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Steven's snare drum sounded better than Matt's


saber_

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It's not that I'm some anti-Matt-Sorum guy, but damn every time I listen to his drum kit, it sounds like garbage compared to Adler's.

If any drummers would like to weigh in, I'd love to know more about tuning snare drums and the differences between Guns' first two drummers.

To me, Steven's snare drum sounds tight, crisp, and tuned perfectly. Matt's seems to be tuned differently, and dare I say in a much less aurally pleasing manner.

Overall, it seems Steve's kit just sounds better. And although I prefer Steven's drumming style, it is really the timbre of Matt's kit that makes his drumming unappealing.

Do you agree? Thoughts?

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Didn't Axl have something to do with that? Like, by the time he was done tinkering with all the tracks, the compression made Matt sound like crap. At least, I think I read that.

Yes I believe you're right about Axl mentioning it. I can't remember if it was one of the chats or the Del james' interview, or something else.

However, I dunno that Axl is solely responsible for it. I seem to remember he just mentioned that the drums sounded a bit mushed on the UYI albums.

Also, while Matt's kit sounds better live than on the albums, he's still definitely got a different timbre than Steven's. More midrangey or something. Tuned lower perhaps than Steve's.

Steve's kit just sounds more tight overall. The Ritz gig is a perfect example of how sweet Popcorn's drum kit sounded.

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(Drumer here) I read in a magazine that matt used over 20 or 30 different snares to record the illusion albums.

Adlers drums are more raw and natural sounding, while Matts are tuned to perfection, Sounds like matt is always

trying to perfect something instead of finding a good sound and sticking with it. The drumming styles are totally

different too. Matt's drums sound good but Steven plays more fluid. I think it comes down to style.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yeah, I think fluid is a great adjective to use regarding Steve's playing. When you listen to Appetite, it's like white water rafting, holding on tigh and saying "oh fuck!", whereas the Illusions just don't have that vibe percussion wise. That said, I love both albums, and if you can't dig Matt's drums, drop a pretty penny on the MoFi remasters like I did. It was like listening to them the proper way for the first time. Well worth it, as in my humble 'pinion that thick shitty tone made those hard to listen to on CD for many years to the point where I've almost chucked them out the car window a few times.

Edited by Ghostie
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  • 4 weeks later...

Adler's sound was more fitting for the AFD sound. However, if you were to record drums with that sound today, it would sound extremely dated. How do you think Steven's drums sound on Civil War? I personally think they seem just as compressed as Matt's do on the albums. Also, I think Steven adler played like 90% of his fills on the snare drum alone. I like Steven's style more, but Locomotive would not be the same without Matt's intricate parts. When they sent the tapes to different producers to see who would ultimately mix, maybe even master, the album, the guy who sent back a heavily compressed, heavy metal/rock n roll mix got the job. So I suppose that can really be the blame.

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I like Sorum's drumming on Estranged, Coma, Locomotive, YCBM, and a few other tracks that are "darker" - the drums compliment those songs really well IMO

I am curious as to how Steven would have sounded playing those songs, because I really do like his drumming more

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  • 3 weeks later...

Didn't Axl have something to do with that? Like, by the time he was done tinkering with all the tracks, the compression made Matt sound like crap. At least, I think I read that.

Yes I believe you're right about Axl mentioning it. I can't remember if it was one of the chats or the Del james' interview, or something else.

However, I dunno that Axl is solely responsible for it. I seem to remember he just mentioned that the drums sounded a bit mushed on the UYI albums.

Also, while Matt's kit sounds better live than on the albums, he's still definitely got a different timbre than Steven's. More midrangey or something. Tuned lower perhaps than Steve's.

Steve's kit just sounds more tight overall. The Ritz gig is a perfect example of how sweet Popcorn's drum kit sounded.

That's all we need - Axl tinkering with the master tapes. He'd prob. pull a Sharon Osbourne and have the current members re-record it. Most artists aren't happy with how their albums were recorded at the time, they're generally critical about it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As much as I'm not a huge fan of Sorum anyways, I think his actual drum sound has a lot to do with why I don't like his take on Appetite songs. Whenever Velvet Revolver did Easy or Brownstone, Matt sounded WAY better than he did during the Illusions era. That drum kit was too dark sounding. Add that to Matt's precision and you get a very mechanical, boring drum sound. It worked on the album for some songs (the "dark" drum sound suited Estranged and Locomotive, to name two) but generally made the Appetite songs less raw sounding. Steven's drumming, while far from technically perfect, had a swagger that Sorum couldn't quite capture.

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