Toontrack SDX: Legacy of Rock

Rock Royalty

Drums recorded by one of the most iconic producers/engineers in rock history: Eddie Kramer.

Not many can say that they were there when it happened. Eddie Kramer has been right smack center of it as it happened, making it happen and shaping its very essence with his bare hands for five decades and counting. We're talking about rock - the sound of rock and the deafening impact the craft of engineering, producing and mixing it right has on how it ends up echoing through history. Meet audio visionary Eddie Kramer, the uncrowned king who shaped the sound of the legends that became immortal icons of rock and who in the process became a royalty of rock himself. This is his collection of drums and a true homage to classic rock as we know it.

The Legacy of Rock SDX zones in on Eddie’s formative years in the buzzing sixties London scene and continues on through the seventies. It includes five drum kits, each sourced and tailored to mirror a significant era or sound in Kramer’s remarkable career. All drums were recorded in Kramer’s studio of choice, Studio 1 at AIR in London, and captured through signal chains of vintage microphones as well as handpicked, rare and custom equipment scouted specifically for these sessions.
These drums rock. Take it from the man who only in the first two decades of his career managed to work with The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, record the entire Jimi Hendrix catalog, five of Led Zeppelin’s most pioneering albums and man the board as the original Woodstock festival was caught on tape. Welcome to a bona fide treasure chest of drum sounds - ready for you to hone, mold, and shape to make your own dent in rock history with.

The Amber Kit

This kit represents a reproduction of the live setup that Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham used during the classic "Song Remains the Same" recordings at Madison Square Garden in 1976. The drums, cymbals, timpani, and gong were all sourced to be as close to the original setup as possible. During the recording of this SDX, a considerable amount of time was spent referencing the original video recording. As a consequence, we recorded configurations with snare wires off, mallets, and hands to get all the different sounds that Bonham used during the performance.

The Sparkle Kit

This serves as our tribute to Eddie's studio work with Led Zeppelin in the late '60s and early '70s. Both in composition and sound, this kit is very similar to the setup that was used on Led Zeppelin II, "Houses of the Holy," "Physical Graffiti," and "Coda."

Simply a mind-blowingly big kit that still has that intimate and tight proximity.

The Jet Black Kit

This kit was sourced as a reference to Eddie's work on the "Beggars Banquet" album and is a near-replica of the very drums that Charlie Watts used for the original sessions. Charlie comes from a jazz background and this kit really underlines that heritage. Aside from the brands, sizes, and finishes being historically accurate, also some of the original microphone pre-amps were retrieved from the Helios console residing at Olympic Studio and used in this SDX session.

The Oyster Kit

This is another homage to the "Beggars Banquet" record. A kit hybrid made up of drums just like these and The Jet Black Kit is what Charlie Watts played when tracking the "Sympathy for the Devil" song at Olympic Studios in 1968. This is also depicted in several scenes in the movie with the same name.

The Silver Kit

This setup is a tribute to Jimi Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell and the work Eddie did on the albums they recorded together. Just like Watts, Mitchell was also from a jazz background. To highlight that and as a reference to his unique crossover style, heard on for example "Up from the Skies" featured on the "Axis: Bold as Love" record, we sampled this kit with drumsticks as well as brushes.

Features

• Recorded by legendary producer/engineer/mixer Eddie Kramer in Studio 1 at AIR in London, UK
• Five full kits, all tailored after a significant era or sound in Eddie Kramer's career
• Three extra kicks, six snares, and a wide variety of cymbals
• Includes two timpani and 36" and 60" gongs
• Select kits include brushes, mallets, and hand/finger samples
• Recorded with an additional five room microphones for playback in
• stereo or up to 5.1 systems
• Custom presets engineered by Eddie Kramer
• Includes a selection of drum MIDI inspired by classic songs from Eddie’s discography