Hello good people of AudioSEX, Can someone tell me how to get these 80's drums sounds heard on The Cure's Disintegration album from 1989. I am very curious and eager to know what drums or drum machine samples and processing can be used to achieve these drum sounds. Details appreciated. Thanks and regards! Example:
If you mean, the "gated drum" sound (compressed reverb with a sharp gate at the end to clip the tails, then a second reverb with the desired tail length and no early reflections), you could always just use Abbey Road 80's Drums for Kontakt. It has three different kits with three different recording styles for each kit: "Gated", sampled regular room ambience and dry.
Boris was a very powerful drummer. I think the secret lies in the technique he used to hit his snare drum. Nobody has ever replicated his drum sound after he left the Cure. Last edited: Apr 27, 2017
I once made something similar with a sample collection of Bob Clearmountain. I think it was AKAI format. Update: EASTWEST Bob Clearmountain Drums 1&2
In the absence of Abbey Road 80's Drums for Kontakt, gated pink noise could help you get closer to the big drums sounds of the 80's.
You could probably replicate the sound via the method I mentioned above using any sort of drum VI, drum machine or even live kit, though it might just be a lot easier to either download a compatible k'd version of Kontakt and nose around for the library, or just download the free Kontakt player from NI's Web site and purchase the library outright at a cost of around $99.
You need a Yamaha Recording Custom (aka RC9000), a full set of Zildjian K cymbals (from hihats, to crashes, splash and china) and a sampler full of Synare3-like noises. Native instruments Abbey Road 80s Drums have all this (except the noises). But most importantly, you need Boris Williams's brains and arms !
