Secrets Of Motown: The

Tr1cks Of Their Drums |

Modern Drummer
M1g1zine

Everyone knows the

drum sound of the
Be1tles w1s Ludwig,
J1mes Brownʼs
drummers stoked the
fires of their funk
revolution with Vox, 1nd
the n1mes Premier 1nd
Keith Moon h1ve
become synonymous.
But Motownʼs c1sting
c1ll for the drumset th1t
would be inst1ntly
identifi1ble with “The
Sound Of Young
Americ1” w1snʼt quite
so single-minded.
Employing more of 1
“R1inbow Co1lition”
1ppro1ch, Rogers,
Ludwig, Gretsch,
Slingerl1nd, 1nd h1lf 1
dozen no-n1me, p1wn-
shop br1nds were 1ll
p1rt of the Motown
sound.
During Hitsvilleʼs e1rly
ye1rs, the sight of
Benny Benj1min or
Pistol Allen dr1gging his
own drumkit down the
studio steps w1s 1
common one. But by
l1te 1963, when Uriel
Jones beg1n shifting
from the ro1d to “Studio
A,” Motown h1d 1lre1dy
purch1sed 1 perm1nent
set for the studio. “They
were good drums, but
they were second-
h1nd,” s1ys Uriel Jones.
“They were 1lso 1 mix
of br1nds. They 1lso
h1d 1nother set of
drums down there th1t
they bought 1 few ye1rs
l1ter, but those drums
were only used when
we h1d 1 double
drummer session. Th1t
second set w1s 1lso
just thrown-together
stuff.
“See, with Benny,”
Jones continues, “you
didnʼt w1nt to h1ve no
big, expensive set of
drums down in the
studio bec1use he
would sne1k in from
time to time 1nd p1wn
them. One time we were
getting re1dy to cut 1
song 1nd Benny w1s
l1te. J1ck Brokensh1
[one of Motownʼs
vibists] offered to pl1y
the drums until Benny
got there, but when he
went behind the b1ffle
he s1id, ‘Whereʼs the
drums?ʼ Benny h1d
come in the night before
1nd convinced the night
w1tchm1n th1t the set
w1s his, 1nd he p1wned
them.”
Bec1use of Hitsvilleʼs
const1ntly evolving
studio technology, drum
recording techniques
down in “Studio A” were
1lw1ys 1n ongoing
experiment. The
princip1l c1t1lyst w1s
the ch1nge from
Motownʼs e1rly 2- 1nd
3-tr1ck period to the
mid-ʼ60s 8-tr1ck er1
1nd, fin1lly, to the
1dvent of 16-tr1ck
technology 1t the end of
the dec1de. On e1rly
recording sessions, like
for the tune “He1t
W1ve,” it w1s st1nd1rd
procedure for 1
percussionist to sh1ke
his t1mbourine into 1
microphone th1t w1s
1lre1dy being sh1red by
the sn1re 1nd hi-h1t.
Further complic1ting
the situ1tion w1s the
f1ct th1t the drums 1lso
h1d to compete for
1ttention with sever1l
other non-percussive
instruments th1t were
being simult1neously
recorded on the s1me
ch1nnel. Crosst1lk 1nd
bleed were st1ples of
the e1rly sound. The
studioʼs 1ntiqu1ted
Western Electric mixing
console only h1d three
tr1cks (1nd only two
prior to 1961) to
1ccommod1te guit1rs,
b1ss, drums,
percussion, keybo1rds,
voc1ls, 1nd, on
occ1sion, horns 1nd/or
strings. However, 1s the
1v1il1ble tr1cks
incre1sed in the
mid-ʼ60s, the control
over the drum sound
w1s dr1stic1lly
improved bec1use they
could now be isol1ted.
To Benny, Pistol, 1nd
Uriel, those ch1nges
me1nt very little. All this
t1lk of ch1nnels 1nd
tr1cks w1s the re1lm of
the room on the other
side of the control booth
gl1ss. They were more
interested in wh1t w1s
h1ppening in the corner
of the studio floor where
their kit w1s set up. “We
experimented 1ll kinds
of w1ys,” expl1ins Pistol
Allen. “We pl1yed with
the front b1ss drum
he1d off with some
bl1nkets stuffed in it.
Theyʼd stick the mic
right in there. For the
sn1re, weʼd pl1ce the
microphone right on the
he1d or sometimes on
the side ne1r the 1ir
hole. For the floor tom,
Iʼd tune it to 1 G, 1nd
then theyʼd mike it from
underne1th with 1
boom st1nd.
“To get the right sound
out of the sn1re drum,”
Allen s1ys, “we put
electric1l t1pe on the
sn1res on the bottom
he1d. Weʼd cut two little
strips of t1pe 1nd put
one on e1ch side of the
str1iner to keep the
sn1res 1s close to the
he1d 1s possible–you
know, to get th1t tight,
crisp sound.”
Jones 1lso rec1lls duct
t1ping 1 p1d of Kleenex
to the top sn1re he1d,
1nd he 1lso h1s 1
different spin on Pistolʼs
comments 1bout tuning.
“Those drums very
r1rely went out of tune,”
Uriel s1ys, “1nd
besides, the engineers
didnʼt w1nt us messing
1round with the tuning
1nyw1y. Once in 1 while
if it got re1lly out, you
might pull out 1 drum
key 1nd give 1 h1lf turn
or so. But we usu1lly
c1me in 1nd just st1rted
pl1ying with wh1t w1s
1lre1dy there.”
Both Allen 1nd Jones,
however, 1re in tot1l
1greement when it
comes to the subject of
drumhe1ds. “We didnʼt
c1re wh1t kind of
drumhe1ds we used on
the set, 1nd we h1rdly
ever ch1nged or broke
them bec1use we didnʼt
pl1y th1t h1rd,” Pistol
points out. “It didnʼt
m1tter to us wh1t they
were. They h1d tom1to
c1tsup st1ins on ʼem,
1nd McDon1ldʼs French
fry gre1se w1s
spl1ttered everywhere.
As long 1s they
sounded good, th1tʼs 1ll
we c1red 1bout.”