JSD Miles Macpherson Drums

The Miles McPherson Drums library is a collection of recorded, edited and mixed drum samples for the Native Instruments Kontakt platform. The collection comprises two sampled kits, a Yamaha and 1972 Rogers kit recorded at Starstruck Studios, Nashville and Miles McPherson's personal studio (respectively); each performed by acclaimed pro drummer, Miles McPherson (Kelly Clarkson, Paramore).

Includes:

• Two Kontakt Instruments, one for each kit. 6 GB Download.
• House Kit and Studio Kit. Details below.
• Ultra Realistic Drum samples performed by Miles, Engineered by Joey
• Right and Left hit articulations, Snare Wires on and off, Full Kit Bleed.
• Intelligent switching for automated R/L triggering.

HOUSE KIT

Drums: 1972 Rogers Kit
Recorded at: Miles McPherson’s Personal Studio
Drummer: Miles McPherson
Engineer: Joey Sturgis

"The kit we used for this session is the kit I received for Christmas from my folks when I was 13 years old. It was my first kit and consequently still my favourite. It originally had a 22" inch kick, but I found a white, 14" x 24" Rogers shell on eBay that was made in the same year as my kit; 1972. I stripped the hardware from the 22" and stuck it on the 24". I’ve been using this 13", 16", 24" configuration for about a decade now.

This kit was sampled using Yamaha hardware, DW pedals with a DW beater, Remo coated emperors on toms, Remo clear Powerstroke Pro on kick, Remo Controlled Sound Black Dot on snare, and Vater 55BB wood-tip sticks.

For cymbals we used all Meinl Byzance series crashes, hi-hat, ride, and a china. 15” Medium Traditional hats. 19” and 20” Medium Brilliant Crashes. 24” Medium Traditional Ride and an 18” Dark China.

We mic'd the kick with a D112 on the inside and a Yamaha sub-kick on the outside. The D112 is going through a Daking mic pre and eq. Also going through the Daking’s are the snare top and both toms. The Daking’s offer an incredible amount of clarity, but most importantly, an unparalleled fatness, especially on toms using the Sennheiser 421's.

In addition to the SM57 on snare-top through the Dakings, we used a Shure Beta 56 on the bottom of the snare. Not crazy different from a 57, but we thought it suited this scenario better.

On hi-hat, we used a Neumann KM184. Definitely my favourite mic for the job. Jason McGerr of Death Cab For Cutie needed my studio one week when I was out of town, and when I returned weeks later, I found a pair of vintage AKG 452s sitting on my desk as a “thank you” gift from Jason. I’ve been using them exclusively on overheads ever since. We ran those through the Chandler LTD-1’s which are essentially excellent versions of a Neve 1073, and they work quite well with the 452s.

On rooms, we used a pair of Cascade Fathead ribbon mics. These were running through 2 channels of the UA 4710 mic pre which also has a fixed ratio, 1176 style compression option which we used to kiss the rooms a little before they headed off to the Distressors for the real squashing. In addition to the Fatheads, there are a couple of SM57s sitting about a foot off the ground on either side of the kick as “close rooms.” These basically just get destroyed with compression and offer a nice low-mid punchiness to the whole kit when blended in correctly to the overall mix.

The deceptively small room features a wacky, painted hardwood floor, an 8x8ft curved diffuser on the wall opposite the kit, a 6x4ft cloud suspended above the kit, and 4 panels on the walls on either side of the overheads. This kit accurately represents my sound in my studio, because well... it is!" - Miles Macpherson

House Kit Info

Kick: 24x14" w/Remo Clear Powerstroke Pro
Snare: 14x6.5" Gretsch New Classic Brass w/Remo Coated CS Black Dot
Rack Tom: 13x10" 1972 Rogers w/Remo Coated Emperor
Floor Tom: 16x16" 1972 Roger w/Remo Coated Emperor

Cymbals:

• 15” Meinl Byzance Traditional Medium Hi-hats
• 19” Meinl Byzance Brilliant Medium Crash
• 20” Meinl Byzance Brilliant Medium Crash
• 24" Meinl Byzance Traditional Medium Ride
• 18” Meinl Byzance Dark China

