Fxpansion BFDDELUXE User Manual

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INSTALLATION GUIDE

Welcome and thank you for purchasing BFD Deluxe Collection! We hope you
enjoy working with such an exceptionally recorded drum library. Please read
through this guide carefully, as the installation process differs slightly from
previous products in the BFD range.

The data on the BFD Deluxe Collection DVDs is compressed (using a zero-loss
algorithm), to facilitate the delivery of the highest possible detail levels.

BFD v1.5 (free upgrade from v1.0) is required to use BFD Deluxe Collection.

Windows installation

• Each DVD contains an installer specifi c to the contents of that DVD. Please
follow these steps for each DVD after inserting it in your DVD drive:

1. If the installer does not auto-run, explore the DVD contents in My Computer
and double-click BFD Deluxe Win Setup.exe to run it.

2. Follow the on-screen instructions and select your BFD folder when prompted.
Click Install to proceed.

3. Select a detail level and click Next. BFD Deluxe Collection can be installed
with one of three detail levels, determining the maximum amount of velocity
layers that are installed for each Kit-Piece on the DVD.
This also dictates the amount of hard disk space required.

Higher detail levels have a higher impact on system resources.

Small: a maximum of 32 velocity layers will be installed
Medium: a maximum of 64 velocity layers will be installed
Deluxe: a maximum of 128 velocity layers will be installed

4. Enter your BFD Deluxe Collection serial / license number (located on the
inside front cover of the digipak containing the DVDs) and click Install.
You will only need to enter your serial for the fi rst DVD you install.

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MacOSX installation

• Each DVD contains an installer specifi c to the contents of that DVD. Please
follow these steps for each DVD after inserting it in your drive:

1. Open the DVD contents and double-click BFD Deluxe Mac Setup.pkg.

2. Follow the on-screen instructions until you are asked to select a destination.

3. Select the destination drive (the drive on which your BFD folder resides) and
click Choose to select the BFD folder. Click Continue when you’ve specifi ed
the correct folder.

4. Click Install to proceed to next step.

5. Select a detail level and click Next. BFD Deluxe Collection can be installed
with one of three detail levels, determining the maximum amount of velocity
layers that are installed for each Kit-Piece on the DVD.
This also dictates the amount of hard disk space required.

Higher detail levels have a higher impact on system resources.

Small: a maximum of 32 velocity layers will be installed
Medium: a maximum of 64 velocity layers will be installed
Deluxe: a maximum of 128 velocity layers will be installed

6. Enter your BFD Deluxe Collection serial / license number (located on the
inside front cover of the digipak containing the DVDs) and click Install.
You will only need to enter your serial for the fi rst DVD you install.

Installation of BFD Deluxe Collection can take several hours, as a large

amount of data needs to be installed, so please be patient.

To register your copy of BFD Deluxe Collection, or If you experience any

problems during the installation, please consult our support page:

www.fxpansion.com/support

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THE BFD DELUXE COLLECTION RECORDINGS

The kits

The kits recorded for BFD Deluxe Collection include several vintage Ludwigs and
some of the best modern kits from a variety of manufacturers. There are also a
number of extra drums and a large assortment of hihats and cymbals (mainly
Zildjian). See the listing on page 8 for full details of each Kit-Piece in the collection.

Ludwig 1970s Vistalite
Ludwig 1960s Mod Orange
Ludwig 1965 Club Date

The Vistalite is the highly-prized clear plastic kit from the seventies, famous for
being used by drummers such as John Bonham. It has two kicks (a 22” and a 24”)
and 6 toms (the second kick and tom set are loaded into BFD’s Mixer Page 2). The
Mod Orange kit is a classic premium quality 1960s Ludwig, while the Club Date
was part of the lower-priced range. Club Date kits used shells which had slight
imperfections, deemed unsuitable for the most expensive Ludwig lines. They also
used cheaper hardware which can be slightly noisier. However, they have a unique
character all of their own.

Gretsch USA Maple Series
DW Black Oyster Pearl
Sonor Designer
Yamaha Pro Tour
BackYard Drums protoype

The Gretsch, DW, Sonor and Yamaha are some of the best drumkits of recent
times, dating from the nineties with the exception of the Sonor, which was made
in 2002. Boutique custom drum manufacturer BackYard Drums has been causing
quite a stir in drumming circles, and supplied their prototype demo kit for the
BFD Deluxe Collection sessions. These sessions, for which the demo kit was
fl own to Chicago from Los Angeles, represent the fi rst time that these exquisitely
engineered drums have been recorded.

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The acoustic space

BFD Deluxe Collection was recorded at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio
complex in Chicago. The Studio A drum room used for the recordings is much
smaller than the Eldorado Studios drum room featured in BFD and BFD XFL. This
gives the Deluxe Collection a tighter and more focused sound than previous BFD
material, something which is especially noticeable on the Room channel.

The PZM channel in the Deluxe Collection is referred to as ‘ambience’ in this
manual, as Altec 150 mics were used instead of PZMs. However, the Altecs still
record the same type of ambience for which PZM mics are normally used. They
were placed on the fl oor, so the ambience captured is more biased towards
the drums, compared to the Room and Overhead mics which tend to be more
sensitive to cymbals. It is a less focused sound than the other mic buses in BFD,
useful for subtle reinforcement of size and distance.

Mics, placement and channel processing

The microphones and preamps used in the Deluxe Collection session also differ
from those used to record previous BFD content. Mic placement and processing of
certain channels was conducted by Steve Albini, and all mics were routed through
the preamps on Electrical Audio’s custom Neotek console. The channels were set
up as follows:

Kick In: Shure SM98

For the Kick In channel, the mic was positioned on the beater side of the head.

Kick Out: AKG D112

A Urei 1176 peak limiter was placed in the signal path. Medium attack/release
settings were used, while the ratio was set to 8:1.

Snare Bottom: Shure SM98

This mic’s phase was fl ipped in relation to the Snare Top mic.