Tracking Drums for the Rocking Nashville Session

When we went to track drum tracks for our Pure Country Series, one location was the only one even mentioned: Nashville. Sure, everyone knows that, right?

But, while in Nashville, we learned a few things that go well beyond country music. We learned the level of musicianship in town is unsurpassed – walk into any club, bar, or honky-tonk and you’ll see and hear world-class players on every instrument. We learned that musicians in Nashville are extremely efficient and productive – when the clock is running, work gets done. We also learned that Nashville is a great rock town as well as other styles you’d never expect from the capital of country music.

The room we booked was a fantastic room for tracking live drums. Beautiful, to be sure, but more importantly the room’s tone was warm and rich. It was an ideal size for capturing drums with plenty of live resonance but not exactly the hugest sound you could ever want. Nice and lively, but definitely defined.

As for the drums, the studio had an incredible-sounding house kit (sometimes not always a sure in many rooms). We used a timeless workhorse of a drum kit – the Yamaha Recording Custom drum set — and dialed in a great, live drum mix in one of the best-sounding (as well as best-looking) drum rooms in town. We added our our snare to complement the kit – a maple Craviotto Snare Drum. A well-conditioned API board was driving a wide-array of mics as we captured the sweetest subtleties of live brush work as well as the thick, punchy country, country-rock, and rock drum tones you’ve heard on countless country-rock hits.

Unfortunately, like a lot of the great recording spaces, it no longer is available for recording and tracking. A few shots of the space and the kit (described below):

These Rocking Nashville Sessions remain some of our favorite sounding drum tracks to this day and include the following Beta Monkey drum loop and sample collections:

Bluesy-Rock, Blues Drum Loops

Drum Werks XII: Blues12/8 blues grooves, half-time shuffles, blues-rock shuffles – Get out the guitar and get ready to lay it down to some greasy blues goodness!

This essential set of blues drum styles, from laid-back 12/8 to blistering uptempo shuffle feels, will inspire new blues tracks. 650+ drum loops for blues with all the traditional must-haves: shuffles, 12/8 blues grooves, half-time shuffles, blues-rock shuffles, uptempo boogies and more!

Drum Werks XII is for the bluesman in all of us.

Hard Rock Drum Loops

Hard Rock Drum Loops - Drum Werks XIDrum Werks XI: Rock – With 550+ big rock grooves, Drum Werks XI serves up rock and hard rock from 100 BPM through 200 BPM. With a huge, open drum mix, we took advantage of one of the best drum rooms in Nashville to make your rock drum tracks come alive.

The foundation of any big rock song is the drum track. And, if you’re looking for classic rock, you need big and bold acoustic drums, recorded in the right room with the right attitude. The drums need to ring and sing, no excessive dampening required. The drums need to project and have weight. The combination of the kit and room we used for recording ensured we captured the drum sound rock artists are looking for in their tracks.

Start your next rock songwriting project off right with the Drum Werks XI UpTempo Rock Sample Collection.

Hard Rock Drum Loops

Drum Loops for Hard Rock, Rock - Drum Werks IXDrum Werks IX: Rock – Big rock drums – that is what Drum Werks IX is all about. We took a Yamaha Recording Custom kit, went into one of Nashville’s best drum room and what did we create?

A powerful collection of tasty rock drum loops!A versatile set of rock drum loops, from basic AC/DC 2 and 4’s to advanced feels, Drum Werks IX Power Rock Collection is a complete groove sample package for all rock musicians looking to write powerful rock tracks that groove hard.

Whether you’re into classic rock, modern rock, or heavy instrumental rock, Drum Werks IX is all about the glory and power of rock.

Country Drum Loops

 Swinging Brushes Pure Country V Swing Brush Drum LoopsSwing Brush Drum Loops - Pure Country V – We captured an extensive collection of drum loops featuring brushes that swing.For artists who write traditional folk music, bluegrass, rockabilly and honky-tonk, or anyone needing the subtle and shifting swing of live brush work.

There is no substitute for the real thing, especially when it comes to brushes. You need the right kit and, perhaps more important, the right player. With a seasoned Nashville pro behind the kit — with hundreds of pro recording sessions under his belt, you’ll clearly hear the difference. This is the kind of playing that “cuts it” in Nashville, where the feel and vibe has to be “there.” Nashville is full of incredible musicians and we were lucky enough to get one of the town’s premier studio drummers.

Over 350 acoustic brush drum loops with true Nashville sounds and drumming ready for your next songwriting project.

3/4, 6/8 drum loops with brushes - Pure Country IVPure Country IV 3/4 and 6/8 Brush Drum Loops – A focused collection of 3/4 and 6/8 brush drum grooves for multiple styles of country music as well as folk, ballads, and bluegrass. These are the feels that truly capture classic country. While much of modern country never touches anything outside of 4/4, any true country artist knows the rich tradition that goes well beyond what is currently on the airwaves and streaming today! And, that includes time signatures outside of 4/4 to capture those country waltzes and other feels that move to a different beat.

