Recording Drums at Sunset Sound Studio 3

Max McAllister

6 years ago

The historic Sunset Sound is a world famous studio where some of the most iconic albums of all time have been recorded. Some of these include Prince’s Purple Rain, the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St., the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, Linda Ronstadt’s Don’t Cry Now, part of Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy, Janis Joplin’s posthumously-released Pearl, and hit albums for Elton John, Led Zeppelin, and Van Halen. In addition, the Doors recorded their first two albums, The Doors and Strange Days, at the studio.

Needless to say, the energy at Sunset Sound is incredible! With such a rich history, it’s no wonder we spend so much time at the facility. This time around, we set up in Studio 3, a.k.a. the “Prince Room,” to record drums for a young artist, Luke Underhill. We jokingly refer to Studio 3 as the Prince Room because he tracked much of his work between 1981 and 1987 in the studio, even going so far as to live in the space for stretches at a time. Studio 3 is also the “newest” of Sunset Sound’s studios, having been established in the late ’60s. “New” indeed!

Our drum setup this time around was fairly straight forward with many of the usual suspects: three overheads with a pair of 67s and an 87; top and bottom 421s on the toms; and a 451 and 57 pair on the hi-hat. We did, however, try something fresh on the snare! The go-to 57 was picking up just a little too much bleed, so we opted for a microphone with a tighter polar pattern. What we ended up using was an Electrovoice RE-15. It’s not as bright on the top end as a 57, but it has more body and much more rejection. On snare and guitar cabinet, you can really experiment with whichever dynamic mics you want!

Download Multitracks from Sunset Sound:

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You’ll also see how we shaped drum tones for the track, taking advantage of Studio 3’s lovely API console and collection of outboard gear. As always, it’s a blast working at the historic Sunset Sound!