When I was deciding which tracks to add to the artist influences playlist, I immediately knew I wanted to add 1979 and Cherub Rock by the Smashing Pumpkins. The initial reason for this was that upon examining Your Cat is a Landmine’s (YCIALM), I noticed a strong influence on their music, both tonally and technically.

Aside from this, I find the drums in both tracks, particularly 1979 to be extremely recognisably and creatively produced. The audio clip at the bottom of this entry demonstrates that 1979 features a mixture of both electronic and acoustic drums which are blended and altered as the track progresses.

While I am not intending to use anything other than acoustic drums for this project, due to the nature of the band and their personal preferences, it is interesting to learn how such a distinctive tone was created, and I take influence from the acoustic drum sounds featured on the record.

In terms of mixing and effects, Recordingology notes that “the drum samples and drum loops from the Alesis HR-16 are selectively treated to strong doses of distortion. It’s always restrained, focusing on timbre and texture, not rebellious intensity.” They also note that “the expressive time feel is strongly defined by the tension between human and machine. We are offered a drum machine, the Alesis HR-16, at the intro. Add to that Pumpkins Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin playing actual drums, entering in the B section of Verse 1, after “…you and I should meet.” It’s so clearly real, acoustic and human, yet it is pulled back from total freedom by way of loops, layered over a drum machine pattern, plus added samples (the Hi Hat?) triggered with hypnotic regularity. It all adds up to a seductive real vs. machine debate that draws in so many listeners. The human expressiveness of the live performance within this groove is itself further constrained, as we get to hear only 4 bar and 2 bar snippets of Jimmy’s human effort”. In short, the drums in this track are heavily shaped by the drum machine that the drum section begins on. The distortion mentioned increases and decreases in certain sections of the track such as the choruses in order to help build the sound. Distortion is an effect I have used on drums previously and something I aim to use when mixing the YCIALM EP.

“We hear gated snare come and go throughout the tune. Often, it’s a distorted snare sound, cropped unnaturally short by a gate. The snare sample in the opening loop is itself already gated, and distorted.” (Recordingology) This is something that I will take into account while mixing the EP, and gating is not something I would naturally think to do while mixing a snare drum, other than to remove unwanted noise. There is the potential there to use it creatively as shown by Smashing Pumpkins.

In terms of dynamics on the drums, Recordingology notes that “the drums, the drum samples, and the drum loops offer impossibly controlled dynamics, thanks in part to compression. Machine meets compressed human expressiveness for a steady drive.” Again, this adds to the impression of the electronic vs. acoustic blend that is so clear on the drums. Compression is generally used on acoustic drums for practical purposes, to get a balanced mix, rather than as a creative choice, but here it works as both, making even the acoustic drum parts sound robotic. I will personally only be using compression in the traditional sense when mixing the acoustic drums on the YCIALM EP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGvZEhR4Vww