Technical Information

Two kits (Rogers and Ludwig), 9 Snares (Ludwig, A&F, Jenkins-Martin/Blaemire, and Gretsch), and Eric’s main three cymbals were captured through a 2016 Spectra Sonics SS100 console (the only one in the world), as well as other world class outboard processors from Sound Techniques, BAE, Universal Audio, Spectra Sonics, and Coil Audio through Burl Conversion at 24bit 96kHz for a full, rich sound.

The Drum Kits.

The Rogers kit is a mid 60s Holiday Model with sizes 9x13, 16x16, and 16x22 toms and bass drum and features a black onyx wrap. This is currently the main house kit set up at Battle Tapes Recording. This is also the kit used on Eric Slick’s Wiseacre album. Additionally, many songs tracked for the Social Cues album were played on this kit.

The Ludwig Kit is a reissue Clubdate kit, but only for the 14x20 bass drum. The two concert toms (10” and 12”) presented in this pack are 70’s Ludwig Vistalite fiberglass drums. (note: concert toms have no bottom heads and typically produce a slightly punchier, less resonant sound than two headed drums). The 16x16 Rogers floor tom was again used with this kit. This is the kit represented in the LOOPS section of the drum sample pack.

And we included three Roto-Tom’s just for good measure (and as a nod to the track Closer To Heaven from Wiseacre). These sound remarkably good.

The Snare Drums.

5x14 2010’s Ludwig Copperphonic - One of Eric’s main gig snare drums and recording snares. The snare has a touch of ring at a low medium tuning and gives a nice body for its size.

5x14 1970’s Gretsch Chrome Over Brass - A staple at Battle Tapes, this snare is usually presented dryly, has 40 strand snares, and packages nicely. There is a hint of ring and a solid thwack.

5x14 1980s Ludwig Brass Rocker - Eric’s choice. A nicely packaged, slightly thinner and sharper snare with good extension. A classic sounding snare!

5x14 1970 Ludwig Acrolite - The workhorse aluminum snare meant to be a student snare but pretty much one of the most flexible snares around. Dry but with some projection, we’ve presented the acrolite as a slightly knocky version, deadend slightly and with a short snare buzz.

5x14 2018 Jenkins-Martin Blaemire-style - Single Strand Spun Fiberglass snare drum. Pioneered by AF Blaemire in the 60’s, these drums are extremely responsive, have a thick low end, and have a dry projection that speaks well in a room. Dry, the tone is tight and bright. Room, the tone is explosive.

6.5x14 2010’s Jenkins-Martin Blaemire-style - The same as above but in a deeper shell. The dry tone is round with a lower fundamental presented. The Room tone is that of a gunshot. This is also the snare presented in the LOOPS folder. Expect an updated, fuller presentation of this snare at some point but all articulations are presented in performance form in the LOOPS files.

6.5x14 2010’s Jenkins-Martin Blaemire-style TOWELED variant - We couldn’t do this without presenting the very hip toweled drum sound. These are very dry, quite dead, with short snare buzz. This also includes all the articulations presented in the other snare drums. ALSO PRESENTED WITH A SIMMONS CLAP TRAP (in a separate folder.)

6.5x14 2018 A&F Raw Copper - This snare has been used on quite a few records at Battle Tapes in the past few years, including Eric’s Wiseacre album. This snare is very thick sounding with slightly rattle-y snares, a low ring, and a fair bit of extension presented here. The snare cuts well against louder guitars and anything you just want to fatten up.

6.5x14 2019 Ludwig Acrolite - A reissue of an oddball size for the Acrolite in the 1970s, this drum is not very much like a 5” Acrolite. The note is typically quite ring-y so we’ve used some deadening here and the note is now quite short. Knocky, slightly boxy, and very punchy are all in the “dry” folders and as you move to the “spiced” hits, you’ll find explosive sounds in the “big” folder.

The LOOPS

Eric Slick playing varying grooves and fills at 65, 78, 84, 96, 110, 128, and 142 BPMS. These are presented in “dry” and “big” formats.

The Formats

All hits are give a few options for you to choose from or blend together. For example, you are given a standard folder with articulations like one shot hits, flams, rolls, and cross-stick. Within these folders, you will find additional folders: “dry” (close mic only), “overheads” (overhead mics only), “rooms” (room mics only), and “big”, which is a blended combination of all of the above. Additionally, these same folders are presented in “spiced” format. These add Jeremy’s post production touches like drum buss compressors and eq’s. These are a lot more colored than the tones presented in the standard folders.

The Microphones

Bass Drum - near port - AKG D25
Bass Drum - center reso head - Heiserman 47fet
Snare Top - Shure sm56 unidyne iii
Snare Bottom - Shure 545 unidyne iii
Rack Tom and Concert Toms - Josephson e22
Floor Tom - Josephson e22 or AKG c414-ULS
Overhead Left - Soyuz 023 Bomblet
Overhead Center - STC 4038
Overhead Right - Soyuz 023 Bomblet
Front of Kit Room - Mic Shop ms47mkii
Back of Room - Soyuz 019 Fet
Above the Piano Bridge Room - Soyuz 012 Tube

The Gear

Spectra Sonics ss100 console- preamps and eq for most of the kit. 3-band eq, discrete, transformer balanced.
BAE 1084 - neve 1084 replica - used on the Fet bass drum mic
Sound Techniques pre/eq - used on the 47 room mic
Universal Audio 1176 Rev A, F, G used on bass drums and mono overhead
Coil Audio CA-70s - used on the far room mic
spectra sonics 610 complimiters - used on the snare mics

Burl B80 Mothership Used for all conversion to the Protools HDX card recording at 24/96