Recording is a different animal….plain and simple. At it’s best you capture raw emotion that will hit the listener squarely in the chest and at it’s worst it’s wet toast. One of the hallmarks of a great recording is that it not only bears repeated listening but that it actually get’s better with each listen.
So what does that mean exactly. Let’s start with the idea of bearing repeated listening. Unlike a live show that happens and then is gone, a recording is there for posterity and can be picked apart by the listener. What you don’t want is the listener to slowly realize with each listen that there are problems. That maybe the vocal is floating sharp here or there and that one tom has a weird decay every time it’s hit.
What you do want is for the listener to slowly key in on all of the little intricacies that are really making the magic. To realize how rich and thunderous that one tom is, and how masterful the vocalists command of their delivery is. Which brings us back to why we suggest that you use our kit, which is simply that it is DIALED. We’ve been recording it for 12 years and we’ve found all of it’s sweet spots. We keep fresh heads on it and we’re obsessive when it comes to tuning. The end result is a kit that records beautifully and makes a wonderful foundation for the rest of the instrumentation.
We’re not going to be ridiculous and tell you that we aren’t open to using a different kit because that’s not the case. We know there are specific occasions when another kit just fits the bill better, or times where the emotional payoff of knowing your baby is on the record trumps all. When those cases arise we will 100% work with you, but when possible and when it’s the right fit we’ll be pushing to use our Thumper…because it Thumps.
