OK here is a question for probably John S Stuart and a few other collectors out there.
During the recording of Jazz, is there any mention in an interview as to what they did produce such a radically different drum sound on that album
Does anyone know if it was just EQ or did they do anything more?
I believe they wanted to have a live drum sound. Microphones were placed near the drumkit, near the toms and cymbals. It's not the best drumsound I've heard, but it's definately a powerfull drumsound.
The toms sound pretty good I think, but the snare and the cymbals sound very unnatural. As if the sound went through tons of EQ's and filters indeed. On a few tracks the cymbals sound like an ongoing, noisy chinese cymbal, instead of a clear big ride. The funny thing is, you can hear many double hits on the snare, on places where it's just impossible to play them in real time, because you here cymbals being played at the same time. On Jazz Queen took a different approach to drums, and it keeps the album away from being their best. It gives the album a unique sound, though.
On The Game the drums sound allright again (thanks Mack). After that, they never got it right again. Roger Taylor didn't care about drumming and great drum sounds anymore. He bought a computer. Most of the drums on studio recordings sound like rubbish after 1980.
I agree with everything the poster above said about Roger's drum sound, and that it was all great until Jazz, and then was good on The Game (and even Flash Gordon), but after that it was all replaced by machines.
Something tells me that Roy Thomas Baker was inspired by his recent work with The Cars, and incorporated some of that into Queen's new album. If you listen to The Cars's first album, it has that same kind of sound that Jazz has, and not only in terms of drum sound. Jazz sounds very new wave-ish (which is why I feel that 'Coming Soon' would've been a better track to feature on Jazz instead of 'More Of That Jazz' or 'Fun It', even though 'Coming Soon' was produced by Mack, it still sounds very much like the sound on Jazz).
Well for the jazz recording/tour, Roger had massive size toms. I mean 14" 15" 16" 18" and 20" not to mention the 26" bass. So the sound does have a deader tone. But I love that sound he has.