Phil Collins Explains How He Got "That" Drum Sound

[@ChristianChase7]

The noises he makes with his mouth to exemplify the effect are incredibly accurate

[@bernios3446]

What do you expect... He's been playing the drums for all of his life - AND was a singer :-)

[@BennieTarrMusic]

It reminds me of an old Southside Johnny interview where they ask the horn players a stupid question and they all moan "uhhhh" and it actually sounds like a horn section... :-)

[@cosmojairzinho14]

He is formidable impersonator...and his ears are among the most accurate in the business

[@flashback_one]

It was developed in 1979 by producer Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham while working on Peter Gabriel's self-titled third solo album, after Phil Collins played drums without using cymbals at London's Townhouse Studios. Padgham claimed he discovered the sound accidentally when he opened an overhead mic, intended to be used as a talkback channel, above Collins's drum set when the pair were working on the track. The microphone was heavily compressed as well as using a gate. It was the "Listen Mic Compressor" (LMC) of a SSL 4000 Mix-Console.

[@thetaylorcronkproject2473]

Ok that makes sense.

[@robertsinnerman7804]

This comment needs to be pinned to the top. All these years PC got the credit for the gated reverb trick, yes Mt. Lilywhite & Mr. Padgham are the real creators.

[@flashback_one]

@@robertsinnerman7804yes 🙂 thank you. PC played the drums and the audio engineers dialed in that sound accidentally.

[@krisscanlon4051]

I don't completely believe ole Phil because it was done prior to Gabriel lp which they had to have heard by Tubes, Holdsworth, and hugely by Bowie on Low...this plus eventide harmonizer made that sound... now Townhouse Padgham and Lillywhite certainly perfected it...also let's not forget Drums Wires XTC

[@maxmx767]

@@robertsinnerman7804Not really “the creators”. They didn’t have the intention to create that sound. They working together with Phil discovered the effect

[@halcyon289]

That fill in No Self Control is incredible.

[@adam872]

Sure is

[@MikeyRB77]

It's an epic Phil in.

[@adamkesingland968]

Possibly the best description of "That " sound I have heard. No cymbals!

[@davideickhoff694]

Living legend. Phil

[@bernios3446]

When Peter Gabriel's sound was absolute state of the art (supported by Phil). I remember when I first heard & saw the video of "Shock the monkey" for the first time, I was shocked like a monkey, I felt this is a totally new sound I'd never heard before.

[@BobLoblaw2011]

This man is brilliant.

[@vinto34]

The Abacab album has some great examples of gated reverb as well.

[@AvengerAdventure]

Great explanation Phil. Now I finally understand after all these years :-)

[@gjdc]

One of the greatest. Legend.

[@РахильБусо]

That was incredible! And i go to listen "I dont care anymore"

[@johnnysudaca9713]

I love playing this way when I play with sounds.. so much fun:)

[@scopex2749]

The man who invented Gated Reverb! He is a genius! In the Air Tonight is the most sampled drum track in history. Also the phenominal intro to ''Second Home By The Sea' (Genesis) the awesome drum intro!

[@nick_the_padbreaker]

The most sampled drum track in history is in actuality Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks".

[@Tyrell_Corp2019]

lol. He did not "invent" the gate, nor gated reverb, nor did he make the engineering decisions to create the sound for the recording. That was Hugh Padgham. Phil just played drums.

[@RaquelFoster]

Who ever sampled In The Air Tonight? The instantly-recognizable tom fill isn't something anybody would sample to make a beat with, and the rest of it is just a CR-78. The most sampled drum tracks are the Amen break, Funky Drummer, When The Levee Breaks, Apache break, Think break, and a bunch more James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone tracks.

[@XenoghostTV]

@@Tyrell_Corp2019 You're so corny dude you know what scopex meant for fuck's sake

[@DJOZER5]

Génie!!🥁🎶💯🔥🙏🏿

[@abundantYOUniverse]

First! Fantastic man what a great video!!!

