... POORLY RECORDED SONGS THAT ...

Hi Whart

I use tunable systems, so I simply adjust per recording when I want to. Doing this I very rarely experience bad recordings.

It doesn’t matter on what system you play any recording of Ginger Baker’s drums, how you "tune" that system, or at what level you set the volume, his cymbals and drums will still sound terrible.

Here’s an interesting fact: while audiophiles decry compression, it’s use on the overhead mics used to record cymbals results in each tap on a cymbal with the tip of a drumstick (as opposed to striking the cymbal with the shank of the stick) creating a very percussive "click" out of the cymbal. Listen to Jazz recordings from the 50’s and 60’s, you will hear that cymbal sound on many of them. That click is very important in the ability of a drummer to create the very fast swing/shuffle cymbal pattern used in that music, and in Blues and Traditional Country.

Some cymbal makers are renown for their cymbals inherently producing the "click" sound, foremost amongst them the K. Zildjians made in Turkey. That was the cymbal preferred by many of the old school Jazz drummers, Elvin Jones, etc. Being hand made, each and every K. Zildjian sounded different, some great, many bad. The best drummers know the sound they are looking for, and hand-picked theirs from a pile of cymbals. Some drummers either don't know how to listen for cymbal quality (like non-audiophiles and hi-fi gear), or have "bad" taste. That may make me sound like I think my opinion is the last word, but you'd be surprised by how universal that opinion is amongst drummers.

Rock and/or studio drummers whose recorded drum sound features that cymbal sound include Jim Gordon (Derek & The Dominoes. His cymbals and drums so SO good on that album), Levon Helm (The Band), and Hal Blaine (everybody ;-) . Now listen to Ginger’s cymbals and drums. Trash. No offense, Ginger Baker lovers!

Two albums with great music but horrid drum sound are the debuts of The Who and Nick Lowe, both of which have drums that sound like garbage cans crashing down a flight of stairs.