FXpansion BFD Deluxe User Manual

Page 5

The acoustic space

BFD Deluxe Collection was recorded at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio

complex in Chicago. The Studio A drum room used for the recordings is much

smaller than the Eldorado Studios drum room featured in BFD and BFD XFL. This

gives the Deluxe Collection a tighter and more focused sound than previous BFD

material, something which is especially noticeable on the Room channel.

The PZM channel in the Deluxe Collection is referred to as ‘ambience’ in this

manual, as Altec 150 mics were used instead of PZMs. However, the Altecs still

record the same type of ambience for which PZM mics are normally used. They

were placed on the ﬂ oor, so the ambience captured is more biased towards

the drums, compared to the Room and Overhead mics which tend to be more

sensitive to cymbals. It is a less focused sound than the other mic buses in BFD,

useful for subtle reinforcement of size and distance.

Mics, placement and channel processing

The microphones and preamps used in the Deluxe Collection session also differ

from those used to record previous BFD content. Mic placement and processing of

certain channels was conducted by Steve Albini, and all mics were routed through

the preamps on Electrical Audio’s custom Neotek console. The channels were set

up as follows:

Kick In: Shure SM98

For the Kick In channel, the mic was positioned on the beater side of the head.

Kick Out: AKG D112

A Urei 1176 peak limiter was placed in the signal path. Medium attack/release

settings were used, while the ratio was set to 8:1.

Snare Bottom: Shure SM98

This mic’s phase was ﬂ ipped in relation to the Snare Top mic.