Gernrich is as good, if not better than Jimi and Mani supported it.