Featuring brush loops exclusively in 3/4 and 6/8 time, Pure Country IV gives songwriters a versatile drum collection of acoustic grooves, fills, one shots and single hit samples with over 340 brush and stick combo drum loops.

If you need brush drum loops, this one is really hard to beat as an essential addition to your songwriting toolbox.

Brush drum loops - Pure Country III Pure Country III NASHVILLE BRUSHES™ Country Brush Drum Loops – If you want to write country music, all roads lead to Nashville. And, that’s exactly where we went for the drum recording sessions that became Pure Country III: Nashville Brushes™. This all-brushes collection of country drum samples is the real deal in country drums. Taken form the same recording session as Pure Country IV and V, this one is focused on those timeless, straight-ahead country grooves that everyone knows, whether you’re a fan of country or not. We fired up some trainbeats, some Johnny Cash type vibes, and everything else we could think of that would be essential country brush work and did one thing: go to work!

This sample pack brings the authentic sounds of Nashville with a seasoned veteran behind the drumkit, recording a lifetime of country music experience in this library of brushed drum parts for traditional styles of country and country-western music.

This complete country songwriting package offers over 400 acoustic brush and stick drum loops and a complete drum sample set.

Modern Country Drum Loops - Pure Country IPure Country I: Modern Country Drum Loops and Samples – Big, rocking drums that will power your drum tracks for rock, country, or anything in-between. Write modern country or rock? Inspire your songwriting projects with this powerful collection of loops and samples.We went to one of Nashville’s best drum rooms and captured all the glory of the room, the player, and the drums.With over 500 acoustic drum loops in nine (9) different songwriting styles and single hit drum and cymbal samples set, this collection is a must for any songwriter or artists looking to write new music, from home studio demos to professional uses.If you need real country drums, recorded in the heart of country music, then Pure Country I: Rocking Nashville™ will serve your songwriting efforts well.

 

About the Drums Used in the Rocking Nashville Session Dates

The Yamaha Recording Custom drumkit, particularly the vintage 1980s models, stands as one of the most iconic and recorded drum series in modern music history. Here’s a comprehensive overview as well as the many reason why we used it for recording most of the Pure Country Series (all except Pure Country II) as well as a few of the Drum Werks Series (Volumes IX, XI, and XII):

Technical Specifications (1980s Vintage)

Starting life in the mid-1970s, it had set new standards by the early 1980s with its piano lacquered all-birch shells and full-length flush-braced lugs Yamaha Recording Custom review | MusicRadar. The vintage Recording Custom featured:

Shell Construction:

  • Japanese Hokkaido birch shells (six-ply birch construction, later seven-ply for bass drums)
  • Constructed using Yamaha’s innovative Air Seal System and Diagonal Seams
  • Piano lacquered shells, the same lacquering that Yamaha applies to its pianos
  • 60-degree bearing edges

Hardware Features:

  • High-tension lugs with precision-machined lug nuts provide noise-free control, due to their springless casing design
  • Yamaha’s high-tension lugs established one of the principal trends in modern design during the 1980s. Chrome-plated hardware throughout
  • Y.E.S.S. (Yamaha Enhanced Sustain System) mounting on later models

Shell Configuration of Kit Used:

  • Bass drum: 22″x16″
  • Rack toms: 12″x10″
  • Floor toms: 14″x16″ and 16″x16″

Sound Characteristics and Recording Excellence

Yamaha called birch the ‘recording’ wood, focused and punchy, ‘pre-eq’d’, even! The vintage Recording Custom’s sonic signature included:

  • Birch shells produce a low fundamental tone with crisp sound quality and short attack decay making them optimal for recording situations
  • Focused, punchy tone with excellent separation between drums
  • Quick attack and controlled sustain
  • Natural compression that worked well for recording

Studio Popularity Across Genres

The Recording Custom became the go-to studio kit for several reasons:

Rock Music: The focused birch tone cut through dense rock mixes perfectly, providing the punchy, controlled sound that defined 1980s rock recordings. I get that awesome Gadd-esque 80s sound, which can be great in some applications

Country Music: The quick attack and natural dampening of birch shells provided the tight, articulate sound favored in country recordings, where drums needed to sit well with acoustic instruments and vocals.

Session Work: Drummers such as Steve Gadd, Dave Weckl & Vinnie Colaiuta are just a select few of the names who have recorded ground breaking records with iconic drum sounds produced from this very same kit (no, we didn’t use “their” kits, just from the same series!).

Impact and Legacy

Securing Steve Gadd as its main champion was the final masterstroke, Gadd being the most influential drummer of his era. Gadd changed the way drummers play and the 9000 changed the look and sound of drum kits for a decade

The Recording Custom’s success stemmed from perfect timing – it emerged during the digital recording revolution when engineers needed drums that sounded great with minimal processing. The combination of Japanese craftsmanship, innovative birch shell construction, and endorsement by influential drummers made the vintage Recording Custom a studio standard that defined the sound of an entire decade in popular music. 

Undoubtedly, one of the most iconic and recorded drum sets of all-time: Yamaha Recording Customs 

TLDR: The Yamaha Recording Customs are some of the best drums you could ever put under a microphone!