Recreating highly recognizable drum sounds. FREEWILL Rush Drum Cover

DON'T FORGET this video is also posted on the new All Too Human channel: alltoohumantheband! Future releases will go there.
If you want to skip the intro and go straight to the drumming 1:48
Here it is, the promised cover of Free Will, using the Moises App to recreate Neil Peart's drum tracks. I actually put in a few (very few) of my own fills. Tell me if you notice where they are and what I'm doing ; )

Please feel free to comment on the tone and if you think I nailed the sound Neil originally had. It took some tuning and mixing, but I did not have to add alot of plug-ins. Just really hard hitting, a bit of Eq and compression and a stock transient designer in logic to get a little extra attack. All in all, that attack comes from hitting as hard as Neil did, not the plug in.

I recorded the audio track into a Focusrite OctoPre, then Logic, and mixed and mastered it myself. That is, I used the bass, guitar and vocal stems that comes with the Moises modified song and then added my 8 tracks of drums. Though I normally use a t least one room mic, I did not use a room mic on this recording since Neil had a very focused and tight sound anyway with very little reverb. Since I have only 8 inputs, I did the unthinkable and used only 8 mics. Yes, that means I actually mic'ed two toms with one mic! (the horror). With fewer tracks I get less phase cancellation but the compromise is just a little less control of individual tom volumes, which can be achieved post-recording with clip gain in the editor window.

Please also feel free to comment on the mix. It was easy considering I had Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson as the backing track!

* For those of you that have asked, I use Zildjian primarily, but have that awesome 18" Sabian crash ride which I bought at the Drum Shop in Houston, TX. I also have some Wuhans (of course).
My favorite heads for this all-fiberglass kit are the Remo Pinstripes on batters with clear ambassador reso head, and usually PS3 on snare batter or CS coated.

copyright Rush 1980 Permanent Waves, Mercury Records