Microphones:

• Kick - AKG D112 (In), Yamaha Sub Kick (Out)
• Snare - SM57 (Top), Beta 56A (Bottom)
• Toms - Sennheiser 421s
• Hi-Hat - Neumann KM184
• Overheads - AKG 452s
• Close Rooms - SM57s
• Rooms - Cascade Fatheads

Outboard Gear:

• Chandler LTD-1, Daking Mic Preamps, UAD 4710, Empirical Labs Distressors, DBX 166L

STUDIO KIT

Drums: Yamaha Kit
Recorded at: Starstruck Studios, Nashville Tennessee
Drummer: Miles McPherson
Engineer: Joey Sturgis

"If I'm honest, this kit is somewhat about promoting my own agenda. I'm a fan of heavier music and I'm a fan of big drums, but I don’t feel like it’s often enough that the two coexist. When Joey and I were talking about doing this library, this kit immediately sprung to mind. It’s a combination of my last two touring kits. My Maple/Birch customs that I used with Kelly Clarkson and the Club Customs I had for Paramore.

The kit is a 24x18" Maple Custom bass drum, 13x9" Club Custom rack tom, 16x15" Club Custom floor tom, and an 18x16" Club Custom floor tom. The snare is a chrome-over-brass 14x6.5" Paul Leim signature. This snare drum has handled 95% of my workload for the last 5 years. It's my baby! The Club Custom toms are 6-ply Kapur wood, which gives them a warm, dark, and distinctly vintage character.

For this library, I truly wanted to marry huge, dark, older sounding drums with the best of the best in modern and high-end mics and signal processing. The cymbals that I felt best paired with this direction were all my biggest Meinl Byzance cymbals. 21” Medium Traditional Crash, 22” Medium Traditional Crash, 24” Medium Traditional Ride, and 16” Medium Traditional Hi-Hats. We also included an 18” Extra Dry Thin Crash and an 18” Vintage Series Trash Crash to replace the traditional role of a china.

Over the last few years, I’ve done a significant amount of work at Starstruck studios, and it's one of my favourite rooms in town. The last thing I tracked there was Kelly Clarkson's #1 single, "Catch My Breath." Great mic selection, an SSL 9000J series console, and a ton of killer outboard gear. It was an obvious choice for this library.

As result of being able to utilize the tracking room’s nearly 1,100 sq. ft., we were able to get a variety of room sounds from different pairings of mics that really make this library unique. With this room and this kit, we were able to achieve exactly what I was hearing in my head for this kit without cutting any corners, and I couldn’t be happier." - Miles Macpherson

Studio Kit Info

Kick: 24x18" Yamaha Maple Custom w/Remo Coated Powerstroke 3
Snare: 14x6.5" Yamaha Paul Leim Signature w/Remo Coated CS Black Dot
Rack Tom: 13x9" Yamaha Club Custom w/Remo Coated Emperor
Floor Tom 1: 16x15" Yamaha Club Custom w/Remo Coated Emperor
Floor Tom 2: 18x16" Yamaha Club Custom w/Remo Coated Emperor

Cymbals:

• 16" Meinl Byzance Traditional Medium Hi-Hats
• 21" Meinl Byzance Traditional Medium Crash
• 22" Meinl Byzance Traditional Medium Crash
• 24" Meinl Byzance Traditional Medium Ride
• 18" Meinl Byzance Extra Dry Thin Crash
• 18" Meinl Byzance Vintage Trash Crash

Microphones:

• Neumann FET47
• AKG D112
• Shure SM57
• Sennheiser MD421
• AKG C414
• AKG C-24
• Coles 4038
• Shure Green Bullet
• Neumann SM69

Outboard Gear:

• Shep SN8
• Neve 1073
• API 512
• V72
• Chandler TG2
• API 550A
• GML 8200
• API 560
• Manley Vari-Mu
• Avalon 2055
• Focusrite Red 3