Rock groups with distinctive drum sounds

[The Keith Moon]

The following bands have their snares tuned some what distinctively and sounds the same in more than one albums, I think. I am not talking about their capabilities but just the drum sound.

The Doors (almost all their albums have the same drum sound)
The Rolling Stones (70's albums from Black and Blue till Emotional Rescue)
The Who (From "Tommy" to "Who are you", the same drum sound)
AC/DC-- all albums from Back in Black, except Blow up your video, which has a different tuning)

(In other words, just from drum sounds I can recognize the bands)

there may be more.

[slingerland755]

Alex Van Halen and his "brown" snare drum sound.

[Drumsword]

Nickleback has a pretty distinct sound I think largely to Chad Kroeger's voice, and Daniel Adair has a pretty distinct kit sound as well.

Alex once said in an interview, in the later 80's He records all their albums using a 6.5X14 Tama Rosewood snare.

[Muckster]

The Outfiled (remember them?).
Billy Squier
Rush
Led Zeppelin
The Who (Moon period).
Cream
Van Halen
Genesis / Phil Collins

[drumhedd]

Led Zep

The Who

Iron Maiden

Tool

Metallica

[what the funk of it]

311. Gotta love Chad Sexton's signature sound. His snare is just cranked. POP!

[razorx]

METALLICA! that's why i dislike most of their stuff
The first few kiss albums

[LM201]

METALLICA! that's why i dislike most of their stuff
The first few kiss albums

Ahhh that metal trashcan

[metal overlord]

Ahhh that metal trashcan

Funny, because it only sounded like that for one album. His snares dom Kill em All - Reload, doesn't.

[LM201]

Funny, because it only sounded like that for one album. His snares dom Kill em All - Reload, doesn't.

Oh yeah you're right. I'm not too keen on Metallica.

But still you can tell it's St. Anger by the snare

[metal overlord]

Led Zeppelin
AC/DC
Metallica
Korn (old Korn)
Slayer
Guns N Roses
Pantera/Hellyeah

alo more really, i can't think of them all

[Ian Williams]

~ Deep Purple / Ian Paice.

~ Black Sabbath / Bill Ward, era.

~ Vanilla Fudge, Cactus / Carmine Appice.

[KCDrummer]

Interesting topic. Looking at the other replies, I'm guessing we're talking about the distintive sound of the DRUMS, not the drummers.

A few that leap to mind are Tool, Dream Theatre, and Pantera. I think a lot of what we're talking about has to do with JUST the snare drum sound, yes? In my mind, toms and cymbals aren't as easy to pin down as someone's hallmark snare sound.

[LM201]

Also the drummer for Anata. I forget his name but his cymbals always sound like crap, so that's how I know.

[Jeremy Bender]

Electric Light Orchestra - Bev Bevan's drums

[The Keith Moon]

Interesting topic. Looking at the other replies, I'm guessing we're talking about the distintive sound of the DRUMS, not the drummers.

A few that leap to mind are Tool, Dream Theatre, and Pantera. I think a lot of what we're talking about has to do with JUST the snare drum sound, yes? In my mind, toms and cymbals aren't as easy to pin down as someone's hallmark snare sound.

yes, u got the point, chief.


Jeremy, yes, Bev Bevan's drums sound different, like beating on 100 snares at one time..., To me the whole ELO music seems overproduced.

[The Keith Moon]

If you listen to Dont Shoot Me I am only the piano Player By Elton... It sounds Nigel Olson is playing rack toms (instead of regular ones), the whole album has distinctive drum sound as well.

[The Keith Moon]

The Police has distinctive drum sound from albums Reggata till Synchronicity, I think it is Piccollo, so light and tight.

However Outlandos D amour has a deeper sound which I like than from all the other albums.

[Mr. Dyck]

Ginger Baker had a very distinctive sound with Cream, I personally don't like it but it's distinctively his. John Bonham's sound can never be mistaken for someone else either. Whether it was the engineering or the way he hit or both, no one seems to be able to recreate his sound. Mitch Mitchell's style definitely led him to have his own unique sound as well.

[Ian Williams]

You could always tell if it was Cream, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Vanilla Fudge/Cactus. All these Bands had their good bits and their bad bits, but they were their distinctive bits or drum sounds!!! on every record they made.

[Jeremy Bender]

E.L.P. had a puchy sound with Carl Palmer's stainless steel shells.

[JerryOnDrums]

Jeff Porcaro!!

Tim Alexander with Primus, for sure. That bass drum/snare drum sound is about as distinct as any, imo.

