Native Instruments Abbey Road 60s Drums Instruction Manual

USER’S MANUAL

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Native Instruments GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Native Instruments GmbH, hereinafter referred to as Native Instruments.

“Native Instruments”, “NI” and associated logos are (registered) trade marks of Native Instruments GmbH. “Abbey Road” and associated logos are registered trade marks of EMI (IP) Limited. All other trade marks are the property of their respective owners and use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

Manual written by Mirek Stiles and Paul Maurer

Edited by Patryk Korman

Document Version: 1.0 (12/2009)

Product Version: 1.0 (12/2009)

Special thanks to the Beta Test Team, who were invaluable not just in tracking down bugs, but in making this a better product.

Germany

Native Instruments GmbH Schlesische Str. 28 D-10997 Berlin Germany

[e-mail] www.native-instruments.de

USA

Native Instruments North America, Inc. 5631 Hollywood Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90028 USA [e-mail] www.native-instruments.com

© Native Instruments GmbH, 2009. All rights reserved.

Table Of Content

1	Introduction......................................................................................................................			5
2	About Abbey Road 60s Drums............................................................................................			6
	2.1	The Studio...............................................................................................................		6
	2.2	The Team................................................................................................................		7
	2.3	The Kits..................................................................................................................		8
	2.4	The Recording Equipment: Mixing Desks and Recorders...........................................		10
	2.5	Microphones.........................................................................................................		11
		2.5.1	Recording the Gretsch.......................................................................	11
		2.5.2	Recording the Ludwig........................................................................	12
3	The User Interface...........................................................................................................			13
	3.1	Drum Page............................................................................................................		13
	3.2	Mixer Page............................................................................................................		15
	3.3	Options Page.........................................................................................................		17
4	Drum Articulations...........................................................................................................			19
	4.1	Early 60s Kit.........................................................................................................		19
	4.2	Late 60s Kit..........................................................................................................		21
	4.3	Default Drum Mapping: Early 60s Kit.......................................................................		24
	4.4	Default Drum Mapping: Late 60s Kit........................................................................		25
5	Credits............................................................................................................................			26

Abbey Road 60s Drums - User’s Manual – IV

1 Introduction

Abbey Road Studios, the world’s first dedicated recording studios, were opened on November 12 1931. The building is an iconic symbol of the international music industry. The studios have been at the heart of the UK music industry for more than 75 years and have been the location of countless landmark recordings and have pioneered new recording techniques and technology. Today, Abbey Road Studios is one of the most technically advanced recording, mixing and post-production complexes in the world.

For many years, Abbey Road benefited from the talents of EMI’s research and development division, which custom-built mixing consoles and outboard gear to meet the demands and ambitions of the studio engineers and the artists they worked with. Most of this equipment was only available to EMI studios and was never sold commercially. This equipment, combined with the expertise of our engineers and the unique acoustic properties of the studios, enabled what has come to be known as the “Abbey Road Sound”. This sound can be heard on some of the most popular recordings of all time.

Abbey Road and Native Instruments joined forces in 2009 to create outstanding musical instruments based on Abbey Road’s legendary equipment, engineering expertise, and studio acoustics. Combined with the development and design expertise of Native Instruments, musicians can experience a new level of versatility and musicality.

About this manual

In this manual, distinctive formatting has been applied in order to let you recognize certain elements in the text at a glance:

••Text appearing on the screen (labels of buttons, controls, menus etc.) is printed in grey.

••Important names and concepts are printed in bold.

Abbey Road 60s Drums – User’s Manual – 5

2 About Abbey Road 60s Drums

In this chapter, you will find out about Studio Two, the team involved, the drum kits used, and the equipment employed to record Abbey Road 60s Drums.

2.1 The Studio

Studio Two, arguably the most famous studio in the world, has a unique design, acoustic and an unparalleled history of recording. The thick solid wood floor, irregularly laid painted bricks, hanging quilts, bass traps and false dropped ceiling make Studio Two sound like no other. The studio is so good at handling any style of music, from rock and roll sessions through to mid sized orchestras, that the room has remained unchanged since the early sixties.

Artists who have recorded in Studio Two include: Fiona Apple, Kate Bush, The Beatles, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cliff Richard and The Shadows, David Gilmour, Dido, Green Day, Groove Armada, Idlewild, Muse, Oasis, Underworld, U2, Radiohead, Kanye West, and a wealth of film scores.

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Studio Statistics

Height	24ft / 7.31m
Width	38ft 3in / 11.65m
Length	60ft 2in / 18.35m
Floor Area	2131sq ft / 198sq m
Reverberation Time	1.2 sec

2.2 The Team

Abbey Road 60s Drums was recorded by Mirek Stiles and executively produced by Director of Engineering, Peter Cobbin.

Mirek has been at Abbey Road since 1997 and has worked as an engineer on a multitude of pop/rock sessions as well as many different film scores. Projects include: Fiona Apple, Jon Brion, The Beatles: Yellow Submarine Song Track, The Beatles Anthology 5.1 Remix, The Beatles Love, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Mick Jagger, John Lennon back catalogue remix albums (x5), Muse, Paul McCartney, Dave Stewart, Kanye West and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

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Peter is Abbey Road’s Director of Engineering and is one of the worlds top recording engineers. He has been responsible for the remixing of the Beatles Yellow Submarine, Anthology and the John Lennon back catalogue. Other artists Peter has recorded/mixed for include Air, Keane, U2, Panic at the Disco, Amy Winehouse and Kanye West. Peter also works with many of the film industries celebrated directors and composers and has produced film scores such as Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Shrek the Third, Harry Potter (Order of Phoenix and Half-blood Prince) American Gangster, Hell Boy 2 and Terminator Salvation.

A keen user of vintage equipment, Peter is responsible for introducing some of Abbey Road’s best loved equipment to the audio products community in the form of Abbey Road Plug-ins.

Drumming duties were performed by Ralph Salmins, one of London’s top musicians. Ralph has worked for the likes of Tori Amos, Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Macy Gray, Elton John, Tom Jones, Madonna, George Martin, Alanis Morissette, Mike Oldfield and Kelly Rowlands.

2.3 The Kits

Two vintage kits were chosen for the Abbey Road 60s drum project:

The first kit is a Gretsch Round badge White Marine Pearl (Jasper Shell) from the early 1960s. The size of the drums recorded were 24", 13" and 16". Gretsch has been making drums since 1883 with the round badge series being made up until 1971, whereupon the octagon-shaped badge was introduced.

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