My hybrid drum studio

More than 30 cymbals, including K Custom, K Constantinople, A Custom, Avedis, and K Sweet sets. They are the only part of the kit recorded as acoustic audio, so I choose them for each song. See the whole collection

The 1997 maple shells: a 12x12 rack tom, a 16x16 floor tom, and a 22x20 kick, with Roland PowerPly mesh heads on top and Remo Silentstroke heads underneath. The triggers are Roland’s, an RT-30K on the kick and an RT-30H on each tom. Familiar sizes and spacing let me play the way I always have while keeping shell volume low in the cymbal mics.

The snare does the most detailed work on the kit, so it gets its own digital connection to the V71. Positional sensing tracks where the stick lands on the head, rimshots read how deep they are, cross-sticks switch automatically, and brush sweeps work. The three-ply mesh head sits at an acoustic rim height.

The V71 takes the digital snare plus the kick and tom triggers, records the performance as MIDI, and generates the shell sounds I hear while I play. It is monitored through UA Console and the outboard, never through the DAW. Its onboard library was made with DW, and I added two of Roland’s expansion kits: the DW Collector’s Series Pure Maple Producer Position kit and Slingerland Vintage 1958, a Radio King from DW founder Don Lombardi’s collection. Between them they cover a lot of genres, and any of them can be printed. If a part calls for an extra tom, I can add a pad to the same module.

KM 84-style small-diaphragm condensers. A matched pair usually takes the overheads, and the spacing and height get set for the song rather than left in one position. I’ve tried a lot of overhead mics with only cymbals in front of them, and these have been the best fit for that job.

Cardioid small-diaphragm condensers on the hi-hat and ride for stick definition and bell articulation. They go overhead instead when a song wants a more focused picture, and the WA-84s cover the spots.

A dual-capsule modeling mic. The mic model and polar pattern can change after the take through its plug-in, which is handy when I want options on an extra position.

The API 3124V four-channel mic preamp is the front end for the overhead pair and the two spot mics. Its discrete Class A design and 2520 op-amps give the cymbals a sound I like, while the variable output controls let me manage level into the Apollo.

Sixteen line inputs, which is what lets the cymbal chain, the V71 outputs, and the outboard returns all stay patched at once. I can record what I am monitoring without repatching between takes. When I mix, its outputs and inputs carry the hardware inserts.

The monitor controller for the room. It drives the speakers, takes the returns from the xfilter and the RC-600, and can capture an extra mic position through its clean preamps or a Unison preamp plug-in.

The original Thunderbolt Twin drives my headphones when I mix, with the Cue Mix button engaged and the Slate VSX Immersion One headphones. Its two Unison mic preamps are wired into the patchbay, which gives me two more inputs when a session wants another mic position.

The control layer between the Apollo and the DAW. It holds the input routing, the cue mixes that feed my headphones and the outboard, the cymbal submix, and plug-in chains while I track. Unless we agree on a sound going in, delivered tracks stay unprocessed.

Every mic line, V71 output, and outboard send and return comes through these. Changing a path is a patch cable, not a trip behind the rack. During a mix each processor sits on its own hardware insert, and nothing in the rack runs in series unless I patch it that way.

One on kick, one on snare while I track, each on its own send and return, feeding the drum mix that runs through the API 2500+. British mode when a song wants the snare to sound angry. I can print that sound, keep it to my headphones, or leave it out, and the MIDI performance is identical either way. In a mix, they compress individual tracks or stems.

Stereo EQ for the cymbal submix while I track. Its Passive Massage filter, a passive low-pass with a small resonance at 12 kHz, is what I use to open up the top of the cymbals, and the detented controls make a setting easy to recall. In a mix, it does the same job on stems. It is not on the delivered cymbal tracks.

My primary stereo drum-bus compressor. It pulls the whole kit together on the way to my headphones, and it is available for other stereo compression when I mix. It is not on the delivered cymbal tracks.

Delay, ambience, and texture on its own return, fed from the V71’s faders. Playing into an effect changes the space I leave between notes, so I use it on the take even when it never reaches the delivered files.

Multitrack looping, fed from an Apollo cue and returned to the x8. I use it to build parts in layers while I write.

Pro Tools is my preferred DAW for tracking drums. Playlists and grouped tracks make it easy to stack full-kit takes and compare them. I write, produce, and mix in both. Either way, I can deliver aligned audio and MIDI tracks ready to import into the DAW you use. Software instruments run inside either one, so the same MIDI performance can drive a library kit, a sampler, or something that is not a drum at all.

Multi-mic recordings of real kits in real studios. Every shell kit in the Sessions page stems player is a stock preset from it, printed from the same MIDI, and it is one of my options when I print kick, snare, and tom stems.

Recorded to 2-inch tape with vintage gear, from the same company whose Trigger plugin is widely used for drum replacement. Another option when I print kick, snare, and tom stems, alongside Addictive Drums 2 and the V71’s own DW library.

My EQ and compression happen on the outboard now, so the plug-ins are mostly for color: rooms, preamp character, and saturation that adds harmonics or a little distortion. They run in Console while I track and in the DAW while I mix. The collection includes Sound City Studios for room sound.

Broadband panels control early reflections, so the overheads capture more cymbal and less room, and the monitors give me a clearer picture when I mix.

Near-field monitors with a subwoofer underneath, run from the Apollo x8. The sub fills in the low end small monitors leave out, which matters for kick and bass decisions.

Open-back planar magnetic headphones running the VSX Platinum room and speaker models, fed from the Apollo Twin. I use them to check a mix somewhere other than my own room.