The use of drum samples to replace recorded acoustic drum sounds is a controversial subject: after all, why go to great lengths mic'ing and recording your kit only to replace the sounds entirely? Glenn Fricker isn’t known for holding back his opinions, and the YouTube star has long been vocal about his dislike for this process. Until now, that is, as the Spectre Sound Studios mainman has unveiled a drum sample pack of his own, with the cheekily titled, Ironic Drums accompanied by the tagline ‘drum samples for people who don’t like drum samples’.
Ironic Drums was recorded at Round Table Recording Company studios, Indianapolis by Glenn Fricker and Jackson Ward. It features samples of a Tama Starclassic Birch/Bubinga shell pack (22”/10”/12”/14”/16”), as well as Ludwig Black Beauty (14x6.5), Pearl Music City Custom Reference Pure (14”x6.5)” and PDP Concept Select Bell Brass (14”x6.5”) snares, with three sampled tunings for each snare drum.
Given the intended use of the pack - embellishing and augmenting your existing drum recordings - Ironic Drums doesn’t feature any cymbal samples, although Fricker hints that this could be in the pipeline for a future product.
The pack is offered with raw and processed versions of the samples, giving you the flexibility to craft your own sound and processing chain, or start with some pre-processed sounds for faster use. The samples are compiled as .wavs, with TCI files also included for users of Slate Trigger.
In a video for the release (above), which carries the tag line Fricker explains how he began to change his opinion on the use of drum samples after an interview with Megadeth mix engineer, Paul Lani who revealed that the drums on Peace Sells…but Who’s Buying? were in fact a combination of Gar Samuelson’s acoustic kit and some layered samples.
“Now, that’s one of my all-time favourite records, and as it turns out it had some very rudimentary samples blended in with the real drums.”, says Fricker.
“Look, I get it.” Fricker says in his video, “Most people out there don’t have access to the room, the mics and preamps to record live drums, much less mix them. Now, before you all start screaming ‘You f***ing sellout!’, what I’m about to unleash here has been requested by many of you guys out there, and that is a set of SMG drum samples.”
Ironic Drums is available now at an introductory offer price of $47 for the next two weeks (usual price, $60). For the full list of gear, signal chain and to purchase Ironic Drums, visit Spectre Digital’s website.
