Re-creating the drum sound of 'Dreams' by Fleetwood Mac

[Maximillion]

I was wondering if anyone out there has some info on how the original drum sound was done, and/or how to get a similar vibe going.

Obviously on this track we have a killer drummer; recording chain, lots of tubes and transformers, great mix desk, engineer, mixer, etc.

I also read that their master tapes became highly degraded and lost a lot of high-end. And that they re-tracked the drums but you can still hear the bleed-through of the original drums through Stevie's vocal mic (since the vocal take you hear is the scratch-track she laid down).

Not sure what of that is true and what impact it actually ended up having.
But they sound so warm and mid-rangey and present.

Anyway, in order to re-create it - what sorts of things could a home studio-guy do?

[Jack Ruston]

It would be a mistake to spend too much time considering the recording chain, the tubes, the transformers, tape machines etc. It's not that things don't change anything, but the sound of those drums is all about...those drums. You need to get your hands on that sort of kit - it's not a modern, resonant, clicky drum kit...it's an old, dry, dead, contained, woody sound. The easiest place to start is to borrow or rent a Super Classic, or a similar 60's era Rogers or something like that. I'm not sure exactly what those drums were on that recording, but that's the sort of kit that will sound similar, and is pretty much ubiquitous in studios these days. It's tuned quite loose and quite damped. There are not a lot of mics. It's a dry environment. If you get those elements right you will get close to what you hear on that sort of record. Don't worry about the other stuff.

J

[The Korff]

Would taking the resonant heads off the kick and toms help?

[Wonks]

They built a riser to put the drums on to get the sound they wanted.

[Wonks]

Also some guidance here: http://www.soundonsound.com/people/flee ... ur-own-way

[Maximillion]

Thanks for the input, everyone!

I'd love to be able to have the right drum set but I'm just working with drum samples here.
I will see what sampled kits I can get that include those sorts of drums; thanks for the details on that.

Thanks Wonks - I've read that article at least 3 times; love it!

Aside from the drums themselves, what sort of processing (for example: saturation, compression and EQ) would one employ to shape the sound to be similar?

The toms and snare have such a unique character to them; I must have it!!!!

[Dave B]

I'd suggest that you look for the driest possible drum samples with almost no room sound. And then add a tiny amount of ambience to match the room at Sound City. But the current fashion is for more ambient sounding drums so you may struggle to get ones that sound close

[Maximillion]

Ok, cool. Maybe i can find some reverb impulses from Sound City?! ....heh, who knows.
Thanks for everyone's input.