Vintage TAMA SUPERSTAR - Minimum miking technique

[@christopherweise438]

Groovy open handed playing on a TAMA kit....... I'm getting Simon Phillips vibes. Kit sounds great, as does your playing. I approve.

[@sturla75]

Huge Simon fan of course. And thank you.

[@stevewarfel5788]

@@christopherweise438 I just said similar.

[@cicciosun1487]

@@sturla75 a bad copy, but if you can, try to be yourself, don't pathetically imitate a master's degree

[@philphilison1623]

Great room, mix, drums, touch, touch, and feel. You captured it all wonderfully.

[@sturla75]

Many thanks! Appreciate that!!

[@philphilison1623]

@@sturla75 Well deserved.

[@MatheusPereiraBarros]

The tone of this drum set feels like a delightful massage to my brain.

[@sturla75]

What a delightful message to get

[@HoldenMcG]

Nice groovin' on this clip Sturla, the tuning/kit/recording sounds great!

[@sturla75]

Thanks again. Appreciate it.

[@demonicsweaters]

Beautiful kit and great playing! Tama makes some of the best drums ever.

[@sturla75]

Couldn't agree more! And thank you!!🙏

[@TUNASAMMY69]

Man, I can tell you love Cobham... The drums, the heads, the cymbals, the cymbal placement, the open handed technique... You in a Mahavishnu cover band or what? Nice playing and tuning!

[@sturla75]

Yes - I do love Cobham. And in the style I play - open handed etc - we all have so much from Cobham and owe him that. No - I don´t play in a Mahavishnu cover band. Usually play lots of very much simpler music, but love to try material like that sometimes - just for fun, the challenge and to learn something.

[@rogercardenas111]

As a bass player I approve of this groove. Nice set-up.

[@sturla75]

Thank you so much.

[@SaS-Music]

Yes! Nailing it. So musical sounding.

[@sturla75]

Thanks!!

[@XDrummerSteve]

Snare drum is the star of the show. Beautiful.

[@sturla75]

Thank you!! Yeah, I thought it came out nice too, and that is also without any mic on it - just OH´s and room.

[@stevewarfel5788]

Sounds like a whole month of Sundays went into that tuning. Spectacular sound.

[@sturla75]

Hehe it was in fact an hour with moving mics from the other kit to this and tuning it up a bit from being in storage.

[@RecordingDrumsWithBrad]

WOW!!! Everything looks and sounds incredible! Love it! :)

[@sturla75]

Thank you Brad!! 😀🙏

[@Camcodrummer]

Nice! Lots of Drummers who played and still play Superstar Birch dont realize if you tune them up high using thinner heads they record great. They punch and get out of the way. But i see to many with pinstripes or thick heads and tuned thuddy. They dont project well especially in a live setting ..they sound like carboard boxes. Great recording and tuning on that kit. The playing was good too ..just kidding , you play great!!

[@sturla75]

I feel exactly the same. I have heard so many tune them so low and with thick heads and dont get that punch sound. Thank you very much. 😀

[@davidwillermark2923]

Agree! Clear ambassadors sounds great.

[@dmjhotense]

Sound fn amazing!🤩

[@sturla75]

Thank you!!!😊

[@WhyTheHorseface]

Sounds FANTASTIC!!

[@sturla75]

Thank you!!😀😀

[@bjornlakenstrazen2186]

beautiful sound!

[@sturla75]

Thank you!!

[@mickwade9499]

Sturla, I don't know what kind of hot sauce you put on that gong drum to make it sound so good, but that is without question the best recorded gong drum I've ever heard from ANYONE. It sounds like a gong drum should, with punch, body, and even resonance, which is the hardest thing to coax out of a single-headed drum. The entire Superstar kit sounds fantastic and makes me wish I still had mine, but that gong drum is the star of the show. Great stuff.

[@sturla75]

Thank YOU!!! So glad to hear that. And this was the first time I tried my new gong drum. When setting it up I had to tune it quite a bit up. And even higher than I thought. It is so large so it is so much bottom end that you need to do that. Added a bit eq to it and reverb. But nothing too much.

[@MrRedrocket42]

Great groove and those Tamas sound terrific.

[@sturla75]

Thanks a lot!

[@jabold]

Boy, does that bring back the memories. I used a Tama Superstar kit in the 80's, sounded exactly like that! 😀

[@sturla75]

Yeah. I recon. Still great drums after all these years.

[@WhyTheHorseface]

@@sturla75what sizes are all of these drums? They are very melodic.

