By McCal (216.130.152.50 - 216.130.152.50) on Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 07:50 pm:

does anyone have any info about the drum recording techniques used in motown (mic placement, types of mics, processing)?

By john Lester (213.122.202.171 - 213.122.202.171) on Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 11:02 pm:

Yeah...

When you go into the Hitsville USA studio...YOU DONT MOVE THE DRUMS....lol

Mrs Esther Gordy EDwards says their positioning hasn't changed since the 60's

By Bob Olhsson (68.53.120.100 - 68.53.120.100) on Monday, April 22, 2002 - 03:55 am:

In the old days what I saw was an overhead U-67 about at Benny's forehead and an RCA 77 on the kick.

In the late '60s it was Neumann KM-86s overhead, on the snare and on the high hat and a KM-85 on the kick.

By harryweinger (208.135.132.147 - 208.135.132.147) on Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 08:19 pm:

...and those mics were all pre-mixed during the 8-track session days down to one track - ! Ain't nothin' like it.

By soulboy (213.105.236.160 - 213.105.236.160) on Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 10:18 pm:

Many tracks had two drummers on one session, alegedly dancing in the street was one of these.
This practice inceased after Benny Benjamin was unable to perform.

By Dennnis Coffey (206.47.172.178 - 206.47.172.178) on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 12:14 am:

Hi Soulboy. There were two drummers on almost every session I recorded at Motown Hitsville. They were Uriel Jones and Pistol Allen. One drummer played high hat and cymbals and the other played snare and foot. The high end cymbals were mixed in with Jack Ashford on Tambourine combined with Bongo Eddie on Congas. The result was one super funky percussion section.

Dennis Coffey

By Eli (170.115.179.118 - 170.115.179.118) on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 06:01 pm:

Hi Harry. Good to see you on the forum.
One track!! Wow not even a stereo pair. Amazing!!!