Nick Mason

Generally, studio recoded drumming would be perfect because of the combined effort of the drummer himself and the engineers. God knows howmany retakes were done during the recording proceess.
In my book, the drummer is excellent only if he reproduces the same sound like in the album or something different which is interesting when asked to play live.

Pulse album-- basically DSOTM live-- sloppy drumming, ... sorry!!

"A lot of our tracks have sounded a lot better than I thought they would because of recording, mixing, and because I probably didn't hear it that way"-- Charley Watts.
 
There were lots of players with double bass kits in the 60s and 70s who did nothing that is now stereotypical about double bass drum playing. The kind of stuff that it typically thought of as double bass playing now began with the NWOBHM bands, then further developed with the early thrash bands, etc.

What's a NWOBHM band? Tommy Aldridge always did great double bass stuff no matter if it was Black Oak Arkansas or Pat Travers in the 70's & he had less drums & did more chops than Nick IMO don't. get me wrong I like Nick's playing but you can do any Pink Floyd tune on a 4-piece kit with just a single bass pedal. but i guess that's the spectacle of the over the top rock drummer LOL

Bonzolead
 
What's a NWOBHM band? Tommy Aldridge always did great double bass stuff no matter if it was Black Oak Arkansas or Pat Travers in the 70's & he had less drums & did more chops than Nick IMO don't. get me wrong I like Nick's playing but you can do any Pink Floyd tune on a 4-piece kit with just a single bass pedal. but i guess that's the spectacle of the over the top rock drummer LOL

Bonzolead

I agree that you could play the gist of it on a 4 piece, but songs like "Set the Controls..." would sound a bit lame without the range of toms - maybe a 4 piece and an Octapad....
 
I've never been much into Pink Floyd, but I've heard alot about Nick Mason and I was wondering if anyone has any songs they'd reccomend so I can hear his skill level?
 
If my humble opinion is worth anything, then I think Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall are "must haves" for any record collection. There's some fine examples of his playing on both albums.
 
Oddly enough I have both albums, I don't remember where I put them. But if I recall, last time I listened to them there wasn't anything that stuck out to me. Kind if Phil Rudd-ish
 
Nick Mason is one of those guys who knows when to play .... what to play .... what not to play .... and when not to play it ....​
 
I always though this playing was perfect for that band. Just like Charlie Watt's for the Stones- they both made the music 'happen."

Does anybody know his exact cymbal set-up for the Pulse tour? (the Paiste website may not have it correct).
 
Nick's the drummer for the job. It's fun learning his parts, because they're so spacious. It's a different skill than just technical stuff. So I don't generally make fun of him technically ... but I really have to say how lame it is that he overdubbed the hi-hat sixteenths for the end of "Have a Cigar". :p I mean, come in. It's not even fast!
 
I love Mason's style. He is a great inspiration to me and my drumming. His style is very laid back and wild at times. I love it!
 
One of my absolute favorites. Very underrated. I truly believe sometimes it's what you DON'T play that makes the song. (Ringo, Nick Mason, Charlie Watts, Doug Clifford, Patrick Carney, Brad Wilk, etc).

I'd rather listen to a good solid drummer that makes a song FEEL good than someone who is flashy for the sake of being flashy. (Except for Gavin Harrison, who does both!!)

Nick is great and Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands of all time.
 
Also, as a side note... I'm embarrassed to admit, as a Pink Floyd fan, that I did not know until very recently that Jeff Porcaro played drums on "Mother" (The Wall).

I guess Nick struggled with the odd time signature changes.
 
Also, as a side note... I'm embarrassed to admit, as a Pink Floyd fan, that I did not know until very recently that Jeff Porcaro played drums on "Mother" (The Wall).

I guess Nick struggled with the odd time signature changes.

I think it was more the press rolls. I've never heard one in a song that Nick played, which leads me to believe he can't do them (he also doesn't play dynamics). But he still drummed on some great songs.
 
In late November 2007, I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Norman Smith in his home, shortly before he died. I think it may have been his last interview.

Some of you may know him as the Abbey Road recording producer who worked with The Beatles on all their albums right up to Rubber Soul (almost 100 tracks in all), and Pink Floyd's first second and fourth studio albums. He had some great stories and as far as I was concerned I could have spent many more hours listening, however his health was failing and I didn't want to stress him too much.

Anyway, what some might not know is he was a drummer and percussionist, and often if a drummer in a band was struggling with a part he would step in and play. He played on 'Remember A Day' from Saucer Full of Secrets, and in fact it was only ever played it once live apparently (on Later with Jools Holland), by a band put together by Gilmore, and not by Mason.

He also played on some Beatles tracks when Ringo simply could not get his head around what the producer wanted. However, I can't remember which ones.

I think Norman 'Hurricane' Smith (or Norman 'Normal' Smith as John Lennon liked to call him) should be recognised as a drummer as well as a producer and recording artist.

He and his wife were very nice people and it was a pleasure to meet them.
 
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