[@sturla75]

@@WhyTheHorseface​​⁠10x8,12x8,13x9,14x10. 16x16, 18x16,20x16 floors. And a 22x14 gong drum. Tama imperialstar snare 6.5". 22x14 kick.

[@schmargle]

Wow. Really great sound. Love that you used minimal mics.

[@sturla75]

yeah, it was a fun experiment. Will definitely try to do more with minimal miking. And I think if you do this it makes you a better drummer, since you are bound to tweak things in ones playing and choice of equipment so it works.

[@Johnnygigdrummer]

I love that sound. Reminds me of the tune fight the good fight triumph band.🥁

[@sturla75]

Thank you!! Triumph was a great band!!

[@sigrai]

Great tom sounds!

[@sturla75]

Thanks

[@doublea7054]

Kit sounds killer + great grooving!

[@sturla75]

Thank you so much!!

[@doublea7054]

@@sturla75 one of the best sounding kits I have heard on YT recently. CS heads really accentuate the vintage sound of the drums

[@sturla75]

@@doublea7054 Thanks again!!

[@JeffWald]

sounds great brother! Classic Tama sound. Oh, and the playing is pretty good too :D

[@sturla75]

Thank you brother!!😀And fun with only using OH’s mics and room mics for this.

[@oswelds]

Lovely 😊

[@sturla75]

Thanks!!

[@davewills94]

Wonderful!

[@sturla75]

Many thanks!

[@papapoodo6685]

Fantastic!

[@sturla75]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@Lumerdrums]

nice open drum sound. the tom tuning reminds me a lot of simon phillips tama kit, and that's a good thing :)

[@sturla75]

Thank you!!

[@rickwarren3930]

I have a matching 83' Superstar mahogany for this kit. Wish I had a kit to go with it! 😔

[@jcdrums2798]

nice groove

[@sturla75]

Thanks!!🙏

[@mancuniancandidatem]

I am hearing Phil Gould vibes more than Simon Phillips or Billy Cobham. Nice playing!!!!!

[@sturla75]

How kind!! Thank you!!🙏

[@Twotontessie]

More toms!

[@sturla75]

Hehe can’t have too many can ya??😂

[@mikeb598]

That's like the perfect snare sound. What CS snare head is that? How do you tune the snare heads tension wise?? Thanks. Snare reminds me of Alex. Toms kinda like Simon.

[@sturla75]

Thank you so much!! It is a basic Remo CS Controlled Sound coated head, on my 6.5" ImperialStar snare from the 80´s.The snare head is usually tighter than the top head. Nothing fancy, but I try to listen to when the drum itself responds to how I tune it. I am not to fuzzy about it being completely even (yet I like to start fairly even) and then listen and tweak accordingly. So more listen to what happens in sound than being concerned if one tension rod is even or not, if that make sense?

[@mikeb598]

@ gotcha, thanks. Yes, sound over tension. That’s what counts.

[@pearlvision7156]

Вывод, на такие старые барабаны надо ставить тонкие, однослойные пластики, а не двойные, которые убивают звук. Эта установка звучит отлично.

[@sturla75]

Thanks. Yeah I would think a thick head would kill the tone quite quickly.

[@steveelstermann3110]

Sounds great my friend! I forget but what ribbon mics are you using? The entire kit (even the kick) sounded great. Are you running them thru a compressor? Sounded like when you hit a crash cymbal it compressed the rest of the kit. But could be a KZbin thing. Anyways happy new year. (Have you ever tried Aquarian heads?)

[@sturla75]

Thanks! The ribbon mics are Cascade Fatheads. I did compress quite a bit when I mixed it. Also some saturation added for some grit. And a bit reverb as you can tell. No haven’t checked out Aquarian heads yet.

[@drummertsprow]

Everything sounds great! I'm a big fan of minimal miking, I prefer the open/airy sound of the drums. Are all the rack toms from the original vintage kit and how difficult was it to find the matching add-on drums? What snare are you using?

[@sturla75]

Thank you!! I had the basic five piece first. And have over many years got new drums. Snare is an 80s Tama Imperialstar 6,5.

[@michaelcavazuti3270]

Nice looking kit and playing Sturla! Wow years a go I had a 20x20 Fl tom,a beast! The only thing I would say whether it's the miking or the cymbals themselves,mayb think of changing out those Zildjan A customs,don't seem to fit your sound mayb some Paiste Modern Essencials or Sabian Complex crashes!!

