Toontrack has announced the release of the Real to Reel SDX, an expansion for Superior Drummer 3 recorded at Real World Studios by multi-award-winning producer/engineer/mixer Kevin Killen (U2, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel).
This marks another milestone title in Toontrack's collection of SDXs and adds one more legendary name to the Superior Drummer 3 fold. Earlier SDX collaborations include the likes of Elliot Scheiner, James Farber, Frank Filipetti, Hugh Padgham, Al Schmitt, Bob Rock, Eddie Kramer, Michael Ilbert, Tom Dalgety, Randy Staub and many more.
About the Real to Reel SDX
When multi-Grammy-winning, 31-platinum- and nine-gold-album-certified producer/engineer/mixer Kevin Killen was asked where he'd go to embody his vision of this SDX for Superior Drummer 3, there was no question: Real World Studios. Tucked away in the rolling hills and patchwork fields of Box, a small picturesque village just outside Bath, UK, the only thing that gives it away as not being the centuries-old water milling complex it started out as is the state-of-the-art steel and concrete addition that shoots out from the main building. This very space is the brainchild of pop stalwart Peter Gabriel, who in the late 1980s set out to build the studio of his dreams. Since then, it has housed some of the world's most iconic artists – and still does to this day.
Featuring a total of eight complete kits, each handpicked to fit a certain role or sound, this SDX paints an expansive sonic scope. Additionally, three different rooms at the studio were recorded, giving you a width of different natural ambiences and contrasting flavors. In the massive 2,000-square-foot Big Room, with its bare concrete surfaces, steel pillars and open-plan layout, you'll have huge-sounding drums. In the soaring two-story Wood Room – where an interplay of hard stone walls, soft wood floors, ceiling beams and steel walkways shapes the sound – you'll have a naturally diffused and controlled reverb. Finally, as a striking contrast, in the Wood Booth, you'll get those dry and tight but still singing drums only a cramped booth can produce. With the immediacy of the close mics and the many different ambience mic options recorded, you'll be able to dial in virtually any type of sound you can imagine.
To add, all drum recording chains were channeled through a classic Studer A820 analog tape machine, making this SDX a seamless marriage between old and new that has a little bit of vintage, warm and tape-saturated magic in every last drum hit.
Aside from the sounds, an extensive collection of MIDI grooves and fills tailored specifically for this SDX as well as a broad library of mix-ready presets are provided. These presets, available for each kit and configuration, will give you instant and balanced drum mixes by Kevin Killen himself. Use these just as they are or as starting points to venture off from for your very own custom presets.
The Real World Studios truly is a creative haven designed for open-ended musical narratives. That, in short, perfectly encapsulates the stage needed for a drum sample library designed to transcend genres, bridge past and present and cater to unharnessed musical expression.
Feature Spotlight:
- Recorded by Kevin Killen, multi-Grammy-winning, 31-platinum- and nine-gold-album-certified producer/engineer/mixer.
- A total of eight complete drum kits as well as several extra snares, kicks and cymbals.
- Captured in three different rooms at Real World Studios in the UK.
- Selected kits recorded with additional ambience and surround mics.
- Comes with an extensive library of MIDI featuring material tailored specifically for the kits in this SDX.
- Includes a broad collection of mix-ready presets for each kit and configuration.
Price:
Real to Reel SDX is available now priced at $179.
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