Matt Cameron with Soundgarden on the album, "Superunknown". Cameron is just a monster all the way around.

Danny Carey at any point in Tool's progression.

[Guz2]

Certain albums from bands do, like A Matter Of Life And Death by Iron Maiden or St. Anger by Metallica (tee hee). And the Sex Pistols, I guess

[hwy145]

Alex Van Halen and his "brown" snare drum sound.

I've heard about Eddie's "Brown Sound" (modified Marshall w/ the Ibanez destroyer, or franken strat), but I've never heard of Alex's snare drum sound (as distinctively loosely tuned as it was) as a "Brown Sound."

[Pachikara-Tharakan]

I like the Piccollo sound of The Police

[G123]

Early Yes had a cleanly engineered acoustic sound. Bruford, acoustically, to the present has had a clean, high-pitched, ringing snare sound that's kind of his own. (forget all the electronic King Crimson stuff. I like alot of it, but it's not distictive)

[ddamm27913]

SLAYER
SLAYER
SLAYER

for god sakes,
slayer.

[metal overlord]

SLAYER
SLAYER
SLAYER

for god sakes,
slayer.

I wouldn't have guessed by your username at all... =P

[AttilaTheNun]

slipknot
hendrix experience
lamb of god

[jimtyler]

The following bands have their snares tuned some what distinctively and sounds the same in more than one albums, I think. I am not talking about their capabilities but just the drum sound.

The Doors (almost all their albums have the same drum sound)
The Rolling Stones (70's albums from Black and Blue till Emotional Rescue)
The Who (From "Tommy" to "Who are you", the same drum sound)
AC/DC-- all albums from Back in Black, except Blow up your video, which has a different tuning)

(In other words, just from drum sounds I can recognize the bands)

there may be more.

The snare sound on "Happy Jack" by the Who was noticeably different. It had a very flappy sound, which I happened to love when I first heard it.

[Class A Drummer]

Definitley Rush and Dream Theater/Liquid Tension. I normally wouldnt say Dream Theater, but after covering a bunch of there music i could spot that drumming from a mile away.

[bonzolead]

The one's I don't. even have to think about (Bonham,Mitchell,Paice,Moon) but also Troy

Lucatta from Tesla, Scott Rockenfield from Queensryche any of Cozy Powell's stuff

Nick Menza from Megadeth, and how about good ole Mick Fleetwood.

Bonzolead

[Strangelove]

All the drummers mentioned are outstanding drummers. But as far as a particular drum sound that stands out? Stewart Copeland's snare is the most likely candidate. Bonham's toms had a sound you don't normally hear in rock and roll. They were tuned higher, more like the big band drummers (Rich, Krupa, Belson). But I can't really think of anything that really stands out from a purely sound standpoint. Most recording engineers insist on that dampened studio sound, which tends to make drums sound so generic on recordings.

[drumtechdad]

Don't worry, pretty soon all live drum sounds will be replaced by samples and they'll all sound alike. What a relief!

[Pachikara-Tharakan]

I really like the drum sound in Rumours- Fleetwood Mac. Wonder what type heads? anyone knows?, again the drum sound in Eagles- Long Run.

[bonzolead]

I really like the drum sound in Rumours- Fleetwood Mac. Wonder what type heads? anyone knows?, again the drum sound in Eagles- Long Run.I'm not sure what heads but there both Ludwig kits.

Bonzolead

[criz p. critter]

I second the Bill Bruford vote. His snare sound on the Yes albums was totally amazing.

[michael drums]

Basically,


It's most, if not all, of the progressive rock bands that have that distinct drum sound. ie...

ELP, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Queen,Yes, Zappa, Genesis, Kansas, Rush, Dream Theatre, Porcupine Tree, etc...

The drums are at the forefront of the music, to keep it "progressing". Hence the word, progressive.

So it's only natural that the drums have a "distinctive" sound.

[synergy]

I had been contemplating this a while- and many of the ones that first came to mind have already been said.

I was watching VH1 classic over the weekend and caught something about a band I had forgetten about recently. I went back to my collection and have been listening to some of thier albums since and the production on his drums is amazing. To my ears it is on par with Bonham.

Now I dont believe he is anywhere close to Bonham but I would have to say Steven Adler from Guns n Roses.

His simple drum part in Paradise City is so clear he sounds like he is playing cannons not drums!

Every time I hear that album I have to stop what I am doing and just air drum!

[LeeLovesSabian]

Probably Dream Theater, and Rush.