Ocean Way Drums is coming!

[stephenpaulharper]

Could you do a video of someone playing them on Vdrums?

[NorthSouth]

Where are the audio demos?

Check out the videos I did there a the bottom.

Cool !!
Halfway true the video Dave transformed into Nick.
Way to short Dave, there must be more footage of Nick playing.

[Squids]

Could you do a video of someone playing them on Vdrums?

There already is one on www.oceanwaydrums.com I start off showing the way it is mapped on the V-Drums and then Nick D'Virgilio (drummer who has played with Tears for Fears, Genesis and his own band Spock's Beard) plays some grooves on it at the end. Go to "Dave's Ocean Way Drums Tutorials" here: http://www.oceanwaydrums.com/index.php? ... &Itemid=66 Listen to the V-Drum one which is the second one in the tutorials. I think we'll organize it different so it is easier to find.

[stephenpaulharper]

My bad - my screen cut off the Vdrum part. Very impressive - is there a kit piece list somewhere?

[Squids]

My bad - my screen cut off the Vdrum part. Very impressive - is there a kit piece list somewhere?

No. Allen Sides, who is a highly respected engineer/producer and owner of Ocean Way Studios (who happens to have mixed over 500 albums... can you imagine?) and Steve Miller (engineer for Switchfoot, Dave Mathews Band etc) had their own opinion about that which I respect. I personally like to list out which instrument models and brands I sample. It's fun for me. But their approach was based more on sound and they didn't want any bias toward any brand of drum. They didn't want people to think the Black Beauty was better than a Premier snare that has been used on a bunch of records and no one is ever allowed to change the head! It's actually one of their favorite sounding snares. Little secrets they have... including some of the gear they used which I found very interesting and had no idea about in some cases.

So you get some info about the incredible mics they have and the miking technique but not so much WHICH drums were sampled. I mean, the usual suspects like Yamaha, DW, Premier, Gretsch, Ludwig etc. Some of them were borrowed from some well known drummers that have recorded at Ocean Way over the years. But, the focus in Ocean Way Drums is the engineering and the sound of the studio.

I have to tell you. As much as I have sampled a LOT of drums over the years to be able to have drums recorded so meticulously at a studio like Ocean Way by the top engineers is really incredible. 19 drum kits with both snares on and snares off. 40 gigs of hits at 24bit 48K (and 80 gigs at 96k with the Platinum Edition). It was astronomically expensive to make! It was also difficult to get the studio time because so many artists are always and I mean ALWAYS (the place is booked solid) wanting to get in there. Jon Brion, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Rush, Radiohead... it never ends over there! So, I am just glad we got the chance to capture that sound!!!! I am using it now on projects and it's so incredible sounding and flexible that I can't imagine being without it. It really is like recording your own drums at Ocean Way with the assistance of Allen Sides and access to his private mic cabinet. You know he has arguably the best vintage mic collection in the world? He wrote the book about mics for Mix magazine.

If you get the chance, watch the other videos. You get to see the racks of gear there and even the mics and where they are placed. That one of kind mixing console that's in Studio B is pretty amazing and he explains why.

[stephenpaulharper]

Understood, but can you give any hints about the layouts? I mean do some kits have 5th toms, do we get some splahes and Chinas, piccolo snares, etc? All the kits in the demos and info seem to be very standard, but I'd assume that with 19 different kits there'd be a fair amount of variety.

Thanks.

Steve

[Squids]

Understood, but can you give any hints about the layouts? I mean do some kits have 5th toms, do we get some splahes and Chinas, piccolo snares, etc? All the kits in the demos and info seem to be very standard, but I'd assume that with 19 different kits there'd be a fair amount of variety.

Thanks.

Steve

For a variety of cymbals and kit percussion this will be available in the Studio ProFile series featuring different drummers and their gear. Danny Gottlieb's full collection will have over 100 different cymbals including a lot of rare chinas, rides, flat rides, splashes etc.

On Ocean Way Drums there are no Chinas and Splashes. Just crashes, rides and hats. It IS more standard and the variety again is the SONIC variety of the most common drum sounds for Rock, Pop and R&B which is the music that is made the most at Ocean Way Studios and on records that Allen and Steve work on.

The tom sets are either 3 piece or 4 piece and done in the standard mapping described in the two videos. On the V-Drum Maps even the 3 tom sets are mapped for 4 toms but there are some 4 toms in the first place.

There ARE some piccolo snares. There are deep shell snares too. Again, these guys want you to close your eyes and listen. They don't want you to even be thinking about that stuff. Just think "snare that goes POP" or "Crack!" or "Thud!".

But in terms of deciding what it will offer you as far as TYPES of drum sounds then hopefully this info is helpful. Also, it's ONLY stick and no brushes or hot rods. But there ARE snares on and snares off variations of the kicks and toms. Plus the mic mixing variety is deeper than any other drum product out there. You get two sources of STEREO directs on the snares plus a STEREO bottom snare mic (when have you ever had this option? It's AWESOME especially if it is rare matched vintage mics and proper placement done by an expert like Allen Sides).

Ocean Way Drums is the "Ocean Way" sound. It's a particular flavor but one that some of the biggest artists in the world pay big money for. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, Green Day, Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Jon Brion... they all record in Studio B at Ocean Way for this kind of sound. Big room, bright, punchy and depth, clarity etc. that you get from the gear and acoustics.

However, there are infinite possible "flavors" of sound which is why one sample based product doesn't exclude the usefulness of another. That's why I still praise other products like BFD, DFH and other sample collections. There are some really cool flavors of sound out there for drums these days. In the Studio ProFile series you'll have all sorts of flavors from classic "Bonham" to vintage SOUL to jazz brushes to folk rock hot rods to esoteric cymbals and percussion... roto toms, octabons, timbales and everything under the sun. We "sample everything".

[stephenpaulharper]

However, there are infinite possible "flavors" of sound which is why one sample based product doesn't exclude the usefulness of another. That's why I still praise other products like BFD, DFH and other sample collections. There are some really cool flavors of sound out there for drums these days. In the Studio ProFile series you'll have all sorts of flavors from classic "Bonham" to vintage SOUL to jazz brushes to folk rock hot rods to esoteric cymbals and percussion... roto toms, octabons, timbales and everything under the sun. We "sample everything".

No worries - it'll be easy enough to combine it with BFD or a similar plug for the auxiliary pieces, assuming it's not a massive CPU hog, that is.

[Squids]

Ocean Way Drums Gold is available for pre-order on esoundz: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=1837

It ships THIS month!

[Squids]

Ocean Way Drums Gold is available for pre-order on esoundz: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=1837

It ships THIS month!

Ocean Way Drums ships right after NAMM for anyone who has pre-ordered. There's also a really cool Ocean Way/SR carrying bag (that can fit a laptop and HD) that is going to come FREE with all pre-orders on esoundz so... go for it!