The drums on Dylan's 'Desire'

Hello,
this is my first post here, I'm not sure this is the best place to ask this question but:

Does anyone here love Dylan's album 'Desire'? Or more to the point: does anyone know how they managed to get that drum sound, specifically the SNARE, on that album? (I'm thinking, for example, of the drums on 'Isis', I think it's pretty consistant throught the album though.) It sounds so incredibly edibly DELICIOUS...something out of the stone age, or from Orion's belt. I absolutely must know how such a drum sound is achieved. Any help on this will be greatly appreciated. My Kingdom for an answer!
Thanks,
D.K.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum!

I don't know how they got the drum sound on Desire, but I agree it's one of the most appealing parts of the album. Whenever I listen to my Columbia vinyl copy I'm always impressed by how good it sounds...especially in contrast to Blood on the Tracks, which has a somewhat muddy sound (although that's what Dylan wanted...he insisted they use the rough mixes of "Tangled Up in Blue" and the other Minnesota songs on that album because, "This is how I want it to sound.")

You're right, though, there's just something about the sound of Desire...whenever I listen to it, it has this otherworldly sound that's hard to describe but is just so appealing and inviting. That was probably Dylan's best band on that album since, uh, The Band.

 

I like the drumming on that album too, as much for the content as for the sound. Howie Wyeth is probably the most flamboyant drummer Dylan ever used, and he really shines on Desire, Hard Rain (though the drums are recorded poorly on that LP), and most of the various Rolling Thunder Revue recordings out there.

 

I think the snare sound is lovely, but I've always thought the tom-toms sounded poorly tuned on that album. Nice performance, though, by Mr. Wyeth.

 

You may be picking up on the delayed reverb. In this case the snare mic signal is sent to a delay unit then to the (presumeably plate) reverb unit so the reverbed snare sound arrives significantly later (in milliseconds) than the dry snare. Also sounds like they were going for that famous 'Columbia' vocal reverb sound wherein the snare signal sent to the reverb unit has been hi pass filtered so only the top end is sent to the reverb unit. Usually this is to accent vocal sibilance ('S' sounds etc).

 

Excellent observation! The drumbeat from "Black Diamond Bay" is etched into my subconcious and I don't think it will ever go away. I thought it was more the playing than the sound, but you may be on to something there...

 

Clinton Heylin's book "Dylan: Complete Recording Sessions 1960-95" has photocopies of some of the tracking sheets from the "Desire" sessions;

16 track tape, with the drums recorded to four tracks; 1. bass drum, 2. snare drum, 3. "left" and 4. "right".
"Left" and "Right" would be the overhead mics. On a couple of the sheets the highhat is notated on the same track as the snare drum.

The album sounds quite good considering it's 16 tracks with sometimes over a dozen musicians all playing live in the studio.

 

thanks

Thanks everyone!

 

Don Meehan (Engineer on Desire) discusses the recording sessions, including the drum sound, in response to Dolphin King's posting on the ProSound forum here - <http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/mv/msg/2877/0/0/6555/?SQ=26673108>

 

Welcome to the list from a fellow New Yorker! And a great first question, too. I can tell you about Howie Wyeth's snare drum sound because I met him, saw him play, and we were in the same band once (Joey Miserable & the Worms), although I left just as he joined (briefly).
As posted elsewhere, there is certainly some kind of reverb/echo added to the drums on "Desire." And Howie has a loose, relaxed style of playing that is distinctive. But the secret to his cool snare dum sound, believe it or not, is that Howie placed a tennis sneaker on the snare! This slightly muted the snare effect, but still kept a snap to the sound.

Cool, huh?


PS: Based on Don Meehan's recollections, it appears that Howie may have developed his "sneaker on the snare" trick after "Desire"--but they did do something similar by taping the folded-up paper towels to the snare head, thereby also achieving a damping effect.

 

Cool John!! I saw Joey Miserable & The Worms at Nightengale Bar back in the day, but I think it was Milo Z on drums. Joey is now Simon Bar Sinister and rehearses here at my studio!!

Oh yeah, I too love the drum sound on Desire!!

 

Thanks for the link. Great stuff.

 

Wow! Small world, Dave! Milo Z was the last Worm drummer. He replaced Howie Wyeth.
Once we Worms opened for Solomon Burke at the old LoneStar Cafe in NYC. When Solomon passed our dressing room after our set, he said, "You guys sound more like eagles than worms!" I was highly flattered.

 

After reading this thread, I luckily ran across a white-label promo copy of Desire. Thank you Dolphin King for the impetus towards rediscovering this classic album.