Abbey Road Modern Drummer

With the power of STUDIO DRUMMER, ABBEY ROAD | MODERN DRUMMER puts world-class contemporary drums at your fingertips. Two premium drum kits, recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, deliver powerful, versatile drums for contemporary rock and pop – well-rounded, detailed, with a crisp, airy top-end and a perfectly-formed low-end with plenty of sub-bass. Command your own session drummer in the form of a well-stocked, versatile Groove Library, and fine-tune your submix with the detailed Mixer Section and class-A studio effects.

ABBEY ROAD | MODERN DRUMMER runs in the free KONTAKT PLAYER and KONTAKT.

All drums were recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, UK, using period equipment and recording techniques.

An iconic symbol of the music industry since 1931, Abbey Road has been the location of countless landmark recordings by artists such as The Beatles, U2, Kate Bush, Oasis, Kanye West and Radiohead, to name just a few.

Abbey Road has pioneered many studio techniques and technologies, and is widely recognized as one of the most advanced recording, mixing and post-production complexes in the world.

Create the perfect drum submix completely within the instrument! All ABBEY ROAD DRUMMER instruments feature a dedicated Mixer Section and a range of high-quality studio effects, including tape saturation, convolution reverb and three big-league effects: a top-quality studio EQ, a high-end studio compressor and the awe-inspiring TRANSIENT MASTER.

And if time is tight, Mixer and Effects presets provide instant pro sound with precision mic levels, the perfect blend of close and room mics, and just the right effects to set it all off.

ABBEY ROAD | MODERN DRUMMER is about using the very best instruments, recording equipment and techniques to capture the ultimate drum sound. Some techniques used:

- Drums recorded in up to 27 velocity layers, with up to six alternative hits (round robins) per drum

- Separate right and left hand samples for the most common snare, tom, and hi-hat articulations

- Snare bleed was recorded separately, so you can dial in just the amount you need.

- A Yamaha NS10 monitor was rewired and used as a mic on the kick drum to capture sub-bass frequencies

- A mic was positioned to pick up the reflection off the floor from the kick drum for an enhanced kick sound with plenty of sub-bass

- An additional snare was recorded with a splash cymbal lying on it for a unique fizzy sound, great for drum and bass, pop and R&B

Kick: 24" Pearl Reference Kick

Snare 1: 13" x 5.5" DW Edge Snare

Snare 2: 12" x 5" Pearl Sensitone Custom Alloy Steel Snare

Snare 3: 14" x 5" Pearl Sensitone Elite Brass Snare

Hi-hat: Zildjian Mastersound Hihat

Hi Rack Tom: 8" Pearl Reference Rack Tom

Mid Rack Tom: 10" Pearl Reference Rack Tom

Low Rack Tom: 12" Pearl Reference Rack Tom

Floor Tom: 16" Pearl Reference Floor Tom

Cymbals: Modern Zildjian High Crash, Low Crash, Ride, Splash and Sabian China

Kick: 22" DW Collector's Series Kick

Snare 1: 14" x 6" Sonar Artist Bronze Snare

Snare 2: 14" x 5.5" DW Collector's Stainless Steel Snare

Snare 3: 14" x 5" Ayotte Custom Maple Snare

Hi-hat: Sabian El Sabor Hihat

Hi Rack Tom: 12" DW Collector's Series Rack Tom

Low Rack Tom: 13" DW Collector's Series Rack Tom

Hi Floor Tom: 16" DW Collector's Series Floor Tom

Low Floor Tom: 18" DW Collector's Series Floor Tom

Cymbals: Modern Sabian High Crash, Low Crash, China, Zildjian Ride and Istanbul Splash

The drums were recorded with a choice mixture of state-of-the-art modern equipment and highly sought after vintage gear. Abbey Road Studio has one of the biggest mic collections in the world, so the engineers chose their all-time favorites, including the high-end modern Brauner VM1 and the vintage classic Neumann U47.

Preamps included the clean, punchy SSL 9K, Summit Audio TPA 200B, the extremely rare EMI TG12428, and the built-in preamp on the ancient REDD.47 desk. Compression and limiting was handled by Empirical Labs’ EL8 Distressor and a vintage Fairchild 660. Finally, the analog signals were translated into the digital domain using state-of-the-art Prism ADA-8 A/D converters.

Detailed specs about recording equipment...

The grooves library gives you a personal session drummer — to play the drums of the era in the styles of the era.

ABBEY ROAD | MODERN DRUMMER contains 1,000 grooves, divided into five genres: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock, Soul / R&B, Nu Metal and Drum and Bass, with a choice of fills and variations for each groove.

Especially if you’re not a drummer, using grooves is a quick and efficient way to produce authentic-sounding drum tracks. Find a beat you like, then simply drag and drop grooves and fills into your host sequencer to create a new MIDI pattern.

All patterns were played live by pro drummers for organic, physical authenticity. This is important because if you’re after a natural sound, you have to be aware of the real-life physical constraints of real drummers. Hit the crash, snare and floor tom all at the same time? No way.

Played grooves also possess an inherent feel and character, which is difficult to recreate with a mouse and the computer keyboard.

You can adjust the grooves within the instrument. The Tightness control lets you tweak the feel of each groove in real time, from gridded precision to enigmatic slack. The Swing control adds swing, changing a straight rock beat into a loping shuffle at the twist of a dial.

Customizing the grooves themselves is simple. Once it’s in your sequencer, the groove shows up as a MIDI pattern, so you’re free to add beats, strip it down, shift and move about as required.

The Mixer Section provides ultra-precise control over the mic levels on each drum, plus overheads, stereo room mics and any other specialist mics used during the recording process. The Mix Presets put pro sound just a click away, and provide a perfect starting point for detailed tweaking.

Each snare provides faders for top and bottom mic, plus adjustable bleed level. Here, ‘bleed’ refers to how the rest of the kit rattles the snare wires — raise the bleed level for more realism.

Each drum has its own effect chain with a selection of routing options. All the updated ABBEY ROAD DRUMMER instruments include a top-quality studio EQ – a uniquely musical 4-band EQ with switchable fixed-bell curves on the low and high bands, plus adjustable Q settings on the midrange.

Also available as a fully-fledged product in its own right, this powerful compressor adds presence and drive to your drums without blurring the detail. And it’s not just for bus compression – this studio compressor is available on each of the mixer tracks.

Another premium-grade effect, also available separately —TRANSIENT MASTER is an incredibly musical and versatile tool for re-shaping sounds. Emphasize attack to make a drum hit harder, or shorten the resonance tail of a drum that rings too long. Bring drums to the front of the mix or smooth out spiky drums without touching the levels.

Like all the others, this effect is provided on each individual mixer track. By simulating the natural, harmonic compression of analog tape, the Tape Saturator adds a pleasing warmth to your sound. And pushed a little harder, it delivers a smooth, organic overdrive.

The drums were recorded in perfect acoustic conditions, and the overhead and room mic options on the mixer provide tight control over the room sound. But the updated ABBEY ROAD DRUMMER instruments take things one step further, with an integrated Convolution Reverb — 30 high-end impulse responses ranging from small rooms to big halls, for extra space and depth on your drums.