Think I found the one you mean:
Super knowledgeable guy, RIP indeed.
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He’s such a funny dude and obviously a legend. I’ve been doing as he suggests, by bringing in the panning of the kit to 70-80% to make space on the sides for other elements and also bringing in the snare verb even tighter.
Interesting one on making sure the kick is hitting louder than the snare on the meters. I always feel like it’s the snare that gets lost in the mix, not the kick. Damn it… now I want these drums.
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Anyone get their license yet?
Been a week now, still waiting on mine.
The only thing missing from the Andy Johns kit is there’s no squeak in the kick drum pedal.
I never bothered switching my platinum samples licenses from my old account to my new one (BFD2->BFD3 era not inMusic) so I’m not sure how Jim Scott drums work in BFD3 but at least in BFD2 the snares needed the velocity->volume perameters tweaked to give a more realistic sense of variation in the volume between low and high velocities. Even though it’s recorded with an amazing amount of RRs the volume between samples isn’t enough. Without this they WILL sound machinegunny even with AMG turned on.
As for the rest, Andy John’s drums are amazing and very hifi, bright and “fancy” sounding, while my favorite are the Joe Barresi drums. All three of these have very deep sampling in terms of RRs and they can all sound completely authentic in or out of a mix, IMO the demos don’t do them justice.
Also another tweak I do when using PS drums (even helps BFD packs too) is altering the hihat fade parameter in the engine settings (to increase the fade time for the muting of open sounds). The most dead giveaway for samples is the instant muting/volume drop of hihats in the overheads/ambient mics, and in the case of some packs you hear it in the close mics too when doing more intricate hihat work.
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Barresi is definitely next on my list, will pick it up immediately if it goes on sale.
Nice tip on the fade parameters. I love that BFD even allows you to edit them, and it’s easy to miss because they’re tucked away in the preferences. The level of customisation and control has pleasantly surprised me several times.
The Platinum Kits are stellar as well as their groove packs. The Evil Joe B kit is ridiculously great. The Andy Johns kits as well. In short, I have most of the products and have not one complaint.
Rail is a busy man. It may take a minute but, worth the wait. He was a huge help a few years back as BFD changed hands from Roli to InMusic. He is a brilliant serious pro.
As a guitarist, hearing AJ speak about recording with JB is an incredibly cool opportunity. He gives a lot of insights into a. the kits b. specific suggestions & the collective of LZ the groups, focus, and attention to detail in creating ART, not a bunch of overly tweaky BS. The insights he shares echo a lot of what Jimmy Page speaks about when tracking guitars and his love of the, & subsequent practice of using, the room sound, multiple amps, and mic placement within the room to get the freaking goods. The AJ kits & presets are stellar capturing a no-nonsense ‘straight-up nailed-it’ mix. When you look at the mixer and effects used in the presets you may notice that there is zero fat, just the basics if ANY at all and they KILL. These kits & presets are truly legitimate environments that allow the curious recordists to go in & fart around and explore & implement recording techniques of the past. This dovetails with room ambience tools like UA’s Ocean Way Studios which also lets you explore ambient sound design on guitar amps, again like Jimmy Page used. Combine this with the BFD & Platinum resources and you are off to the races in your vintage lime green Ford Pinto hatchback. ¢3