[@sturla75]

Thanks!! Yeah the 20" I need to work on a bit. A bit hard to get it to gel. Reg cymbals I agree. But had another set up of Avedis Zildjians that sounds very nice with this kit but had it away for a studio session. So I kissy threw on something I had laying around. I am not too familiar with Paistes as I am a Zildjian guy. But yeah. Great cymbals no doubt.

[@michaelcavazuti3270]

@@sturla75 Yes I too used to b a Zildjan guy but love my Paistes also Sabians!

[@strettoasino9006]

Gives Billy Cobham vibes triple bass drum set ...

[@sturla75]

Yeah - cool! Would love to have more bass drums to choose from here...And man Cobham had some crazy set-ups and still does!!

[@Dan-hc1ow]

Your first three toms sound exactly like Stewart Copeland's Zenyatta Mondatta Superstars. He also loved the black dot heads.

[@sturla75]

Ahh cool. Any particular track it resembles?

[@Dan-hc1ow]

@ just reminded me of his tom intro for "Driven to Tears". Practically the same pitches.

[@kieranheffernan]

I think it goes to show that a drrrrilled bass drum ( not kick) has no impact on the listening ear as for those massive tommmms ? well I'm on eBay looking for some yesteryear drums . Loud and groovy, Luv it ❤

[@sturla75]

Exactly!! My experience too.

[@danoneill130]

Sounds amazing!! Love that snare too. What snare did you use?

[@sturla75]

Thanks!! It is 80s Tama Imperialstar 6.5" steel snare. Sounds pretty sweet I think too. And without any snare mic on it either.

[@gaspdrum]

💪💪💪💪💯💯💯💯👍🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@sturla75]

Thanks!!

[@PaulMarangoni]

Where did you find all those drums? Is that last floor tom 20"?

[@sturla75]

THe basic set-up (5 piece) I have had for many years, and slowly have added drums whenever I have found one. Latest acquisition is the gong drum. Yeah last floor tom is a 20".

[@Juupke]

Great sound! What overheads where used?

[@sturla75]

Thanks. Austrian Audio OC18’s.

[@olavrygg2343]

Lyder knall å rent, og pent Sturla. Hva OH bruker du ?

[@sturla75]

Tusen takk!! Bruker Austrian Audio OC 18. nydelige mikker.

[@Andreas-yt9wv]

Your a Simon Phillips fan?

[@sturla75]

Yes! Sure.

[@boristomakic5995]

What snare did you use?

[@sturla75]

80s Tama imperialstar 6.5 snare

[@boristomakic5995]

@sturla75 phenomenal sound!

[@sturla75]

@boristomakic5995 it is a great snare!!!

[@stevewarfel5788]

I just recognized the Simon Phillips in your setup. Right?

[@sturla75]

Yeah. Huge influence of course.

[@stevewarfel5788]

@sturla75 I saw Simon do a clinic 1981...I think. Right after Jeff Beck, 'There and Back' was released. Of course, he played the beat to the song 'Space Boogie'. That song really put him on the map. Ironically, I was just invited to see Simon& his band at the Blue Note NYC in March. Can't wait. Peace

[@sturla75]

@@stevewarfel5788 Fantastic!! Have seen his Protocol band quite a few times now. Great band! Enjoy!

[@klausschwab-c2t]

more please!! ..put back that 8'' :p

[@sturla75]

I will eventually. I need to get a cs head for it and fix a Lug first.

[@thomaschesterfield9459]

Where did you find this kit? I would imagine it was fairly expensive. You play like Carter Bruford and Simon Phillips.

[@sturla75]

Thanks! I got the basic 5 piece kit from a good friend back in the late 90s or so. And then slowly adding. And just recently got the matching gong drum from a good friend in Germany who managed to get it from EBay for me. Would loved to have another 22» kick or some 24» kicks

[@jumpinjojo]

Simon Phillips tribute.

[@sturla75]

Much similarities of course, and a huge influence. Didn´t really think of it like that thought, but thanks!!

[@juliusbishop3629]

Sounds great, so tired of people tuning drums to sound like hitting a couch cushion.

[@sturla75]

Thank you! Me too. And when it works, I like an open and fairly high tuning. But for some stuff that isn´t the right thing, but there is no doubt that the drums speaks so much better dynamically when doing this.

[@oysnnus]

100%

[@sturla75]

🤘🙏Thx!!

[@louishebert1595]

Ça sonne pas à peut près….WOW 😮

[@sturla75]

Thanks!!

[@i6olbj]

First

[@milankojic864]

TAMA!!!

[@sturla75]

Yes indeed!! Huge Tama fan here.