[@juliocezarandrade2768]

Genious

[@Meteotrance]

What he try to explain with noise example, is you can shape the transient of the room mic or digital reverb with the noise gate and the compressor like the ADSR filter of an analog synth, it was use a lot on mixing desk and also on external unit to cut unwanted tape noise or even the ground rumble of an electric guitar, it was build to make a cleaner noise floor on tape recording before digital recording, the dolby A have a similar approach, but the good thing is you can also make drum punchier if you have the control of the transient envellope many unit have this feature from drawmer comp to Valley People Dynamite or even a simple Peavy compressor can make that, but they made that kind of gunshot drum very popular in the 80's it was a gimmick on a lot of stage and also many pop record.

[@jae6220]

I prefer his noises

[@DO-re2ol]

Genius!

[@benrichards399]

When was this recorded? Thanks

[@jae6220]

I like how he talks in music notes

[@karaoke6861]

Just Simmons drums at the begining

[@Flux_One]

I'm confused, how does a compressor make the sound last longer? Doesn't he mean reverb?

[@davideickhoff694]

It compresses by reducing volume on the hit and lifting the volume on the tail from the room. This only works if you record in a space where there is a room sound. so any dry kick sample will need a reverb on it to get a room. Hence the gated reverb

[@5pr1nk57]

He's referring to the attack and decay on the the hits which is adjusted via the compressor and gives it that tight sound. The reverb is added after

[@JulianA-tr6pt]

@@5pr1nk57 Sort of. The reverb is actually natural room reverb, completely before the microphone, so it's first. It's then compressed to lift the room reverb and smash the drum sound + ambience together, then last, it's gated. You could compress drums, add reverb, then add a gate last, but that wasn't done when they discovered this sound, and that would achieve a bit of a different sound, since the reverb would be unaffected by the compressor.

[@adam872]

A compressor essentially takes a signal and makes the loud bits quieter and the quiet bits louder, within a set of parameters the engineer dials in (like threshold of the compression kicking in, attack, release etc). You're trying to reduce the dynamic range of the incoming signal and evening it out. Used creatively, it can make sounds sustain longer. The amount of this processing is then affected by the ratio that is set (e.g. 2:1 means that for every 2dB you're above the threshold you've set, you reduce the gain by 1dB). For a snare drum you might use a ratio of 5:1 or more.

[@Meteotrance]

You put that Gate compressor on the reverb or the room mics pair on omni position, this way your compressor shape the transient Attack and release of the reverb making the drum noise more punchy it work with digital verb or Real acoustic room with mic put in the front of speaker .

[@Shockzone1495]

The 80s would have sounded a lot different if this little accident didn't happen.

[@PoseidonDiver]

far from an accident :)

[@bibson1405]

It was an accident

[@XenoghostTV]

@@bibson1405 Ultimately it doesn't matter cause many tracks ended up having 808 or 909 drum machine sounds rather than actual drums.

[@davidkeane5652]

hugh padgeham was important on this sound.

[@semajttam]

Notwithstanding his use of concert toms as well.

[@marceopereira]

So mixers have to start to learn metronome 😆😅

[@johnviera3884]

You compose the closing of the gate to complement the rhythm of the beat

[@YewrinePish]

Homie got small hands

[@SergioMartinez-el8kg]

who gives a fuck lol 😂

[@sarys73]

Phil's sound was great, but over used by other bands. Just like what I'm explaining to my little brother right now how in metal all the drums sound synthetic, and razor sharp "distortion" guitars all sound fake and shitty . With Ableton live that can 100% replicate those sounds live too. Just sounds thin, weak, and plastic if you will.

[@curly_wyn]

And thus, gated reverb was born…..and ruined drums forever.

[@Meteotrance]

For Ghost note yes for more in your face Electronic drums or acoustic one this have a charm but it won't work on any style of drumming on Rock, disco or Electronic music it's still very powerfull i love that on Tom and Snare not so much on kick or cymbal. There also a way to just activate that on loud rim shoot hit and not on Ghost note but it's tricky , it's like the muffled Beatles sound not so many people like dry drum or gated one, a good open skin drum like John Bonham do was pretty rare and it need only tree mics for doing it ...